Museum Fall Compensation of €67,000 For Australian Tourist

At the High Court a museum fall compensation award of approximately €67,000 has been approved fell and injured his leg when he slipped and rolled down stone stairs at the National Museum of Ireland.

In awarding the compensation, Justice Bronagh O’Hanlon said the Dublin museum’s Portland stone steps had been shiny and slippery at the time that the tourist, Warren Baldwin (70), from Revesby, New South Wales, ruptured a leg tendon in the fall. Mr Baldwin experienced significant trauma, inconvenience and costs as a result of the accident.

On June 5, 2016 Mr Baldwin, on the second day of his holiday to Ireland with his wife, slipped and fell on the third step from the bottom of the staircase he was descending in the National Museum which is located on Kildare Street in Dublin. The steps date to 1890, when the museum, located in Kildare Street building was built.

It was ruled, by Justice O’Hanlon, that the accident happened due to negligence in not have a railing in place for a to guide a person down the entirety of the seven-step staircase.

She added that Mr Baldwin would not have sustained the injuries had there been a proper safe and safe handrail in place on the steps at the time the accident happened. The wrought-iron bannister that is there is topped by a wooden rail and comes to an end at the third-last step where it connects with a stone balustrade.

Legal representatives for the National Museum of Ireland said that there was no issues with the stairs when the accident happened. They added that there had been one handrail in place for people to be guided down the stair with. In addition to his they advised the judge that, with in excess of 470,000 people attending the museum during 2016, Mr Baldwin was the only individual who fell while descending the stairs.

Justice O’Hanlon made the holiday compensation award of €66,989 for Mr Baldwin and said that the museum did not fulfil it duty of care towards the safety of its patrons.