GH - NARH v. VOLTA ALUMINIUM CO., LTD.

JUDGMENT OF CECILIA KORANTENG-ADDOW J.

The plaintiff claims damages for personal injuries sustained in the course of his work and loss of earnings. The claim is based on allegations of common law negligence and breach of statutory duty.

The plaintiff was a mason employed by the Volta Aluminium Co., Ltd. He is a man aged 36 years old. The defendants are smelters carrying on business at a factory at Tema. On 1 December 1972, the plaintiff was detailed to do some masonry work at a furnace room in the factory. He was to remove some cracked burnt bricks from an existing wall and replace them with new whole bricks. On the wall where the plaintiff had to do the work was a metal sheet measuring twelve feet by sixteen feet. It was a heavy iron corrugated beam which was fastened to the wall and held by iron bolts. The plaintiff was attached to the utility maintenance [p.187] section of the factory. Other employees from the metal service department were charged with the duty of removing the metal sheet from the wall to give access to the plaintiff to reach the wall.

Aryeequaye, the mechanical supervisor who represented the defendants in the case, said he deputed his men to cut the bolts which were holding the metal. Before he did that, he asked the plaintiff who was nearby to make way and he did. Aryeequaye was called by the men when they had cut through the bolts. Two men stood at one end of the beam and the supervisor stood at other end with another man. As they started to lower the beam, they realised it was much heavier than they expected, so the supervisor called out to the plaintiff to bring a piece of wood to support it. But as they were shouting, the plaintiff did not fully comprehend what was said to him so he rushed to assist with his bare hands. As the men held the two ends, the plaintiff went to the middle. The plaintiff's intervention did not ease the burden. The men still found the beam so heavy that they let go their hold but they got out of harm's way. The result was that the whole iron beam crashed down on the plaintiff and he was trapped underneath it. The mechanical supervisor still remained at his end, and he got hold of a stick, pushed it under the beam, raised it, and pulled out the plaintiff. He sustained serious injuries. He broke his back and became unconscious. The medical men call this type of injury compression fracture in the lumbar vertebrae, or hyper-flexion injury of the spine. He was admitted to the Valco Hospital for treatment.

JUDGMENT OF CECILIA KORANTENG-ADDOW J.

The plaintiff claims damages for personal injuries sustained in the course of his work and loss of earnings. The claim is based on allegations of common law negligence and breach of statutory duty.

NARH v. VOLTA ALUMINIUM CO., LTD.

Areas of Law

JUDGEMENT