Archive for May, 2008

Published in Truckstop News - October 2007.

This article deals with the basic elements that need to exist for a claim for personal injury compensation to be made following an accident.

The accident must have happened because of the negligence or fault of another party, by whom you were owed a “duty of care”.  This means that there must be a sufficiently close relationship between you and the other party for them to be aware that their actions (or lack of action) may have an impact upon you.  This is normally the case when the other party is your employer, a company to whom you are delivering or another road user.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a warning to Everest Ltd, after workers were repeatedly put at risk of falling while working at height.

The HSE inspected properties where roof refurbishment was being carried out by the company.  Its employees were working on mobile scaffolds and platforms without having suitable protection to prevent them from falling.  There was a lack of handrails and parts of the equipment were not properly set up.

At a hearing in the Luton Magistrates Court, the company pleaded guilty to breaching Health and Safety Law, including the Work at Height Regulations 2005, and was fined £6,000.  The company was also required to pay almost £16,000 in legal costs

In 2007 over half of the workers who died on construction sites were engaged in refurbishment work, with the number of fatal accidents increasing by 61%.  Also during that year working at height was a factor in the deaths of 23 construction workers.

A major insurer has recently carried out a study that revealed alarming statistics about the number of people whose jobs already involve an element of risk, but who go to work either drunk or with a hangover.  They do so in the full knowledge that this could increase the risk of a work accident being suffered by either them or their colleagues.

25% of construction workers and 15% of wholesale and agricultural workers admitted to working with a hangover at least once a week.

Of the people who took part in the study, 61% of those involved in manufacturing and 41% of construction workers indicated that it was harder to concentrate with a hangover.  With 25% and 33% respectively, admitting to making mistakes that needed to be rectified the following day.

A child who suffered brain damage when he was kicked in the head while playing on a bouncy castle has won his accident compensation claim against another child’s parents, who had hired the inflatable play area for a 10th birthday party in September 2005.

Sam Harris, who was aged 11 at the time, suffered the injury when a taller and heavier boy aged 15 was attempting a somersault, and he caught the left side of Sam’s head with his heel.

Sam’s skull was fractured, resulting in a very serious and traumatic brain injury, and he now needs 24 hour care.

The total compensation payment will be assessed at a later stage, but is likely to exceed £1m.  However, the parents have been given the right to appeal the decision.

The Health and Safety Executive have levied a fine of £10,500 against Weldex UK Ltd after their employee was blinded in one eye following an accident at work, which was caused by inadequate work equipment.

The work accident occurred when the employee was undertaking grinding tasks in August 2007.  The grinding disc he was using shattered, and fragments penetrated the visor he was wearing and entered his left eye.  He subsequently lost the sight in that eye because of the injury.

The company pleaded guilty to three breaches of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

The HSE has repeated its warnings to employers, concerning their need to properly maintain work equipment and to provide their employees with adequate training.