A chef who spent four days in a Dublin hospital after her finger was accidentally cut with a knife while she was working in the kitchen of a golf club, has brought a High Court action for damages.
Sandra Doyle (29), a qualified chef, of Dromartin Castle, Birches Lane, Dundrum, Dublin, has sued Milltown Golf Club, Lower Churchtown Road, Milltown, Dublin, over the accident on September 3rd, 2003.
She alleges the club was in breach of duty by failing to take adequate care of her health and safety, that the club's employees were not adequately trained in the proper and safe use of knives, and that she has suffered severe personal injuries, loss and damage as a result of the incident.
The golf club denies the claims.
Opening the case before Mr Justice Paul Butler yesterday, Declan Doyle SC, for Ms Doyle, said his client's finger was cut after a colleague had "jerked" while in the process of handing her a knife being used to cut tomatoes.
Ms Doyle sustained a wound to her right index finger and damaged a nerve and tendon, counsel said. She was out of work for three months and, as the injury did not heal and she was unable to carry out her work as a chef properly, she became "down on herself".
Mr Doyle said his client eventually left the golf club in July 2005 and got work in other kitchens but this had not worked out. She had difficulty holding a knife which affected her ability to work as a chef. "If you cannot chop, you are in trouble in the kitchen," he said.
In evidence, Ms Doyle said that when she returned to work, she was unable to work fast enough because of the injury. She had become a chef with a view to some day having her own business but that was no longer possible because she could not bend her damaged finger. This not only had repercussions for her professionally, she was also a keen musician and could no longer play the guitar properly. She now hopes to get a job in an office.
Cross-examined by counsel for the club, Fergus O'Hagan SC, Ms Doyle denied that on the date of the accident she had grabbed the knife from her colleague. It was "unfair", she said, for counsel to suggest that she was the orchestrator of her own misfortune.
The case continues.