November 5th, 2009
A food manufacturing company has been ordered to pay out £94,523 in fines and court costs after a worker suffered a severe injury to his hand.
Ludmila Jurkevica, 27, from King’s Lynn, was attempting to clear a blockage in a packaging machine when three of his fingers got crushed.
Tulip Packaging of Warwick was fined £65,000 and ordered to pay costs of £29,523 over the injury, which occurred in November 2007.
Speaking after the verdict at Norwich Crown Court, Health and Safety Executive inspector Steven Gill said: "This was a nasty incident which could have been avoided had the company checked how safe the machinery was and taken precautions to protect staff.
"Machines like these can be incredibly dangerous and cause serious injury."
In a similar incident heard in court last month, Orica UK of Wigan was fined £10,000 after an employee lost two fingers when trying to remove a blockage from a machine.
Tags: Food Manufacturer, Food Manufacturing, Health And Safety, Health And Safety Executive, Lost, Manufacturing Company, Norwich Crown Court, Packaging Machine, Two Fingers, Warwick, Wigan
Posted in Personal Injury News | No Comments »
November 3rd, 2009
A welder from Liverpool has won £140,000 in compensation after he contracted terminal cancer from working with asbestos.
Ronnie Cadwallader, 76, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in November 2007 after spending part of his working life stripping asbestos lagging off pipes, turbines and boilers.
His wife Ann told the Livepool Daily Post: "Ronnie was so fit and healthy, always running and never smoked or drank. All of a sudden he was really poorly with no energy.
"It was horrific."
His two-year struggle for compensation was made more complex by the fact that the two firms he had carried out such work for were no longer in business.
But Mr Cadwallader has finally been offered compensation by insurance firm Zurich, which was the insurer for one of his former employers, Carolina Engineering.
The Health and Safety Executive has recently launched a campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of working with asbestos aimed at tradesman and maintenance workers.
Tags: Asbestos Compensation, Boilers, Cadwallader, Health And Safety, Health And Safety Executive, Insurance, Insurance Firm, Insurer, Liverpool, Maintenance Workers, Mesothelioma, Pipes, Stripping, Struggle, Terminal Cancer, Tradesman, Turbines, Wife Ann, Zurich
Posted in Personal Injury News | No Comments »
November 2nd, 2009
A hospital trust is facing a compensation claim after it was fined £10,000 when a vulnerable patient in its care fell out of a first-floor window and suffered serious injuries.
North East Essex Primary Care Trust admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act after Charles Preston, a partially-sighted 68-year-old, suffered breaks to his shoulder, pelvis and coccyx when he fell.
The incident occurred at the Clacton & District Hospital in March 2008.
Following the court ruling, Mr Preston has announced his intention to sue the trust.
Kim Wicks, the Health and Safety Executive inspector who investigated the case, said the accident could have been avoided.
"The control measures, in this case window restrictors, to prevent this risk are easy to fit and maintain," she said.
Last week, the Herald reported that student Jonathan Harvey was going to sue Plymouth City Council after he fell 20ft through a broken fence on council property.
Tags: Broken Fence, Case Window, Charles Preston, Clacton, Coccyx, Compensation Claim, Control Measures, East Essex, Health And Safety, Health And Safety At Work, Health And Safety At Work Act, Health And Safety Executive, Hospital Trust, Jonathan Harvey, Pelvis, Plymouth City Council, Primary Care Trust, Safety At Work, Section 3
Posted in Personal Injury News | No Comments »
October 30th, 2009
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned employers that they must adhere to regulations regarding working at height following an accident in which a man broke his spine.
Philpott Demolition and Recycling employee Gediminas Vasiliauskas had been removing roof tiles from an aircraft hangar when the tragedy occurred in April 2007.
He was not wearing a safety harness and when he lost his footing, he fell from the roof of the building. The victim had to have a metal plate inserted into his spine and lost his sense of taste and smell.
He was also unable to work for a year after the accident.
Tim Philpott, the owner of the business, was fined for breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was given a substantial fine.
HSE Inspector Nicola Surrey said: "Mr Vasiliauskas was lucky to survive this incident, which could have been avoided if his employer had taken precautions to ensure his employee’s safety."
Under Work at Height Regulations, every employer should make sure that work is not carried out at height when it can be successfully carried out at ground level.
Where work at height is carried out, employers are legally obliged to take adequate steps to prevent falls.
Tags: Adequate Steps, Aircraft Hangar, Demolition, Footing, Health And Safety, Health And Safety At Work, Health And Safety At Work Etc Act 1974, Health And Safety Executive, Nicola, Norwich, Quot, Recycling, Roof Tiles, Safety At Work, Safety Harness, Sense Of Taste, Spine Health, Surrey, Tragedy, Working At Height
Posted in Personal Injury News | No Comments »
October 23rd, 2009
A firm in Scotland has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after one of its employees was seriously injured by a piece of machinery.
The unnamed man had been filling a Mobile Explosives Manufacturing Unit at Orica UK in Muirside when the accident occurred in February 2008.
He had been pouring emulsion into the machine when it suddenly blocked. As he reached in to clear the blockage, it unexpectedly started again and the man lost two of the fingers on his right hand.
An investigation by HSE officers found that the plant’s equipment was not properly guarded and there was no safe way to clear blockages that did occur. Orica UK was fined £10,000 for breaching health and safety regulations.
HSE Inspector Colin Hutchinson commented: "This was a serious and avoidable incident. All companies conducting similar operations must learn from this incident by making sure their safety procedures are both sufficient and rigidly followed."
According to statistics published by the HSE, 299,000 reportable injuries occurred at work between 2007 and 2008, resulting in the loss of six million working days.
Tags: Blockages, Colin Hutchinson, Emulsion, Explosives, Fingers, Health And Safety, Health And Safety Executive, Hse, Orica, Reportable Injuries, Safe Way, Safety Procedures, Safety Regulations, Scotland, Statistics, Unnamed Man, Workplace Accident
Posted in Personal Injury News | No Comments »
