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.
Car worker awarded compensation following exposure to chemical fumes
Posted: 26 April 2016
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Workplace Injuries
A 59-year-old car worker has been awarded compensation following the inhalation of chemical fumes whilst at work. The worker, who has remained unnamed, was working on a production line at a car factory in Solihull when he noticed a strange smell. He started to feel light-headed and passed out on the concrete floor. The worker felt tightness across his chest and experienced breathlessness. First aid workers initially administered oxygen, but when it was clear that his condition was not improving. He was rushed to a local hospital where doctors diagnosed that…
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Coalville woman receives compensation following death threat
Posted: 12 April 2016
Posted in: Criminal Injury and Assault, Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries
A woman has been awarded £40,000 from Leicestershire County Council following a serious incident at her place of work. 60-year-old Diana Gruber, from Thringstone, Coalville, had been working as a kitchen assistant at the Coalville Resource Centre in Leicestershire for 10 years. The centre was being run to offer assistance to adults with learning difficulties, and Mrs Gruber had enjoyed working with both her workmates and visitors alike. It was during a session where she was serving teas at a hatch to people, when a male visitor approached her and started to…
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Port operator fined £300,000 over worker death
Posted: 30 January 2016
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries, Wrongful & Accidental Death
Port operator, Clydeport has been fined £300,000 at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court following the death of 22-year-old worker Craig Logan in February 2015. The operator pleaded guilty to several breaches of health and safety laws, including failure to make risk assessments and ensure safe working practice. These led to Mr Logan being crushed to death on a crane at a coal terminal in Hunterston, Ayrshire. Mr Logan had gone to inspect the unloader crane cab when it had stopped working. It was revealed that Clydeport had failed to ensure that the cab was…
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Six-figures for family of worker killed in garage accident
Posted: 8 December 2014
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries, Wrongful & Accidental Death
The family of a man who died while working at a garage has received a six-figure sum in compensation. Stevie Conway was working in a chemical tank at the Diamond Wheels Tech site in Dundee’s Baird Avenue when the accident happened in 2011. Mr Conway’s partner, Angela Garthley, launched legal action against the firm following his death. She claimed that the firm had been negligent and that the accident could easily have been prevented. The case was meant to go to the Court of Session in Edinburgh last Friday, (5…
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Inspectors concerned about hospital standards
Posted: 6 May 2014
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Medical Negligence
Inspectors have raised concerns following a recent inspection of Ninewells Hospital in Dundee. The hospital had been provided with a set of nine requirements to address following an unannounced Healthcare Environment Inspectorate visit earlier in the year. However, a recent inspection found that some of these areas are still being neglected by the hospital. The NHS Tayside facility has been informed that they must have addressed all nine areas within one month. An action plan has been drawn up to ensure that this is carried out, with areas for improvement including cleaning, handwashing…
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Accident that crushed worker's legs leads to £10,000 fine
Posted: 25 April 2014
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Leg Injuries, Workplace Injuries
A Stirlingshire firm has been heavily fined for serious Health & Safety breaches after a worker’s legs were crushed by a one tonne mould.The injury occurred when a worker, with more than 35 years of experience, was using an overhead crane to lift a mould. As the mould was moving, it struck him below the knees, crushing his legs between the casting box and a cast iron platform.An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that although risk assessments were in place relating to operations at the foundry,…
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Aberdeen Firms Fined for Worker's Serious Fall Through Floor
Posted: 21 April 2014
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Falls from Heights, Spine & Back Injuries, Workplace Injuries
Two construction firms based in Aberdeen have been fined for serious safety failings after a worker fell and fractured his spine in several places.The worker had been replacing a floorboard over a hole in the first floor of a hotel in Aberdeen when he fell nearly four metres to the ground floor. Having suffered eight fractures and two broken ribs, he had to undergo physiotherapy to learn how to walk again and will have permanent damage to his lower back.Following in investigation into the incident, the Health and Safety Executive…
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Super Puma that killed sixteen in accident “fell like a torpedo”
Posted: 7 January 2014
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Faulty Work Equipment, Workplace Injuries, Wrongful & Accidental Death
An accident inquiry has been launched after sixteen men died in a helicopter crash in the North Sea. One eyewitness of the accident said that the Super Puma helicopter “fell like a torpedo” through the sky, with the rotor blades coming down several seconds after the fuselage of the helicopter. The crash occurred in 2009, but many family members are still awaiting answers. The Bond Super Puma came down just off Peterhead, and all fourteen passengers and two crewmembers lost their lives. Immediately after the accident, a rescue boat was launched to…
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Fife council fined following chainsaw accident
Posted: 5 November 2013
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Foot Injuries, Workplace Injuries
Fife council has received a major fine after janitor Craig Davies lost his toe while chainsawing a tree that had blown down in high winds. The 40-year-old janitor was seriously injured at work after a large branch from the tree fell onto his foot and trapped it against the trunk. Despite three major operations, doctors were unable to save one of his toes. Fife council has been fined £20,000 after failing to carry out basic risk assessments surrounding the use of chainsaws. Mr Davies was called to Canmore Primary School in…
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Firm admits failures following River Clyde deaths
Posted: 15 October 2013
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries, Wrongful & Accidental Death
After a tug boat sank in the River Clyde in December 2007, killing three crew members, the owner of the vessel has admitted to health and safety failures. The ‘Flying Phantom’ had been trying to guide a cargo vessel to a dock when it sank directly opposite Clydebank College in West Dumbartonshire. The tug boat capsized when thick fog rolled in and the boat’s towing winch had not released quickly enough, causing the boat to capsize by the vessel it was pulling. Three crew members lost their lives in the accident:…
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NHS Lothian fined following patient attack on staff member
Posted: 12 September 2013
Posted in: Criminal Injury and Assault, Employer Negligence, Head and Brain Injuries, Workplace Injuries
NHS Lothian pleaded guilty last week to two charges of employer negligence after one of their nurses was violently attacked by a schizophrenic patient in March 2009. The nurse had thirty years of experience with difficult patients and managed to break free, but sustained injuries to her head after the patient ripped out her hair and “violently” shook her head. Magdalene Anderson was attacked from behind in the patient’s home in East Lothian. The patient, who has suffered thirty years of psychiatric illness, had previously attacked another NHS nurse with a knife. Due…
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Occupational Stress
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries
Employers have a duty of care to their employees and this is implied into all employment contracts. As a result all employers must have regard for the health and safety of everyone that works for them, which means that they must work with their employees to ensure that there is no undue pressure and stress at work. It therefore follows that if your health and safety is compromised because of the actions of your employer then you could be entitled to bring a claim for compensation. Claim Against Your Employer…
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Workers’ Memorial Day Increases Awareness With New Website
Posted: 25 April 2013
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries, Wrongful & Accidental Death
Sunday 28th April is Workers’ Memorial Day, the day on which we remember the thousands of lives lost or affected due to workplace accidents or ill health. The day also coincides with the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, which is marked by the International Labour Organization to help raise awareness of occupational accidents and industrial diseases around the world. Workers’ Memorial Day is an internationally recognised event which gives people across the world the chance to remember those who were killed or seriously injured while…
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Firm fined after worker suffers burns
Posted: 3 April 2013
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries
Aluminium powder reacted with water in an industrial vacuum cleaner to create hydrogen gas that exploded and burned a worker, a court has heard. A Staffordshire research and development company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at its site. A 27-year-old employee suffered burns to the top of his body and was in hospital for two weeks. He was off work for three months before returning to work for the company. Stafford Magistrates’ Court heard the specialist vac had been used to clean up…
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Healthy workplaces are key to employee wellbeing
Posted: 13 March 2013
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries
Employers should devote more time and effort to ensuring that their workplaces are as healthy as possible for workers. That is the advice of a recent TUC guide, aimed at promoting healthier working and helping trade union safety representatives identify what within their workplaces is making staff ill. Sickness absence levels According to TUC figures, around 170 million working days are lost every year because people are too ill to go into work. Approximately 23 million of these days are down to work-related ill health, and four million are caused…
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Solar panel firm fined for worker fall
Posted: 12 March 2013
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Falls from Heights, Workplace Injuries
A Dorset company specialising in the installation of solar panels has been fined for safety failings after a worker fell from a roof in Hampshire. The employee stepped through a roof light and fell three more than metres before landing on a raised platform. This broke his fall and he managed to escape uninjured. The company was installing 68 solar panels on the flat roof of the building over three days. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) established that a scissor lift had been provided for employees…
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Helping apprentices tackle a hidden killer
Posted: 19 February 2013
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease
Apprentice tradespeople across Clydebank are set to benefit from a new HSE e-learning package to help them better understand the risks from asbestos. Approximately 4,000 people across Great Britain die each year due to asbestos-related diseases. Asbestos can be found in many buildings built or refurbished before 2000, and the group of workers now most at risk is the 1.8 million tradespeople who routinely disturb the fabric of buildings during their work. HSE Principal Inspector Archie Mitchell said: “Many young tradespeople believe that, because asbestos is no longer used in…
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Fife construction firm fined for dangerous scaffolding
Posted: 18 December 2012
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries
A Fife construction firm has been fined for exposing workers to fall from height risk by using unsafe scaffolding. Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard that work to construct a single storey house extension had reached the stage where roof tiling, the installation of a skylight and other work to make it wind and watertight remained outstanding. A scaffold was in the process of being constructed by workers employed by the company. It appeared incomplete when HSE Inspectors arrived, and they quickly established that those involved in erecting it were not trained…
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Building contractor fined for ignoring safety risks
Posted: 30 November 2012
Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries
A Newquay building contractor has been fined for allowing multiple safety failings at a new-build construction site, exposing workers to serious risk of injury. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that numerous ‘fall from height’ risks were observed at the site, including unprotected edges in floor-to-ceiling window openings, the lift shaft and stairwell. Scaffolding was also incomplete. A health and safety inspection had been carried out by a competent advisor two months before the HSE inspection. The fall risks were highlighted by the advisor, yet no…
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