According to the Health and Safety Executive the number of people killed at work fell to a record low between 1^st April 2009 and 31^st March 2010.  In this period 151 workers were killed which is a considerable improvement compared with the average number of deaths for the previous five years of 220 per year.

In part it is possible that the figures could be due to a decrease in commercial activity in some sectors because of the recession.  However, some improvement may well be down to the advancement of good practice in the workplace.

Car component manufacturer Dura Automotive Body and Glass Systems UK has been fined £30,000 following a prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive as a result of a mechanised robot striking worker Michael Brewer.  Mr Brewer suffered personal injury to his voice box and near paralysis along the side of his body.

The cause of this work accident was that it had become common practice during maintenance work to watch the operating sequence of the robotised machine from inside the guarded area rather than from outside it.  The risk assessment by the company had failed to consider the risks to the safety of workers posed by the industrial robot operating within the guarded area.

Pirelli Tyres has received a fine of £9,000 after admitting a breach of health and safety regulations when a forklift truck hit a workman at the company’s Carlisle plant, resulting in him suffering a broken leg.

Alan Miller, a contractor working on the site, was hit from behind by a pallet on the forks of a forklift truck as he walked through one of the departments at the plant.  The Health and Safety Executive prosecuted the company for failing to manage the risks to pedestrians in the area where the accident happened, including failing to advise contractors of the safety measures required to make sure their safety.

In a personal injury compensation case decided on 19^th May 2010, Mr Swain recovered compensation in respect of his slip and fall due to mud on a construction site footway against both the main construction site contractor and the sub contractor who had day to day responsibility for maintaining the site.

The trial judge held that the subcontractor with responsibility for groundwork on the building site was liable for the personal injuries suffered by Mr Swain due to the failure to implement an effective system to ensure that a footway was kept clear of mud.

Published in Truckstop News August 2010.

In this month’s issue Steven Hinchliffe of the specialist Personal Injury Compensation firm Hinchliffes Solicitors will consider more “READERS’ SUCCESSFUL ACCIDENT AT WORK CLAIMS”

Continuing his review of successfully completed accident injury claims, Steven Hinchliffe looks at 2 defective work equipment situations experienced by readers of Truckstop News that ultimately lead to an award of personal injury compensation.

All of the accident victims mentioned in this series of articles are clients of my firm, Hinchliffes Solicitors.  They have kindly given their permission for the disclosure of their details, and in particular of their real life experiences of incidents resulting in personal injury claims, and the steps taken to make a successful accident compensation claim.  All of these clients contacted my firm after seeing our details in Truckstop News - and some of the names referred to may be familiar to you.

Published in Truckstop News July 2010.

In this month’s issue Steven Hinchliffe of the specialist Personal Injury Compensation firm Hinchliffes Solicitors will consider “THE IMPORTANCE OF STRONG MEDICAL EVIDENCE IN SUCCESSFUL PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS”

What is the role of medical evidence in personal injury claims and why is it so important?  To make a successful claim for personal injury compensation, you need to prove three things.  Firstly, that someone else had a legal responsibility for your safety and welfare; secondly that they failed in their responsibilities towards you; and finally that you suffered an injury as a direct result.  No matter how serious your injuries are, you will only be able to recover accident compensation if the first and second criteria are satisfied.

In the personal injury compensation case of Tomasz Krysztof Kmiecic v Nadia France Isaacs decided on 12th March 2010 a householder was found not liable under statutory regulations or in negligence when a casual worker fell and sustained injury at her property.

The claimant claimed damages for personal injury after falling from a ladder while trying to repair a leaky garage roof at the defendant’s home.  The defendant prohibited the claimant from gaining access to the roof by the window in her son’s bedroom as she did not want him to walk through the house on the white carpets.  Subsequently it was decided he should use a step ladder that was in the garage, but it was too short and whilst climbing the ladder, it slipped and the claimant fell sustaining injury.

A car mechanic, who injured two of his fingers while repairing a police car, recently won around £400,000 in personal injury compensation from the Metropolitan police.  Alexander Darg had claimed in the region of £1M in compensation after lacerating himself on a knife which was stuck down the driver’s seat of the police car he was working on.

Mr Darg was hurt in 2002 at Limehouse police station in London, where he was examining an airbag fault.  His wedding ring had to be cut away and he needed a number of stitches to close the wound.  A couple of years after the accident he had to give up work after being diagnosed with “complex regional pain syndrome”.

In May 2009 in the in the work related personal injury case of Smith v. Northamptonshire County Council, the House of Lords decided that an access ramp which was outside a disabled wheelchair users home did not amount to “work equipment” within the meaning of the Provision and Use of Equipment Regulations 1998.

Mrs Jean Smith was working for the Council as a driver and carer. On 1 December 2004 she visited the home of wheelchair bound Mrs Gina Cotter in order to take her to a day centre.  It was necessary for Mrs Smith to take Mrs Cotter from the property down a wooden ramp situated outside the patio doors.  When doing this the edge of the ramp gave way causing her to stumble and suffer personal injury.  The Council denied liability.

In the recent personal injury compensation case of Osei-Antwi v. South East London & Kent Bus Co Ltd decided by the Court of Appeal in January 2010, the Court reversed an earlier decision by a judge who decided that a pedestrian was guilty of contributory negligence by standing lawfully on a pavement when she was hit by a bus which had unlawfully mounted the same pavement.

The rear of a bus, while turning a corner, mounted the pavement and hit the female pedestrian.  The judge in the lower Court found that notwithstanding the woman was standing on a designated pavement area she was very close to the road and had not kept a proper look out for the bus.