SUPREME COURT Power Board Employee Claims £3300 Damages

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30286, 12 November 1963, Page 11

SUPREME COURT Power Board Employee Claims £3300 Damages

Since he had suffered an electric shock while working on power lines in April, 1962, his right wrist had been very weak and he had very Little power in his right hand, Norman William Anderson told a jury in the Supreme Court yesterday. Anderson, aged 49, a linesman, is claiming £3OOO general damages and £314 special damages from the Rangiora Borough Council and the Canterbury Electric Power Board. Mr H. W. Thompson appears for Anderson, Mr K. A. Gough for the Borough Council and Mr R. P. Thompson for the power board. Mr Justice Wilson is on the bench. In his opening address Mr H. W. Thompson said that on April 17, 1962, Anderson was employed by the North Canterbury Electric Power Board doing work for the Rangiora Borough Council. They were replacing power lines which had become worn. He was a member of a gang which was cutting the wires and rolling them up. Anderson and his gang were to attend to wiring almost directly outside the power board’s premises, said counsel. The Borough Council’s foreman was in attendance and he gave an assurance that the lines were dead, and marked the places which were to be cut. Anderson was on the jib of a truck and his task was to take the lines as they were cut and keep them clear of the Post Office's lines beneath. While doing this. Anderson received a violent electric shock and fell from the jib.

His fall was partly broken by the foreman, but he hit the ground, counsel said. In evidence Andersom said that he attended hospital and was later sent home. Several days later his right wrist and shoulder became sore. Since then he had had much medical and physiotherapy treatment and had been off work from April to October apart from three weeks. He still has considerable pain in his arm and shoulder, especially at night, said the plaintiff. Hi s weight had fallen from 18st to 15‘jst. Anderson said that he was not wearing rubber gloves as the line was supposed to be dead. Had he known it to be alive he would have handled it more carefully. Borough council employees did not wear gloves when working on low tension lines. It was not usual to wear a safety belt on a jib, the plaintiff said. William Alan Liddell, an orthopaedic surgeon, said that Anderson was now wearing a splint on his wrist, and without this he could not use his hand. Anderson would continue to have pain which would certainly limit his activities in the future, said the witness.