A former Limerick senior hurler has told the High Court he felt “emasculated and mentally destroyed” because of the effects of a workplace injury he sustained almost seven years ago, and that he was “not the man he was, nor the one he hoped to become”.
Mark Keane gave evidence on Friday at the hearing of his case against his former employer Johnson & Johnson care (Ireland) over the incident in September 2018, when he sustained injuries after going to the aid of a coworker who caught his arm inside machinery at the firm’s factory at the National Technological Park, Plassey, Co Limerick.
An accomplished hurler, Mr Keane won three consecutive All-Irelands with Limerick under 21s between 2000 and 2002 and played senior from 2000 to 2006.
The 43 year old alleges Johnson & Johnson was negligent and breached its duty towards him on September 10th, 2018, while he was working as a technician making contact lenses.
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At the High Court on Friday, Mr Keane said he suffered a “huge deformity” to his hand during the incident, has not worked since, and still suffers pain in his right little finger that runs up his arm to his neck and back down.
Mr Keane has told the court he was on the factory floor when a colleague caught their hand in a machine on the line next to him and started “roaring” in pain. Mr Keane said he ran to help his colleague but because the man could not free his arm, his body formed a barrier between the plaintiff and a release lever which could have freed the arm.
The plaintiff has told Mr Justice Paul Coffey that he tried to reach into the machine but got his own hand caught on some internal gridding or railing and the right hand of his little finger was bent backwards.
He then took the weight of the lid, top and plate of the machine and managed to hold it ajar for 30-60 seconds until co-workers arrived with a crowbar and freed the coworker.
Mr Keane’s lawyers, HOMS Assist, submit that this incident caused the plaintiff to suffer sustained, continuous and severe personal injury, as well as loss, damage, inconvenience and expense.
On Friday, Mr Keane, a recovering alcoholic of many years, told his barrister, Andrew James Walker SC, that he was now on social welfare due to the incident, could not afford counselling any more and that he suffered with his mental health.
Mr Keane outlined to his barrister various surgeries, physiotherapies, consultations, medical treatments, scans and injections he has undergone in the intervening years but says he is still left in pain.
The plaintiff said that the company had stopped paying him in December 2022 and that he could not get another job with them or elsewhere, despite his efforts, and is now on invalidity pension.
Mr Keane said he was “demoralised, hurt, angry, made feel worthless ... it’s not just about me, it’s about what they’ve done to my family”.
“When I was an able-bodied person I loved it, I loved working there, loved what they had given me and what I could provide. I could put my daughters through college, there was something in the fridge and I could pay my bills,” he said.
Mr Keane said his insecurity is “not nice, because I came from a place where I was in a hole in the ground, to better myself. I was very, very happy and secure in myself”.
He said that “in thirty seconds my whole life, my kids’ and wife’s life was turned upside down and then to be treated like a pariah because you saved a person is not nice”.
Mr Keane is claiming he was “let down” by Johnson & Johnson which failed to provide him with a safe place of work and a safe system of work. He is seeking damages from the company.
The plaintiff said he was a recovering alcoholic and that while he did get some pain injections he did not want to take strong oral medication and used paracetamol, as his priority was staying sober, “to protect myself”.
He said he knew of “horror stories” about people taking powerful medication and becoming addicted to it.
Mr Keane said he was “lucky” to be off alcohol for years but some days were a “massive struggle”.
“If you add in the pain, I’m only two feet away from being back in a hole,” he said.
The case continues at the High Court next week.
