Torts
PRACTICE QUESTION FOR TORTS
John worked as a car/truck mechanic for a small business in Darlinghurst Sydney. He was a newly trained mechanic and had just commenced work at a new job last week. The day he started work he was given the task of repairing a truck engine. This required John to disassemble the engine with specialised tools. Mechanics who worked on these large engines were normally given protective head gear to prevent any piece of engine striking them in the face should a piece of engine break off during repair. John’s boss said he had lent his friend the only mask he had but this should be returned to him in a few weeks. John’s boss had asked John if he could repair this engine as this had been an urgent job and couldn’t wait any longer as the customer was getting impatient. John’s boss also told John to be very careful when repairing the engine as his face was not protected. That same day John had to pull the engine apart and just as he was trying to cut out a screw, the screw flew out of the engine bay and into John’s eye causing John to be temporarily blind. He was rushed to hospital and the doctor informed John that the injury had caused him permanent blindness in his right eye.
John’s boss went to visit John at home and tried to find out how a screw happened to strike John in the eye. When John explained how he went about repairing the engine, John’s boss explained that John went about it the wrong way and should not have tried to cut out a screw that was difficult to remove. John’s boss said that had John opened up another section of the engine first, he would not have had to try to cut out the screw causing him injury. John explained that that was how he was trained at TAFE and was only following the instructions given to him by his instructors. John’s boss disagreed with this method and decided to write a letter to the head of the TAFE colleges to complain.
John had to have a number of operations to repair damaged tissue to his face
John worked as a car/truck mechanic for a small business in Darlinghurst Sydney. He was a newly trained mechanic and had just commenced work at a new job last week. The day he started work he was given the task of repairing a truck engine. This required John to disassemble the engine with specialised tools. Mechanics who worked on these large engines were normally given protective head gear to prevent any piece of engine striking them in the face should a piece of engine break off during repair. John’s boss said he had lent his friend the only mask he had but this should be returned to him in a few weeks. John’s boss had asked John if he could repair this engine as this had been an urgent job and couldn’t wait any longer as the customer was getting impatient. John’s boss also told John to be very careful when repairing the engine as his face was not protected. That same day John had to pull the engine apart and just as he was trying to cut out a screw, the screw flew out of the engine bay and into John’s eye causing John to be temporarily blind. He was rushed to hospital and the doctor informed John that the injury had caused him permanent blindness in his right eye.
John’s boss went to visit John at home and tried to find out how a screw happened to strike John in the eye. When John explained how he went about repairing the engine, John’s boss explained that John went about it the wrong way and should not have tried to cut out a screw that was difficult to remove. John’s boss said that had John opened up another section of the engine first, he would not have had to try to cut out the screw causing him injury. John explained that that was how he was trained at TAFE and was only following the instructions given to him by his instructors. John’s boss disagreed with this method and decided to write a letter to the head of the TAFE colleges to complain.
John had to have a number of operations to repair damaged tissue to his face