A janitor with a “strong work ethic” who sued over back injuries has been awarded €64,000 damages after the High Court found his employer negligently allowed him to work excessive overtime.
The award to Richard Steer (73), Derrykill, Newport, Co Mayo, was also made in relation to Allergen Pharmaceuticals Ireland’s failure to deal appropriately with a problem caused by blue marks left by wooden pallets on the floor of the factory’s sterile area which had to be cleaned by Mr Steer.
In his action, Mr Steer claimed he was left with back injury as a result of having to use buffer/scrubbing machinery for heavy duty cleaning work over a protracted period of time and without any proper training.
Having to engage in heavy rotational work which involved awkward movement over long periods resulted in a repetitive stress injury to his back, he also claimed.
He claimed he was required to clean stubborn blue marks left on the floor by pallets using Nilfisk scrubbing machines which were not designed to clean such marks. The company failed to heed complaints about this problem, he alleged.
In her judgment on Friday, Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy rejected his claim he had to engage in heavy duty cleaning work.
His role was to maintain cleanliness rather than to achieve cleanliness and use of the cleaning machine did not require heavy or awkward movement, she said.
She also rejected his claim of inadequate training.
Mr Steer, before starting employment in 1998 with Westport-based Allergen, had spent 40 years in a variety of different jobs, including more physically demanding jobs, she said.
He was in the Royal Navy, had run waste paper and tiling and timber harvesting businesses and was also a crane driver.
Before joining Allergen, he also leased and ran a pub in Newport for two years. He had moved to Newport from his native England 20 years ago.
‘Never refused overtime’
Mr Steer had a strong work ethic and never refused overtime, the judge said. His evidence was he might work up to 36 hours overtime in a week. On one occasion, between 2005 and 2008, he worked 19 twelve-hour shifts in a row.
While it was not heavy physical work, it was repetitive and physical and the level of overtime made his overall workload excessive, she said.
The judge found he had failed to bring his back problems to the attention of his employer and his failure to heed the signals emanating from his own back was “foolish”. A female co-worker, who did similar work, managed the same workload successfully by taking time off notwithstanding she suffered from osteoporosis, she noted.
Had Mr Steer done the same, he might have avoided the degenerative changes in his back to the extent they have become chronic.
She was satisfied Allergen’s negligence in failing to remedy the obvious problem caused by stubborn blue marks from pallets and in permitting him to work excessive hours, had accelerated and exacerbated pre-existing degenerative changes.
She awarded him a total of €64,000.
Liability for costs of the ten day case will be decided later.
