Pedestrian gets insulation slab on head

Amsterdam Court of Appeal dated 29 September 2015.

In this case, a pedestrian walks along a footpath in Amsterdam with his wife. At one point, they pass a house where a removal is taking place. A mover drops insulation boards from the roof terrace, which another mover standing on the footpath has to catch. The boards are about 1×1.5 metres in size and coated with wood on one side. Just as the pedestrian and his spouse walk by, things go wrong and a slab lands on the pedestrian's head. The pedestrian suffers a head injury in the process and holds the mover liable for the damage.

The court looks at whether the mover acted unlawfully. This is assessed through the Basement Hatch criteria. First, the Court finds that there was an act of endangerment since the mover dropped insulation boards down from the roof terrace, which was at least two metres above the ground, and those boards were hard because of the wood edge. Moreover, pedestrians were likely to walk past the houses in the middle of the day. Furthermore, it had to have been foreseeable to the mover that the boards could hit pedestrians which could lead to serious injuries. Finally, according to the court, the mover had not taken adequate precautions.

The court therefore ruled that the mover acted unlawfully in principle. However, the mover still relied on the pedestrian's own fault. He argued that the pedestrian was looking down while walking and therefore did not see the insulation sheet. However, the court ruled that the pedestrian did not need to be aware that a plate could fall on his head, so he did not need to look up. Moreover, no warning was visible which should have led to extra vigilance. Therefore, in the Court of Appeal's opinion, there was no own fault.

TIP: If you create a clearly dangerous situation, warn bystanders of the dangers, for example by means of a fence, sign, ribbon or the like.