€28,000 In Damages For An Injury Sustained At Work

Madam Justice Jacqueline Padavoni Grima has recently ordered a printing company, Seliter Ltd to pay one of its employees €28,000 for stapling his finger to a copy book. Mr Gilbert Micallef who was assigned the position of factory assistant with the defendant company in 2004, filed an application with the First Hall, Civil Court in order to claim compensation after permanently injuring his ring finger at work.

When the incident occurred, Mr Micallef was seated next to a particular machine which is known as a stitcher. The stitcher's staples were inserted wrongly by another machine known as a collator which eventually stopped working altogether. When Mr Micallef was leaving his seat to check the machine, his foot got caught in the stitcher's pedal and his hand slid under the stapling head, which in turn stapled his ring finger.