Stepladder man in line for major payout

10:40am Saturday 5th July 2008

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An elderly school caretaker, who was badly injured when he fell off a stepladder which he wasn't properly trained to use, has won the right to a substantial payout.

A judge accepted that, while most people would be expected to have some experience of using ladders, it didn't mean 73-year-old Anthony Gower-Smith was not entitled to compensation.

The "less-obvious risks" associated with climbing a ladder made adequate training "more, rather than less important", Judge Christopher Moger QC told London's High Court.

Mr Gower-Smith toppled from the top of the 6ft ladder while removing a card display and staples from a wall in the gym at Awbridge Primary School in January, 2004.

He fractured his skull, broke his cheekbone, split his kidney and spent time in the intensive care unit at Southampton General Hospital.

Last Friday's ruling that Hampshire County Council, as owners of the school, were 75 per cent responsible for Mr Gower-Smith's accident entitles him to substantial compensation, which could run into six figures.

Mr Gower-Smith, a former garage proprietor, of Sylvan Drive, North Baddesley, whom the judge described as "an honest witness" and an "experienced, intelligent, self-reliant man",was held 25 per cent responsible for his own misfortune by the judge.

That was because he climbed onto the top platform of the ladder when he knew he should not have done, which increased the risk of it toppling.

Judge Moger said Mr Gower-Smith, who worked part-time at the school, had been put through three "induction training" sessions on how to do his job.

But he ruled that the risks of positioning the ladder side-on, as he did, had not been explained to him in enough detail and Mr Gower-Smith had come away from the training sessions "without having any understanding of the risk and the precautions required".

Ruling that his training had been "deficient", the judge said that, "notwithstanding his self-confidence and readiness to trust to his own judgement", this, together with "his lack of awareness of the extent of the danger posed", had been responsible for him placing the ladder as he did Judge Moger added: "People like Mr Gower-Smith, an experienced, intelligent and self-reliant man, might very well be thought, and might themselves think, that the risks of use of a stepladder were obvious."

But he concluded: "That is not so, in my judgement, of the risk posed by positioning the ladder parallel to the wall rather than at right angles to the work, wherever possible.".

It "would have helped" if Mr Gower-Smith had been given a practical demonstration of how to use the ladder, the judge concluded.

David Kirk, executive county councillor for children's services, said: "While we are very sorry that an accident happened to Mr Gower-Smith while he was in our employment, the county council is also extremely surprised and disappointedwith the court's verdict.

"While the judge acknowledged that training had been given to Mr Gower-Smith, he found that there was insufficient emphasis placed on the positioning of the stepladder even though this guidance is in our manual, which is routinely reviewed to reflect new HSE regulations.

"Hampshire County Council takes health and safety very seriously and last year we were among a number of local authorities who signed up to the HSE's sensible-risk campaign, which aims to balance benefits and risks with a focus on reducing real risks.

"The campaign is also about enabling individuals to understand that, as well as the right to protection, they also have to exercise responsibility."