1966 Mar. 3, June. 10 [Ζΐ.ΚΙΛ, Ρ. ΤΚΙΛΝΤΛΙYl.l M>i:S & JOSEPHIDES JJ.] r H E O D O R O S PILLAKOUR1S, Tiironoitos Pfu.AKoimis Appellant-Plaint iff, v. /·. 1 M I L Co. I i n . BMFL CO. LTD, Respondent' (Chil Civil Defendant. Appeal No. 4554). ll'romn Negligence Hreaih of statutory duty -Employer's halfilin to his emplo\ees Inpuies .sustained h\ workman for compensation m toil Employer not negligent Statutory duty and Quarries Regulations l1)5S, regulations in Ilie totirse of his employment -Claim The Mines 63, 70, 143 ami 145 Iniployci'.s failure to t amply with regulation 70 anil possihh with regulations 143 and 145 -Did not contri bute to the accident Ihcreforc, the claim lor compensation of the plai.itiff-iinpclhmt workman fails >\ciih'icnt e S'tuuitnv Sec inula f)ut\ Ci\ il Hieach of Wrongs uhove. See under Ciul Μ nun·1) aho\e. Ihe lin.is of Ihe case ;ne set mil in the judgment of the < ourt Also the full t c l of regulations (>3. 70, 143 .ind 145 oi the Mines and Ouari ies Regulations, l°5ti, is set out in ιhe uidgmeni ol (lie C o u i l . I l·e Siipitme Court in dismissing the appeal b\ the plaintil i v\oi kin in . Kc'd. ( l ! n o ease o | negligence was made out the respondent-defendant. against
(2)As Kir the alleged hieach of statutory duly b> the em ployers (respondent-defendant): {
- a)On the evidenee it does not appear that there has been any violation of regulation 63 (supra). (/») As Iο legulalion 70. however, it appears to have been a bieaeli ihcreol. Hut we are of opinion that such non compliance by the employer did noi e o n l n b u l e to the -aitse ol the accident (() As to njnilulions Ι4Ϊ and 1Ί5 wc find no fault on the part ol the employers (respondent). Bui, even assuming 230 (966 that the respondent company was at fault in not proMar. 3, viding a supervisor during the working hours contrary June,10 to the aforesaid regulations 143 and 145 on the facts of this case, we are not able lo say that if the place was THEODOROS reasonably supervised as lequired by those regulations ILLAKOIRIS the accident would not have happened. EMLI CQ L i n Appeal dismissed. No order as to costs. Appeal. Appeal against the judgment of the District Court of Limassol (Malyali & Beha D.J.J) dated the 15lh November, 1965 (Action No. 781/64) whereby plaintiff's claim, for damages for personal injuries sustained by him in the course of his employment with the defendants, due to defendant's negligence and breach of statutory duty failed and he was awarded an amount of £160 under the' Workmens' Compensation Law Cap. 188. A. N. Lewis, foi the appellant. Chr. Demelriades, for the respondent. Cur adv. vult. The judgment of the Court was delivered by : ZGKIA, P. : Appellant-plaintiff was a workman employed in a quarry operated by the respondent company. In the course of his employment, when engaged in digging out the stones on a slope at Troodos on the 9th November, 1963, a piece of rock or stone, coming from above the place he was working, hit him on the foot, made him lose his balance and fall,on the ground and roll together with the falling rock downwards for a distance of 100 ft. Eventually he came to rest at an even place of the slope. He received injuries on his left leg and ankle and was treated in the hospital, and after his leg was put in plaster he left hospital in two days. His temporary incapacitation lasted up to 18th May, 1964, in which period he received £15 monthly. As a result of the injuries he sustained, he suffered 20% permanent partial incapacity. Appellant claimed over £2,000 special and general damages from the respondent company— 231 1966 ; ' (A) Alleging that the injuries sustained were due to the negligence of the respondent ; THEOIMIROS ΐΊι I.AKOURIS (B) And/or due to the breach of the statutory duty cast on the respondent company. Mar 3 n. b'Mi.i.Οι. ι.™. At the conclusion of the hearing of the appellant in the appeal we had intimated that no case for negligence was made against respondent and the latter was called only to address the Court on the second ground, namely, on the alleged breach of the statutory duty. The appellant'submitted that the respondent violated Re gulations 63, 70, 143 and 145 of the Mines and Quarries Re gulations 1958. Appellant in order to succeed in this part of his case he has-in the first place to show that(
- a)there was a breach of a statutory duty, in other words an act or omission, on the part of the respondent company, which contravenes any of the aforemen tioned Regulations ; and, in the second place, to show— (
- b)that the cause of the accident is attributable to the breach of such duty cast on the said company by a particular section of the said Regulations. For convenience wc quote hereunder the relevant regula tions of the Mines and Quarries Regulations, 1958. " 63. Before commencing work, either at the beginning of a shift or after blasting, the gang headman shall be the first to enter the working place and, until he consi ders it safe, he shall not allow any person to proceed thereto except those required by him to make the place safe. 70. When any mine or quarry face exceeds 10 feet in height and the inclination of such face exceeds 45° to the horizontal, all workmen employed on the top of or on Me slope of any such mine or quarry face shall be securtrV fastened by means of a safety rope one end of which .hall be tied around the waist of the workman and th(. other end shall besecured to an anchor at the top of the f ice. Anchors for this purpose may be of a tem porary nature but must be inserted into the ground and on no occasion shall a rock, boulder or any similar object be utilised as an anchor. 232 1966 143.—
(1)Some responsible person in authority shall be on duty whenever men are engaged in underground or surface prospecting, mining or quarrying". ar ^ ' ' _ THEODORCK PlLLAKOURIS P. "
- The manager shall provide for the safety and proper discipline of the men employed above and below ground, and shall appoint such persons as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of these" Regulations or any part thereof". On the evidence before us it does not appear that there was any violation of regulation
- As to regulation 70, however from the evidence it appears that the quarry face exceeded 10 ft. in height and the inclination of the face exceeded also 45 to the horizontal, so the use of safety rope was required according to regulation 70 above quoted. But in order to fix the liability on the company we have to ascertain whether such non-compliance did contributetothecauseof the accident. The appellant-plaintiff himself in his evidence stated : " There was no need for ropes. Theplace I was working was safe to stand on ". Furthermore, the injury which the appellant sustained, very likely was the direct result of a fall of the rock on his leg and if that is so it is difficult to say that had he been tied with a rope he would have escaped the injury he received. From the evidence it is not clear that his rolling down, in some way or other, contributed to his permanent partial incapacity. Therefore, on the evidence on record we are not satisfied that the failure by the employer company to comply with regulation 70 did contribute to the injuries of the worker in question. Now we come to regulations 143 and 145 of the Regulations. It appears from the evidence that a responsible person of the company visited daily the place where the quarry operations were taking place. By the nature of the work done we cannot say that a responsible person in authority should constantly be present during the digging out of the stones on the slope. But assuming that the company was at fault in not providing a supervisor during the working hours, still, on the factsofthis case, weare not able to say that if the place was reasonably supervised the accident would not have happened. 233 EMEL C O * LTD Ι')ίιί. Mar. J, June, ID THRODOROS PniAKouRis I'MH ο» Μη The rock or stone which came down from the slope has not been identified, neither its size is known nor the place from where it started to fall has been traced. So, on this point we are altogether in the dark. The appellant, when j n l e r v j e w e ( j by the director of the respondent n c w a s fjrst company, Chariklis Demetriou, soon after the accident, and questioned as to how the accident occurred, he replied " A stone loosened by frost rolled down and hit me ". The direc tor was not cross-examined on this point. From paragraph 3 of the statement of claim it is clear that the plaintiff attri buted the falling of the stone to the working of a drilling machine, operated by a compressor, the hose of which passed 10 ft. above the place the appellant was working and it was alleged that the vibration of the hose, through which com pressed air was passing, moved out of its place a neighbouring stone or rock and made it fall on the workman in question. On the evidence adduced, however, this contention was not at all substantiated and the Court below rightly rejected it. It has to be observed that there is no medical report issued on the day the accident took place and it does not appear that the Inspector of Mines and Quarries was informed with a view to conduct an enquiry as to the cause of the accident. In the circumstances we think that this appeal should be :''· missed. order as to costs. Appeal dismissed. No order as to costs.