A former Canberra man said his foot looked like a "burst sausage" after it was crushed by an eight-tonne telehandler, a machine similar to a forklift.
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The man described intense pain and removed his boot to discover the bottom of his foot had burst out.
A workplace safety expert described the practice that led to the accident as a "time bomb waiting to happen".
Master David Harper, in a decision handed down in the ACT Supreme Court this week, ordered a project management company to pay the man $700,000 in damages.
The man's left foot was left deformed and will need fusion surgery on the arthritic joints in the future as a result of the accident in August 2008.
The man was employed as sub-foreman for Construction Control and worked on the building of offices at Canberra Airport.
On August 29, he agreed to help steady a load of steel rods which would be transported on a telehandler. The man's job was to walk in front of the vehicle, holding the load to prevent it from swinging from side to side.
A work safety expert later said the rods should have been moved via other means, including a truck or forklift.
The man tripped on uneven ground and the front, right wheel of the eight-tonne machine ran over his left foot, ankle and shin.
The man suffered a compound fracture dislocation of the left mid-foot and had surgery twice in the week that followed.
He returned to work in February the following year but quit in 2010 and moved to Victoria.
The joint had since become arthritic, required treatment with painkillers, and the man had difficulty working in his job as a carpenter.
But Construction Control denied it had been at fault, arguing the man's own negligence caused the injury.
Master Harper found the construction company's failure to provide a safe system of work caused the man's injury.
Master Harper said there were other options to move materials around the site, including loading a truck.
"I am satisfied that the defendant failed to carry out a risk assessment in relation to the method of moving materials around the building site by telehandler with an employee on foot to steady the load," he wrote. "I am also satisfied that the plaintiff was not provided with adequate training for the task he was performing when injured, and that the defendant should have ensured that the employee performing that task, if it had to be performed, held a ticket as a dogman."
Master Harper also found the man had not been guilty of contributory negligence.
"The plaintiff was engaged in an inherently dangerous task, and could not have been expected to do more than he did in relation to his own safety.
"The plaintiff is accordingly entitled to recover damages against the defendant, without reduction."
Master Harper awarded the man, now 38, $701,500, which included $130,000 for general damages, $28,500 in expenses, and $490,000 in lost earnings. The judge is yet to decide on legal costs.