A volunteer firefighter who fell down an open shaft during a training drill has had his monetary compensation more than halved by an appeals court. 

Pierre Farrugia had previously been awarded more than €70,000 in damages after the fall left him with an eight per cent permanent disability. But he will now receive just €31,320, with an appeals court noting a miscalculation and finding Mr Farrugia had a degree of responsibility in the incident. 

Mr Farrugia, a senior technician at ST Microelectronics, was one of four trainees to enter a smokehouse as part of a training exercise back in 2012. 

Handling a high-pressure water hose, he had just been about to turn towards his colleagues when a step in the wrong direction sent him plummeting down an open shaft, two storeys deep.

In a civil action for damages, the First Hall, Civil Court had cleared ST Microeconomics of any responsibility for the accident and had ordered the director of the Civil Protection Department to pay Mr Farrugia €73,240 in damages.

The CPD director had appealed the ruling, arguing that in spite of having been warned of the presence of open shafts at the training base, Mr Farrugia had turned in the wrong direction, against instructions.

The court of appeal, presided over by Mr Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri together with Mr Justices Tonio Mallia and Joseph Azzopardi, partly agreed.

It found that “the party that suffered damage had himself contributed to the damage by imprudence, lack of diligence or thought," and that the court therefore "had discretion to assess the grade of contribution to the damage.”

Bearing this in mind as well as the fact that the original sum had been calculated on a mistaken salary, the court reduced the compensation payable to €41,760, of which only €31,320 was to be paid by the CPD director.  This represented the 75% liability attributed to the appellant. The remaining 25% was to be borne by Mr Farrugia himself on account of his contributory negligence.