Two employees and an employer were yesterday ordered to pay just over Lm50,000 in compensation between them after the court ruled that they were to blame for the death of a man in November 2001.

The court, presided over by Mr Justice Joseph Azzopardi, heard how the incident took place on 23 November 2001 when Pacifico Micallef, who was 41 at the time, died following severe head injuries he sustained when he fell off a fork lifter while he was working at Allchem Limited.

The court heard how Mr Micallef was lifted to the ceiling on a fork lifter while his two colleagues – Saviour Persico and Vincent Pace – were playing jokes, fiddling with the fork lifter’s controls.

As a result, Mr Micallef fell off the fork lifter and plummeted two storeys. He died as a result of severe head injuries he sustained.

Handing down his judgement, Mr Justice Azzopardi found Allchem Limited 50 per cent responsible for the incident and Mr Persico and Mr Pace were each given 25 per cent of the blame.

Mr Justice Azzopardi said the employer was responsible for ensuring that each employee knows about the dangers at their workplace and the precautions that need to be taken against these dangers. Although testifying in court, Allchem Ltd director Joseph Micallef had said that he had no idea that his employees were playing such jokes at work, the court still found the company responsible for the employee’s death.

The court also found Mr Persico and Mr Pace each responsible for 25 per cent of the damages and awarded the Micallef family Lm50,058 in compensation.

He therefore ordered Allchem Ltd to pay Mr Micallef’s heirs Lm25,029 and Mr Persico and Mr Pace each to pay them Lm12,514.50.