A corporation worker who deeply cut three fingers of his right hand when using a power driven hedge clippers has been awarded more than £11,000 damages against Dublin Corporation. Mr Patrick Considine, of Coolmine, Saggart, Co Dublin, told Circuit Court President Mr Justice Frank Spain that the blades cut his fingers while he was clearing clippings from the top of a hedge in Herbert Park.
He told his counsel, Mr Anthony Barr, that hedge trimming had previously been carried out using a stable wooden platform. The corporation had introduced a system whereby the operator had to work from a ladder propped against a hedge. He said he had been under pressure to complete the work quickly.
Mr Justice Spain awarded Mr Considine £16,555 damages but reduced it to just over £11,000 because of contributory negligence.
