.Introduction and Discussion
The following events took place at the Bentley Legal Offices, downtown Vancouver, at 1168 Hornby Street. On the early morning of April 12, 2021, 6:30 a.m., Peter Liu visited the main quarters of Bentley Legal Offices, through the back door, in order to perform repairs on one of the photocopiers in the Stationery Room. The photocopier had been malfunctioning for the past
few days, and Peter Liu had been called in by the office manager, Natasha Snow, the previous day to address the problem. Peter Liu convened to arrive early for the repair since the photocopier had to be functional by 8:30 a.m., when the office personnel would arrive. At 8:30 a.m. that morning, a communication instructor had been invited to deliver two in-house four- hour sessions on Team Cooperation and Effective Oral Presentations, and she needed the photocopier urgently in order to set up her class materials.
Upon arriving at the restaurant, Peter Liu set to work: the photocopier was mounted on a small stand, with very little room underneath. In order to find a suitable position in that narrow space, Peter lied on the office floor face up with his head under the stand. As he was concentrated on his work, he did not hear the door open. The morning cleaner, Brad Tanner, who had entered the
office through the front door, came into the Stationery Room, which had wall-to-wall carpet. As the lights were dim, Brad Tanner did not notice Peter Liu’s legs stretched on the floor and stepped by accident on Peter’s right shin.
Surprised by the sharp pain, Peter reacted by lifting his head suddenly and hitting his forehead on the sharp end of the stand. Immediately, Brad helped him from under the stand and called 911 since Peter was complaining of a heavy headache. The ambulance arrived in less than 10 minutes. Brad Tanner, the cleaner, remained at the office to inform me what happened earlier.
Fortunately, Peter had managed to fix the photocopier prior to the incident; all that was left was to place the cover over the machine and press the ON button.
Upon arriving at the hospital, however, Peter’s ordeal was not over yet. As the two paramedics were transporting him on the stretcher, he was telling them about the incident. Hearing his story, one of the paramedics, Alana Smith, burst into laughter and mishandled the stretcher. Taken by surprise again, Peter lost his balance and slipped onto the hospital floor breaking his left arm.