Question 4

Halim is an accountant who works for a furniture factory, Century Furniture Ltd, located in Sungei Kadut.

Century Furniture Ltd held a meeting with its employees and verbally told the employees at the meeting that the paint and the anti-slip strips on the stairs were wearing off and the stairwell would be closed for repainting for the next two weeks. Hence, during such time, the stairwell would be closed and all employees should use only the lifts to access all the floors.

Halim was on reservist duty on the day of the meeting and thus did not attend the meeting and was not given any notice of the stairwell closure.

Two days after the meeting, Halim returned to the factory at 6.30 am hoping to have an early start to catch up on work. Being a health fanatic, he always took the stairs instead of the lifts. That morning, when Halim opened the door to the stairwell, he noticed some rubble on the stairs and on the ground landing, but he decided to ignore the rubble and proceeded to run up the stairs. As he was climbing the stairs, he slipped on the rubble and fell face forward, injuring his wrists and legs.

Halim was taken to the hospital where the doctors assessed that he had fractured his right wrist and right knee. Halim would need to have a knee replacement. The doctors said that he would need to have at least six months of rehabilitation.

Discuss the following:

(a) Whether Halim can succeed in a negligence claim against Century Furniture Ltd for the injuries sustained;

(b) What defences (if any) that Century Furniture Ltd could raise against Halim in the negligence claim; and

(c) What Century Furniture Ltd could do to prevent further negligence claims from arising in similar situations in future.