Scenario

Tom works as a labourer on a building site. He is carrying some scaffolding pipes that are around 10ft long from one part of the site to another. During his journey across the site, he enters one of the buildings being renovated. He passes Dave, a plasterer carrying out some plastering to a wall. Dave's back is to Tom as Tom passes him. Tom turns a corner near to where Dave is working, and in doing so causes the scaffolding pipes to strike Dave. Dave loses his balance and falls out of the window and to the ground 20 feet below.

As a result of the fall, Dave sustains two broken legs and injuries to his head and abdomen. He sustains bruising to his back as a result of the strike by the scaffolding.

While lying on the ground, Dave is approached by a number of other site workers, one of whom is Ian. Ian notices that if he does not move Dave quickly, he might, in a moment, be run over as he is in the direct path of a dumper truck driving his way. The others try to attract the attention of the driver of the truck, but he is not looking where he is going. Ian decides at the last minute that he will drag Dave away. In doing so, he worsens the injuries Dave is suffering from substantially. As it turns out, the attention of the dumper truck driver is attracted just in time and he stops short of where Dave had been lying.

Dave makes a claim against the employers of Tom (for purposes of answering this question it is sufficient to know that employers are liable for the negligence of their employees when the employee in question is acting in the course of his employment, this concept will be dealt with later on in the module) for full damages, including loss of earnings and pain and suffering. All three named workers (Tom, Dave and Ian), as well as the unnamed dumper truck driver, are employed by different employers.

Discuss the duty of care, breach of duty, causation and remoteness of damages issues arising out of this scenario.

You should also consider whether Dave should be claiming against anyone other than Tom's employers, and, if so, whether and to what extent those claim(s) might be successful.