CLAIM FOR £2,000

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 994, 10 June 1930, Page 10

CLAIM FOR £2,000

PHOSPHATE COMPANY SUED FOR DAMAGES WORKMAN BADLY BURNED The defence of the Challenge Phosphate Company. Ktd., to the claim for £2,000 damages by a workman, John Kinloch Simpson, who on February 25 last year was severely burned through a drum of acid and phosphate collapsing over him, was continued before Mr. Justice Smith in the Supreme Court today. Mr. Fleming appeared for plaintiff, and Mr. Northcroft, represented the defendant company. The superintendent of the company, Wm. C. Brown, said that until two months ago no suggestion that the company was responsible for the accident by negligence was made. On inspecting the drum just after- the accident, he found nothing to justify an inquiry, as the men did not consider anything abnormal had occurred. Discussing the criticism levelled at the first aid appliances of the works, witness maintained these materials were adequate. There were two emergency boxes, and blankets and sheets were available at the foreman's house. No matter what care was taken, pits of phosphate would occasionally fall out, though the reason was obscure, said witness under cross-examination! He agreed that the first aid appliances were in the chemist’s laboratory, which was locked at night, but he did not think that when a man was injured the locked door stop the workmen from getting the materials knowing they were there. He refuted the suggestion that there was only one roll of cottonwool available. The opinion that the best possible first-aid treatment had been given the injured man by his workmates was expressed by Dr. E. O. Rowley, of Otahuhu, who was called to the accident. The victim was wrapped in blankets, and men stood round him with blankets to prevent draughts reaching him. The works foreman, Albert Fowler, said the men had been warned of the danger of going in front of open dens, and on occasions he threatened to sack them for not taking proper precautions. —