Chef awarded €74,000 over back injury he suffered when mixing sauce

Michael Bolton

A commis chef who sued over a back injury, which he said occurred as a result of having to mix a spaghetti marinara sauce in a confined alcove next to a restaurant kitchen, has been awarded €74,000 by the High Court.

Niall Govers (40) of Nicholaus Court, Dundalk, Co Louth, sued Canurie Ltd, trading as McGeough's bar and restaurant, Dundalk, over the incident in which he put his back out on November 7th 2020, in his employer's restaurant.

He claimed that as a result of having to carry out the sauce mixing in a crouched position in an alcove due to lack of space in the restaurant, when he stood up he popped his back.

He claimed there was a failure by the defendant to comply with statutory and regulatory obligations in failing to give him training, including manual handling training, in relation to the use of the 5kg commercial blending equipment and in failing to carry out a risk assessment of this process.

The claims were denied.

Justice Conleth Bradley awarded him €74,052, including loss of earnings of €41,815 and general damages of €45,000. However, he reduced the general damages by 35 per cent for contributory negligence, giving €29,250 for that figure.

The judge found the defendant had established contributory negligence because Govers affirmed that he was able to work when he had hurt his back lifting weights in the gym the previous day.

He therefore failed to have any proper or sufficient regard for his own safety.

He had also failed to act on previous instructions of another employee in making the marinara sauce by the use of a blender in the manner shown to him.

He therefore failed to take any or any sufficient steps so as to avoid the accident, he said.

The judge said Govers and the kitchen porter had been asked to prepare a marinara sauce for lunchtime that day, and they initially set up in the kitchen but were told "in expletive language to get out" by another employee as the kitchen was busy.

So they did the blending in an alcove or nook in the hallway beside the kitchen.

Govers claimed he had to squat while using the blender and could not stand straight.

He stated that he was in a squatting position throughout this 15 minute process and described his position as half squatting over a stool but not sitting on it.

He said he was not in pain while doing it but when they were finished, he said he stood up and turned right to put the blender on top of a freezer and heard and felt his back pop and immediate pain.

As he was on split shift work, he went home after lunchtime but did so with difficulty with what was normally a five to six minute walk taking 25 to 30 minutes.

He did not return and lay in bed all day before a couple of days later going to hospital where he stayed for three days.

On being discharged, he used two crutches and wore a Velcro back brace for in or around two years after the accident and was in an extremely disabled condition, he said.

He is still not able to work because he is in too much pain, cannot really move or lift anything and his mobility is reduced, he said.

In his judgment, Justice Bradley was of the view that his injuries come within the category of moderately severe soft tissue back injury.