Kwan Yuk Lin v. Ying Wah Civil Engineering Co Ltd and Another

HCPI 869 / 2007

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

PERSONAL INJURIES ACTION NO. 869 OF 2007

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BETWEEN

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Before: Deputy High Court Judge Au in Court

Dates of Trial: 8,9 & 10 October 2008

Date of Handing Down Judgment: 11 December 2008

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CORRIGENDUM

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1.Paragraph 25 of the Judgment should be read as follows:

“She therefore picked up the Plank with her hands holding respectively each of its ends, and pushed the Plank forward in front of her at one go with force.  As she did that, she suddenly fell into a manhole (“the Manhole”), which was underneath the Plank.”

2.Paragraph 55 of the Judgment should be read as follows:

“I accept Mr Charles Wong’s submissions that, Ying Wah (as employer and as occupier of the Site) and Maeda (as occupier of the Site) were negligent in failing to take effective measures to prevent workers from falling into the Manhole, in particular, in failing to properly and securely cover the Manhole and to provide sufficient instructions, warnings and notices to the workers regarding the risk of filling falling into the manholes.” 

3.Paragraph 62 of the judgment should be read as follows:

“Although Maeda had also provided a foreman on the Site to overlook the entire project, Ying Wah as the employer of Madam Kwan had a direct duty to ensure that proper and reasonable safety measures had been put in place to prevent the accident from happening.  It was also the person who had caused (through the CCTV works subcontractor) the Manhole cover to be removed and to be temporarily covered and bythe inadequately marked and secured Plank.”

4.Paragraph 95 of the Judgment should be read as:

“Given the medical evidence set out above, I am satisfied that Madam Kwan would be less competitive in the job market by reason of his herconditions.   Having taken into the relative mild degree of her conditions, I would make an award of HK$100,000 under this head.”