A demolition worker, whose bleeding arm had to be bandaged with paper and duct tape because there was no first aid kit on site, has been awarded €35,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court.
Judge Terence O’Sullivan heard that Darren Strawbridge later had to drive himself to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, Dublin to have what was described as a significant wound examined and treated.
Mr Strawbridge (41), a labourer from Ventry Park, Cabra West, told his counsel Conor Kearney that he was beckoned to enter the building through a broken window pane from a scaffolding surrounding on the upper floor of the building.
His right elbow was lacerated by a shard of glass that was allegedly sticking out of the side of the window frame as he did so. The shard of glass caused a deep laceration through the sleeve of his jacket, the court heard.
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Mr Kearney, who appeared with Tracey Solicitors, told the court that following the accident the method of removing windows from the building being demolished was altered.
Mr Strawbridge, who sued his employer Barnmore Demolition and Civil Engineering, of Ashbourne Town Centre, Co Meath, and Drogheda, Co Louth, told the court the accident happened in December 2015 while a four-storey red-brick office block was being demolished on the corner of Dawson Street, Molesworth Street and Dawson Lane in Dublin 2.
He had later complained that the muscles controlling his right elbow were not as strong as those in his other arm.
Judge O’Sullivan said the practice of going in through a surround frame of a window from which glass had been removed was not a good or safe one. He considered Mr Strawbridge a very solid witness and said he believed his account of how he was injured. He awarded him €35,000 damages and Circuit Court costs.