Andrew Carey
[email protected]
OXYGEN tanks used in the emergency department at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) were stored in a laundry cage outside the ambulance bay in what was described as a “completely unsafe system” the High Court has heard.
Hospital porter, Anthony Mackessy, a 33-year-old father of three from Limerick, injured his back while changing oxygen tanks for nursing staff at the emergency department in March 2012.
Mr Mackessy told Mr Justice Tony O’Connor that part of his duties included moving boxes, assisting with patients and replacing the oxygen tanks at the emergency department.
Empty cylinders would be brought to the ambulance bay and replaced with full cylinders that were stacked in a laundry trolley.
Mr Mackessy said that he bent down “on his hucksters” and reached in to the back of the trolley to grab the cylinder and take it out. In doing so, he dropped the cylinder and felt an injury to his back.
Consultant engineers reported that the method of storage and working routine, which has since been discontinued, was “an unsafe system of work” and allowed staff adopt a “poor posture” when moving the cylinders.
Mr Mackessy, who worked as a porter for 15 years for the HSE, agreed that he had received manual handling training four months earlier but argued that it was not suitable for handling and manoeuvering cylinders stored on a laundry trolley.
He was subsequently certified by his GP as being unable to attend work for 12 weeks after the accident.
During cross-examination, Mr Mackessy accepted that he had injured his back in a car crash in 2005 and that in October 2010 he was also unable to work for four weeks due to back pain.
He argued that he had substantially recovered from the injuries suffered in the car crash and that the incident in the hospital had further aggravated his back pain.
During a brief adjournment on the first day of hearing, a settlement was agreed and Mr Justice Tony O’Connor said he was striking out the case with costs to be paid by the HSE.
