Injured Freeport worker awarded €62,645 for avoidable accident

Malcolm Cumbo was just 25 when he suffered injuries to his neck and back in the August 2007 accident

The absence of a communication system between workers at the Malta Freeport has been blamed for an incident which left a worker with a neck injury, nine years ago.

Judge Joseph R. Micallef ordered the port operator to pay €62,645 in compensation to Malcolm Cumbo, after finding that the lack of communication between Cumbo who was a truck driver, and crane operator Antoine Cassar was the primary cause of the incident.

Cumbo was just 25 when he suffered injuries to his neck and back in the August 2007 accident. Cassar had been loading a freight container on to a truck driven by Cumbo at the time, repeatedly slamming it down in an effort to get it to fit in a tight space.

But Cassar was unaware that every impact was causing Cumbo to hit his head against the roof of the cabin and his chest against the steering wheel. After falling out of the seat twice, Cumbo had felt pain in his back, shoulders and chest.

After the incident, Cumbo had informed his shift leader and was sent to the company nurse, who called an ambulance. Cumbo spent two weeks away from work as a result.

But the neck and back pain recurred in October that year and this time he was referred to physiotherapy. He returned to work in April 2008, taking his employer to court in August 2009 after it refused his claim for compensation for not providing a communications system.

The Freeport had hit back, pointing out that between October 2007 and April 2008, the plaintiff had gone to work on 56 occasions and was still a casual worker at the facility, albeit no longer a truck driver.

It vouched for the crane operator's skill, adding that the equipment it provided had all been well maintained.

After hearing both sides Mr. Justice Joseph Micallef held that the evidence clearly showed that there was no means of communication between the crane operator and the truck driver and that this was a major factor in the incident.

Neither was there a third person supervising the work, who would have prevented the injuries from being suffered in the first place.

The disability suffered was established at 5% and after taking into account the age of the worker, his pay and the extent of the disability, the court arrived at the figure of €62,645 in compensation.