Courts

Road worker awarded €103,000 after bus ran over his foot while he was operating stop/go sign

Damien O’Donoghue sued his employer Total Highway Maintenance and Dublin Bus over 2015 incident

A bus on the quays: Damien O’Donoghue suffered a significant crush injury to his foot and spent 11 days in hospital after the incident on the Kilmore Road in Coolock. Photograph: Alan Betson
A bus on the quays: Damien O’Donoghue suffered a significant crush injury to his foot and spent 11 days in hospital after the incident on the Kilmore Road in Coolock. Photograph: Alan Betson
Wed Jul 17 2024 - 14:45

A traffic management worker whose foot was run over by a bus while he was operating a stop/go sign at roadworks has been awarded more than €103,000 by the High Court.

Damien O’Donoghue, Shanbally, Cappoquin, Co Waterford, sued his employer Total Highway Maintenance Ltd (THM) and Dublin Bus over the incident on the Kilmore Road in Coolock, Dublin, on November 15th, 2015.

Mr Justice Micheál P O’Higgins found Dublin Bus 80 per cent liable for the incident due to the driver going too fast or failing to keep a lookout and THM to be 20 per cent liable on the basis that the traffic management system had a number of frailties.

The judge found no contributory negligence on the part of Mr O’Donoghue.

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Mr O’Donoghue claimed THM was negligent and in breach of duty by failing to ensure the place of work was safe and without risk in compliance with the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.

He claimed the Dublin Bus driver drove too fast, failed to keep a proper lookout and drove carelessly or dangerously.

The defendants denied the claims and blamed each other for the incident. Dublin Bus pleaded contributory negligence on the part of Mr O’Donoghue.

Mr O’Donoghue suffered a significant crush injury to his foot and spent 11 days in hospital. He was in a cast until January 4th, 2016, and off work for 3½ months.

The court, which was shown video footage for the incident, heard Mr O’Donoghue had worked as a general operative and had three days training in traffic management before he began working as a controller.

His job that day was operating a swivel stop/go sign mounted on a traffic cone next to a large concrete motorway-dividing barrier.

As the bus was going through on the “go” sign, it struck the cone and ran over his right foot. He was wearing a steel-capped boot which was flattened.

Mr Justice O’Higgins said Mr O’Donoghue had to work within the instructions given to him by his employer. There were a number of different dangers for him including that he had to sit on the concrete barrier around which there was no safety or buffer zone, he said.

He was not satisfied sufficient steps were taken by the employer to ensure the safety of Mr O’Donoghue.

He accepted engineering evidence that the bus driver was going too fast and did not slow down.

He awarded €103,968. He refused an application from THM for a stay on the award pending appeal.