A company has been ordered to pay $325,859 in damages to a former employee who suffered a serious injury when he twisted his back on the job four years ago. In a 40-page judgment, Justice Ricky Rahim found that the company-Century Eslon Ltd-was negligent in failing to put measures in place to ensure a safe work environment.
The former employee, who has requested anonymity, was 19 years old and an On-the-Job trainee at the time. He filed a lawsuit against the company in San Fernando Civil Court, through his attorneys Hendrickson Seunath SC, and Kevin Ratiram.
As a result of the injury he underwent lumbar spinal surgery and suffered 25 per cent permanent disability. The incident occurred two months after he was hired as a trainee technician. He said on August 18, 2008, his supervisor instructed him to service a "drive motor." In order to do the job, he said, he had to go inside the machine.
He said his supervisor explained to him how to enter and get out of the machine which was three to four feet off the ground. The supervisor told him to climb onto a plastic crate, next to the machine, then jump inside. To get out, he said, the supervisor told him to climb up on the machine and jump to the ground.
However, when he jumped off, out of the corner of his eye he saw a short post, and to avoid hitting the post he quickly turned his body. He said he landed on his left leg first, in a standing position, and as he landed he heard a cracking noise from his back. The company's defence was that the former employee was negligent in the way he descended from the machine, and he had a pre-existing medical condition.
Although the company was in breach of its duty to provide training, supervision and adequate entry and egress procedures, the judge said the employee should also have taken reasonable care for his own safety. Therefore, he found the company 70 per cent liable and the employee 30 per cent liable in the incident.
