A Bortex Clothing employee had been awarded compensation €14,000 after a court found that he had suffered a permanent disability caused by conditions at his place of work.

The judgment was delivered by Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco in the First Hall of the Civil Court following a writ filed by Vincent Zammit.

Mr Zammit told the court that he suffered a permanent injury to his back as a result of an incident on November 1 2001 when he was ordered to lift heavy boxes.

Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco said that it was the duty of every employer to guarantee safety at work. It had resulted that Mr Zammit had been told to carry large and heavy boxes on his won. Had another employee assisted him, the risk of his sustaining an injury would have been considerably less. There was no safety officer on the place of work to assist Mr Zammit, nor was there any machinery to lift the boxes.

A company representative told the court that although there were fork-lifters in certain sections of the factory, these machines were not available in that part of the factory where Mr Zammit was working.

The court concluded that Mr Zammit suffered injury to his back because his employer had failed to provide him with a safe place of work. He had suffered a 15% disability as a result.

Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco therefore ordered Bortex to pay Mr Zammit €14,088.79 in damages