A CLEANER who fell while on the job at the Esplanade three years
ago is suing its management and the cleaning company which hired
her.
Madam Norliah Ismail, 44, blames the theatre's dim lighting for
her fall and is accusing the two parties of failing to provide her
a safe workplace.
Damages aside, she wants the Esplanade and cleaning company Chye
Tiam Maintenance to foot her medical bills.
She has gone from holding that cleaning job and moonlighting as
a school bus attendant and a cook to spending most of her time in a
wheelchair.
'It is very difficult for me to walk, sit or sleep, and my
family must take care of me all the time,' she told The Straits
Times.
The Esplanade and Chye Tiam Maintenance are fighting the lawsuit
on the grounds that the accident was a result of her own
carelessness. They say the staircase has always been well lit and
noted the presence of a handrail where she fell.
They add that although she claimed to have been injured in the
fall, she had not sought medical treatment immediately.
In her court documents, she denied any hesitation in seeing a
doctor.
Her statement of claim indicated that she was assigned to clean
a theatre at about 5am on March 19, 2006.
Coming down a flight of stairs to get to the theatre, she
claimed she was unable to use the handrail as she had a cleaning
cloth in her right hand and a trash bag in her left.
--ST