Pages On: Employer Negligence
Whether it’s shortcutting health & safety, or putting profit before people, a company can be outrightly negligent if it doesn’t have its workers best interests at heart. If your employer fails to provide you with the tools and knowledge to perform your duties which puts you in harms way, or has questionable management practices that leave you injured, you’ll likely be able to claim employer negligence compensation.
Production line worker suffers tinnitus after accident at work
Posted: 1 May 2016
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Head and Brain Injuries, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Workplace Injuries
A 54-year-old production worker has received compensation after hitting his head off of a steel conveyor belt, causing him to suffer from Tinnitus. Paul Kelly was awarded an undisclosed sum following the damage to his hearing and regular bouts of migraine in an accident in work. The operative was working alongside the conveyor belt, which was around 5 feet off the ground, when he hit his head against it. He had not been issued with any protective equipment and was therefore not wearing a hard hat. It was brought to light that…
Read MoreBirkenhead gardener wins compensation from council
Posted: 21 April 2016
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Workplace Injuries
A 55-year-old gardener from Birkenhead has been awarded £10,000 in compensation for an injury sustained whilst working for Wirral Borough Council. Gary Knight had been working for 33 years for the council when he developed a condition known as Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS), after excessive use of vibrating tools. The condition will be permanent, and Mr Knight has stated that he fears that it will get worse over time. Mr Knight had been using vibrating tools, such as strimmers and lawn mowers, almost every day in his job and…
Read MoreWhen is an employer accountable for psychiatric injury?
Posted: 8 May 2015
Posted in: Employer Negligence
In recent years stress has become the most common workplace ailment, replacing the previous ‘bad back’. Employers can face serious legal liability if they fail to handle the problem of workplace stress effectively. But the question must be asked, at what point is an employer legally accountable for psychiatric injury? A recent case at the Court of Appeal provided some helpful guidance regarding the extent to which employers may be responsible for injury caused to an employee in a one-off incident. The Yapp v Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) case…
Read MoreSoldier wins damages for injuries
Posted: 9 September 2014
Posted in: Armed Forces Injuries, Employer Negligence, Foot Injuries, Workplace Injuries
An ex-soldier has won more than £125,000 in compensation after suffering frostbite-like injuries during a training drill. John Billett (29) suffered permanent injuries to his feet after being forced to lie in freezing conditions during a leadership training exercise. Having left the armed forced in 2011, the MoD accepted 75% liability for Mr Billett’s life-changing injuries and Judge Andrew Edis QC awarded him £127,956 in damages. Mr Billett, a former Lance Corporeal in the Royal Logistics Corps, completed a tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2010 and was commended for…
Read More21yo amazon worker left with ‘middle-age’ back pain
Posted: 30 December 2013
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Repetitive Strain Injury, Spine & Back Injuries
21-year-old Rhys Owen has been left with chronic back pain, that he claims has aged him prematurely, after taking up a temporary position in an Amazon warehouse over Christmas. Mr Owen was a keen footballer, playing twice a week, but now suffers with severe back problems after working eleven and a half hour shifts on the warehouse floor. He is currently suing the internet giant, with Manchester solicitors warning that numerous staff members could be left in severe pain due to Amazon’s working conditions. Mr Owen, from Bedford, worked at…
Read MoreEngineering company receive £160,000 fine following crane death
Posted: 27 November 2013
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries, Wrongful & Accidental Death
Engineering company Assystem UK Ltd have been fined £160,000 after an electrician was crushed by a crane in their Lancashire factory. 51-year-old Liam O’Neill had been replacing a control cable on a platform when a crane suddenly moved and crushed him to death. Originally from Didsbury, Manchester, Mr O’Neill was immediately rushed to hospital, where he died of his injuries only a week later. Assystem UK Ltd pleaded guilty to safety failures at Preston Crown Court: including a failure to ensure the safety of staff. The prosecution was made under…
Read MoreEmployers flout the law, claims teachers’ union
Posted: 9 April 2013
Posted in: Employer Negligence, School Accidents
Teachers union, the NASUWT, has reportedly secured £15,610,924 compensation for members in 2012. The figure represented an increase of 24% compared to the 2011 figure of £12,625,509. The compensation was awarded for successful claims for unlawful deduction of wages, unfair dismissal, breach of contract, constructive dismissal and discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, disability, age and trade union activity. Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said: “It is clear from these cases that if employers operated good employment and health and safety practice, then teachers would not have…
Read MoreTax breaks for work health schemes welcomed
Posted: 26 March 2013
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries
The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s decision to give tax breaks on health initiatives at work is good for employers and their employees, according to a leading health and safety body. The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) had urged George Osborne to remove tax disincentives on employer-provided therapies and vocational rehabilitation programmes. In the budget, the Chancellor announced that the Government would introduce a targeted tax relief, so amounts up to £500 paid by employers on recommended schemes are not treated as a taxable benefit in kind. IOSH head…
Read MoreThe risks of food manufacturing
Posted: 14 March 2013
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Faulty Work Equipment, Finger Injuries, Hand Injuries, Workplace Injuries
A number of recent cases reported by the Health and Safety Executive have highlighted the risks faced by workers in the food manufacturing sector. Unguarded machinery leads to loss of thumb In one case, an employee at a crisp manufacturer in Newport lost his thumb while working with an unguarded machine. He was attempting to clear a blockage from a potato sorting machine when one of the gloves he was wearing got caught between the rollers and his right thumb was severed. Apparently, the usual company procedure was to use…
Read MoreEmployers should focus on employee well-being
Posted: 19 February 2013
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries
Employers who create healthy workplaces can reduce employee absence and boost productivity, according to a new TUC guide. The report, ‘Work and well-being’, aims to promote healthier working and help union safety reps identify what within their workplaces are making staff ill. Every year around 170 million working days are lost because people are too poorly to go into work – 23 million of these are down to work-related ill health and four million as a result of injuries suffered at work. The best way of tackling ill health is…
Read MoreMore potential asbestos victims
Posted: 10 February 2013
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Mesothelioma
Asbestos is often referred to as the hidden killer, and is responsible for the death of around 20 tradesmen a week on average. Despite a number of high-profile campaigns aimed at highlighting the extreme dangers associated with exposure to asbestos, there are still a distressing number of new prosecutions every year by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) against negligent employers who have failed to protect their workers from this deadly substance. Workers put at risk A recent incident reported by the HSE demonstrates how workers are still being negligently…
Read MoreBolton fabric firm fined over employee's injuries
Posted: 24 January 2013
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Faulty Work Equipment, Workplace Injuries
A Bolton fabric firm has been fined after an employee was badly injured when he was flipped around a large rotating roller. The HSE investigation found that the 39-year-old was trying to straighten a crease on a roll of fabric as it was being wound up when his clothes became caught in the mechanism. He was dragged around the roller three times, suffering cracked ribs and bruising to the side of his body. Trafford Magistrates’ Court heard that there were no guards on the machine to prevent workers from accessing…
Read MoreProperty developer sentenced over Manchester gas explosion
Posted: 30 November 2012
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Hand Injuries, Head and Brain Injuries, Workplace Injuries
A property development firm has been fined £100,000 following a major gas explosion that injured a worker and destroyed dozens of homes in South Manchester. Manchester Crown Court heard that a former hospital building was being converted into houses and apartments when a worker cut through a six-inch gas pipe in an underground tunnel. He suffered burns to his hands and face when gas inside the pipe ignited. About an hour later, gas that had continued to leak from the damaged pipe ignited again causing an explosion that destroyed a…
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