ATAA AND OTHERS v. ASHANTI GOLDFIELDS CORPORATION AND OTHERS

JUDGMENT OF MENSA BOISON J.

On 19 November 1963 a very distressing accident occurred in the gold mines of the first defendants at Obuasi as a result of which one Kofi Boateng died. The said Kofi Boateng was employed by the first defendants as an underground workman. On the aforesaid date, the deceased and other miners were being hauled up from the 23rd level station of a mine shaft to the surface, when the cage carrying the men ran away and dropped into the bottom of the flooded shaft. The cage was submerged, and needless to say, the deceased and the other occupants died.

In consequence of the death the defendants paid compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1963 (Act 174), to the first plaintiff for herself and on behalf of the four infant plaintiffs, as widow and children respectively of the late Kofi Boateng. The first plaintiff, however, now brings this action in negligence for the benefit of herself and the four infant plaintiffs as dependants of the deceased against the first defendants or their servants (the second, third and fourth defendants) or both. The third and fourth defendants did not bother to appear, and the second defendant was never served with the writ.

The plaintiffs charged the defendants with the following negligence:

(1) Wrongfully permitting persons to enter and travel in the single unbalanced cage.

(2) Operating on an engine with a defective mechanical brake whose effectiveness was completely lost.

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(3) Operating on an engine whose dynamic brake was defective and unstable.

(4) Failing properly to manage and control the engine so as to avoid the accident.

(5) Failing to give the proper signals thereby causing and or contributing to the accident.

Apart from denying the issue of negligence and damages, the first defendants raised a plea in bar to the present proceedings by virtue of section 24 (3) of the Act, which, though the most crucial issue, I intend to deal with last.

The plaintiff's third witness was a senior inspector of machinery employed at the Government Mines Department and with some ten years' experience he impressed me as very able in his field. On behalf of his department he conducted an inquiry into the cause of the accident the very next day after the occurrence as required by the mining regulations.

He found that the deceased and his mates were carried in a single cage which should normally be used in carrying goods. In his opinion it was unsafe to allow persons to ride in a single ca