Compensation for man injured during fire-fighting training reduced

A court of appeal has upheld a request by the director of the Civil Protection Department to reduce by more than half compensation to a man who was injured while training.

The court, presided by Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri and Judges Tonio Mallia and Joseph Azzopardi, has ordered the director of Civil Protection to pay €31,000 in damages to Pierre Farrugia, a company employee who was injured while on fire-fighting training.

The accident dates back to March 2002, when Pierre Farrugia, a senior technician at ST Microelectronics, fell from a height of two storeys while on training. During the drill, Farrugia and another three employees were assigned to carry a hose pipe.

Farrugia had noted that visibility was poor and, as he tried to advance with the hose, asked colleagues to unsnag it since it had become caught on something. As he was turning around, the man fell in a building shaft.

A private surgeon had certified that the man suffered from a permanent disability of up to 12%. However, a surgeon summoned by the court said that the disability was of 8%. The first court had liberated ST Micro Electronics and ordered the Director of the Civil Protection to pay more than €73,000 as compensation. The Director of CPD decided to appeal this decision.

The director argued that those who participated in the exercise knew that there would be open shafts. Farrugia, in return argued that these shafts should not have been open or should at least have had some sort of barrier. Barriers were in fact installed after the accident.

The court of appeal ruled that Farrugia was partly to blame, but the majority of the fault lies with the CPD. It ruled that the CPD director has to pay €31,320 in damages to Farrugia.