Renfrewshire Council ordered to pay nurse who was hit on head by falling chisel £88,000

Local authority bosses who accepted their employees’ actions caused a staff nurse to suffer debilitating injuries have been ordered to pay her more than £80,000 in compensation.

Renfrewshire Council will now have to give a total of £88,693 to the woman following proceedings at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

Judge Lord Braid made the ruling in a written judgement issued at Scotland’s highest civil court on Tuesday.

The mum of two took the council to court following an incident at her brother’s home in Linwood, Renfrewshire, on October 6, 2021.

The court heard how the woman, who was then aged 48, was “suddenly and without warning” struck on the head by a chisel which fell 30 feet from the roof of the house.

Lord Braid also heard how the orthopaedic nurse had bent down to wipe dirt off her trainers when the implement, which was 2.5 feet long and weighed around four kilograms, smashed off the right side of her head.

She was taken to hospital for treatment and in the weeks following the incident, the court heard how she didn’t sleep well and vomited.

She was also confused as well as “putting things in the wrong place and unable to speak the words that she wanted to say.”

She had pain in her right ear, paraesthesia, and numbness on the right side of her face. After going back to hospital, medics found she had sustained a small fracture to the right side of her skull.

The court heard how almost four years after the incident, the woman still experiences persistent headaches approximately four times per week.

She also suffers from tinnitus in her right ear, which she experiences 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Medical experts who have assessed her tinnitus have graded it as being four out of five, with one being the least severe and five being the most severe.

The court heard that the woman says her tinnitus is a “loud, persistent fuzzy noise” which has had a “profound impact on her life.”

Lord Braid wrote that she has difficulty sleeping and is unwilling to take sleeping tablets due to her job. The court heard that she is now “constantly tired and irritable.”

Lord Braid added: “Both she and her husband described how her personality has changed, whereby she has gone from being a happy-go-lucky, laid-back, unargumentative person to someone who suffers from panic attacks and anxiety, who gets very uptight and who flies off the handle at her husband and children at the least thing.

“She is unable to do all the household chores she previously did, including washing, shopping, cooking, and dealing with the household finances. Instead her husband has had to do most of those tasks.”

The court heard that she has also been unable to go back to working in her former position and she is now working on an elective orthopaedic ward.

Lawyers for Renfrewshire Council admitted liability for the incident. Its legal team accepted that the accident was caused by its employees who were working on the roof at the time of the incident.

In the judgment, Lord Braid found in the circumstances that the woman was entitled to £88,693.

He wrote that the evidence presented to the court reflected the impact the accident had on her life.

He added: “I agree with counsel for the pursuer that these brackets between them paint an accurate picture of the effect the accident has had on the pursuer – her concentration and memory have been affected, her ability to work is reduced, she is fatigued and there has been interference with her social life and leisure activities, all stemming from her tinnitus, which in turn stemmed from the severe blow to her skull.

“I have awarded the pursuer a total of £88,693, being solatium of £68,693 inclusive of interest to date, and £20,000 for her services claims.”