A Civil Court yesterday ordered a company to pay its former employee nearly Lm27,000 compensation after it ruled that it was solely responsible for an accident at the workplace during which the man was injured.

Mario Theuma, who at the time of the incident was 42 years old and was employed with All Services Limited, was seriously injured.

The court heard how the incident took place at 2pm on 24 May 2000 when another employee was utilising a fork lifter to unload pellets with boxes of empty bottles from a truck and place them inside a store.

While the fork lifter was being operated, Mr Theuma was assigned to take note of the number of bottles that were being transported into the storeroom.

In order to gain access to the storeroom, the fork lifter had to be driven over a ramp which, with use, became increasingly slippery, especially when it would have rained. On the day of the incident, it had drizzled and when the fork lifter was being driven over the ramp, it skidded and hit Mr Theuma, who was trapped between the machine and the truck from where the empty bottles were being unloaded.

As a result of the incident, Mr Theuma suffered serious injuries.

The court heard how the management of All Services Limited had been, on several occasions, informed about the ramp which was too slippery and would have been safe had it been grooved but, nonetheless, nothing was done about it. It was only after the incident had taken place that the ramp was grooved, making it safer.

In its replies to the charges brought against it, the company said that the ramp had been there for a number of years and nothing had ever happened. However, the court, presided over by Mr Justice Tonio Mallia, said: “The fact that the system adopted had been in use of years without incident is not proof that the system is safe.”

Handing down his judgement, Mr Justice Mallia said that the incident took place due to the poor state of the ramp.

Mr Justice Mallia, after taking into consideration the government’s plans to increase the retirement age, liquidated the damages to Lm26,752.

Dr Chris Cardona appeared for Mr Theuma.