March 21st, 2010
Here at Pryers solicitors in York we have just represented a claimant who was a prison officer. He suffered personal injury during the course of his employment. Whilst accompanying one of his colleagues who was driving a vehicle within the prison grounds, the claimant had to open a security gate and whilst he was standing by the gate, his colleague, attempting to drive through the entrance, trapped the claimant between the vehicle and the gate causing a significant shoulder injury.
Liability for the accident was disputed by the employer’s representatives who maintained that the claimant was the author of his own misfortune.
We successfully argued breaches of Health and Safety regulations and the claimant received compensation of almost £14,000.
Tags: Breaches, Claimant, Colleague, Colleagues, Health And Safety, Injury Liability, Misfortune, Personal Injury Claim, Prison Grounds, Prison Officer, Safety Regulations, Security Gate, Shoulder Injury, Solicitors
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March 15th, 2010
Pyers recently r
epresented a claimant who was employed in a children’s nursery. She suffered an accident whilst required to use a ladder in order to gain access to reset a defective electrical consumer unit. The ladder slipped and the claimant fell some distance suffering multiple minor injuries.
Liability and the value of the personal injury claim were both disputed by the employer’s insurers who maintained that the claimant was the author of her own misfortune.
We successfully argued breaches of Health and Safety regulations and the claimant received compensation of £5,400.
Tags: Breaches, Claimant, Health And Safety, Ladder Fall, Minor Injuries, Misfortune, Personal Injury Claim, Safety Regulations, Wins, Woman
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October 13th, 2009
Sugar company Tate and Lyle has been fined for breaching health and safety regulations after an incident in which an employee was killed.
Keith Webb, 53, was sub-contracted to work at the firm’s sugar refinery in Newham in March 2004 and had been unloading raw sugar from a ship using a bulldozer.
However, part of the crane holding the machine in place suddenly snapped, causing the bulldozer to plunge onto the ship and then into the sea.
Mr Webb was killed instantly and Tate and Lyle was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Its investigation found that the company had failed to properly manage staff and to provide safe access to the ships.
Tate and Lyle has now been fined £270,000 plus £90,000 costs for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
HSE inspector John Crookes said: "In failing to identify and address these inadequacies before they led to the death of a worker, Tate and Lyle’s performance fell well below what could be reasonably expected of them."
Employers must act to remove where possible hazards that could cause accidents or death. If this is not carried out to a satisfactory standard, victims or their families may be eligible to claim compensation.
Tags: Breaches, Bulldozer, Health And Safety, Health And Safety At Work, Health And Safety At Work Act, Health And Safety At Work Act 1974, Health And Safety Executive, Inadequacies, John Crookes, Keith Webb, Mr Webb, Newham, Raw Sugar, Safety At Work, Safety Regulations, Sugar Company, Sugar Refinery, Tate And Lyle, Workplace Accident
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October 9th, 2009
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has fined and prosecuted a company that admitted exposing its workers to hazardous fumes from soldering equipment.
Employees at Turbo Power Systems’ plant in Gateshead had been working for up to five-and-a-half hours a day with rosin solder flux, the fumes of which are known to cause asthma.
The exposure occurred between May 2007 and May 2008 and many employees began to suffer problems with their respiratory health.
As a result, the HSE took the company to court for breaches of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. It was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay costs after admitting to safety failures.
HSE inspector Andrea Robbins said it had been "entirely foreseeable" that inappropriate risk assessment and control of chemicals would put the workforce at risk.
Rosin is a natural product which comes from pine sap. Fumes from rosin solder flux are a well-known cause of occupational asthma.
Tags: Andrea Robbins, Asthma, Breaches, Chemicals, Control Of Substances Hazardous To Health, Half Hours, Hazardous Fumes, Health And Safety, Health And Safety Executive, Health Regulations, Hse, Occupational Asthma, Respiratory Health, Risk Assessment, Safety Failures, Sap, Soldering Equipment, Turbo Power, Workforce
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April 16th, 2009
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned firms that their safety procedures must be up to scratch after a company was fined and prosecuted for two worker accidents.
SDC Trailers of Mansfield pleaded guilty to breaches of regulations in both cases.
In one incident, a man was hurt when an unsecured load fell from a lorry and landed on his leg, while another suffered crush injuries when the same thing happened only weeks later.
HSE inspector Maureen Kingman said: "The unloading of trailers in which loads have not been properly secured places those involved at considerable risk."
She added that this case shows how serious failing to comply with health and safety regulations can be.
According to figures published by the HSE, six million working days were lost to injuries at work in 2007-08, with 299,000 reportable injuries occurring.
Victims of such injuries may be eligible for compensation if it can be proved that they occurred as a result of negligence.
Tags: Accidents, Breaches, Crush Injuries, Health And Safety, Health And Safety Executive, Hse Issues, Kingman, Lorry, Lost, Negligence, Reportable Injuries, Risk, Safety Procedures, Safety Regulations, Sdc Trailers
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