The Supreme Court of Victoria found Linton Shirreff, who was employed by Elazac Pty Ltd to supervise the refurbishment of a building in the Melbourne CBD, is now owed $1.26 million after he sustained a serious foot injury in an elevator shaft in 2002. Shirreff has subsequently been advised to amputate the foot.

Mr Shirreff was on a ladder inside the lift shaft attempting to fix the problem when he fell and sustained a devastating injury to his right foot.

Since that day, Mr Shirreff has suffered severe and unrelenting pain, and restriction of movement, in his right foot. He has been advised to amputate the foot, and he has accepted this is inevitable at some time in the future. As a result of this traumatic workplace accident, Mr Shirreff suffers severe stress, anxiety and depression.

Mr Shirreff, who has eight children, does not expect to work again. Along with his lawyers, Slater & Gordon, Mr Shireff successfully sued the company for negligence. Elazac denied that Mr Shirreff was an employee and also denied it breached its duty of care to him.

But Justice Robson ruled he was employed and said that while Mr Shirreff was partly responsible for the accident - which reduced his payout by 20 per cent - Elazac had breached its duty of care to him by sending him in to repair the lift with an injured hand.

"Elazac's breach of duty was a cause of the injuries he suffered," he found.

Shirreff sustained his injury when he was working on a ladder inside the lift shaft, attempting to fix a problem, when he fell. Robson ruled the lift shafts "were not serviced by qualified maintenance people".

"The lights in the lift shaft were not working and it appears the accident happened while Mr Shirreff was on the ladder with the lights out. I find this failure also contributed to Mr Shirreff's fall. If he lost his grip in the dark, which I found probably happened, it is likely he would have found it more difficult to save himself in the pitch black lift shaft."

Mr Shirreff also sustained a fractured right wrist, an injury to his spine that led to a loss of function and a psychiatric disorder including post-traumatic stress disorder.

Justice Robson awarded damages for pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life of $320,000 and $940,000 for loss of earnings.

Sources: Smart Company and The Age.