Cork Circuit Cork decided yesterday that although boxes of yarn being lifted by a man who injured his back were within recommended safety limits, their combined denseness and weight imposed an unacceptable level of strain on him. However, Mr Kenneth Reddy, of Sheeps Head, Bantry, was held to be 40 per cent responsible for an accident which occurred in the knitwear factory of Blarney Woollen Mills on June 29th, 1993. He was awarded £5,280 plus costs by Judge A.G. Murphy.
The court was told that Mr Reddy was employed in the stores section of the mills. He was asked to check a load of yarn in the knitwear factory and had to carry about 50 boxes of the yarn 75 yards to weighing scales to verify their weight against invoices.
He had a trolley to do this work initially, but there was a shortage of these and the trolley was taken from him. He continued working by carrying the boxes himself. He had completed about three quarters of the job when he felt pain in his back and was unable to continue working.