Pages On: Employer Negligence

Rotherham man receives compensation for industrial hearing loss

Posted: 26 April 2016

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease

A council worker from Rotherham has been awarded £6,000 in compensation for damage done to his hearing whilst working for Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council in the 1960s and 1970s. 65-year-old David Carr had been exposed to excessive noise during his time of employment.  Mr Carr had worked as an HGV and JCB driver for the council, as well as a mower and road worker. During this time he could spend up to five hours a day being exposed to excessive noise from tools such as drills, vibrator rollers and jackhammers, the results…

Prison service compensate assaulted gardener

Posted: 21 April 2016

Posted in: Criminal Injury and Assault, Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries

The prison service has awarded a former gardener an undisclosed sum following an assault at HM Prison and Young Offenders Institution Onley, near Rugby in Warwickshire. The gardener, David Thomas from Northants, was attacked by several inmates who had been smoking cannabis. Mr Thomas was in the process of returning to work after a period of absence due to illness, and discovered upon his return that former safety procedures had been changed. Instead of working under the supervision of a manager, he was instructed to supervise the group of inmates on his…

Family receive mesothelioma compensation for deceased electrician

Posted: 22 March 2016

Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Mesothelioma

The family of 85-year-old former electrician, Henry Smith, has secured substantial compensation after his death from mesothelioma in 2014. Mr Smith had worked for a Coventry electrical company for 43 years and for the first 16 years of his employ, had worked in factories where the staff handled asbestos. Mesothelioma is an asbestos-related disease that caused Mr Smith’s lung cancer leading to his death. Mr Smith, who retired in 1992, first consulted doctors 12 years after his retirement complaining of pains in his shoulder. When tests confirmed that he was suffering from asbestos-related…

Aircrews affected by contaminated air launch personal injury claims

Posted: 29 June 2015

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Public Transport

Airline crew members, from numerous different British airlines, have launched around 17 civil cases concerning ill health caused by contaminated air. Airline crew members continue to come forward, claiming that they suffer with Aerotoxic Syndrome – an illness caused by exposure to contaminated air in aircrafts. Earlier this year, in April, UNITE opened a helpline for worried aircraft employees following increased concerns amongst workers about air quality standards. The union, which represents 20,000 crew members, announced at the beginning of the month that 17 crew members had taken up civil…

Council pays out £1m to injured employees

Posted: 18 June 2014

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Finger Injuries, Road Traffic Accidents, Workplace Injuries, Workplace Slip

Leicestershire County Council has paid out around £1 million to injured employees in the last five years. Figures revealed that the council settled a total of 31 claims from workers between 2009 and 2013. The victims of employer negligence received a total of £418,000, while the council paid out a further £655,000 in legal fees to the lawyers handling their cases. During that same time period, a total of 76 unsuccessful claimants sued the authority. Claims included one individual who sliced off the tips of two fingers on a manhole cover – they…

Police motorcyclist awarded compensation for hearing damage

Posted: 5 May 2014

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease

A police motorcyclist has received compensation, claiming that the noise of the motorbikes damaged his hearing. 56-year-old Peter Hall won £6,500 having worked for the British Transport Police’s motorcycle unit for over a decade. Mr Hall’s job required him to ride 650cc and 1100cc motorbikes, which he believes to be the cause of his tinnitus.  The father of three said that his hearing started to deteriorate as a result of his job with the British Transport Police (BTP), which eventually developed into tinnitus, (a constant ringing in the ears). His job consisted of…

Glass company in court after employee loses finger

Posted: 26 March 2013

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Finger Injuries, Hand Injuries, Workplace Injuries

A West Midlands glass processor has been prosecuted for safety breaches after an employee’s finger had to be amputated when it was crushed in machinery. Asif Hussain was helping a colleague free a large piece of glass which had become stuck in a machine. Sandwell magistrates were told that Mr Hussain was able to enter the confines of the machine through a gap in the perimeter fencing. As he discussed how best to remove the glass with his colleague, his glove became entangled in the rotating drive shaft and his…

Halifax company in court after employee's arm is crushed

Posted: 4 March 2013

Posted in: Arm Injury, Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries

A Halifax firm that makes shop fitting equipment has been prosecuted after one of its employees had his arm crushed when it was drawn into an unguarded machine. The 35-year-old man from Siddal suffered extensive damage to his right arm in the workplace incident. He will never regain full use of his arm and has been unable to work since. Magistrates were told that in the week before the incident there had been a problem with chains coming off the machine’s rollers and maintenance engineers had been called out to…

Window firm fined over employee's severed finger

Posted: 26 February 2013

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Finger Injuries, Workplace Injuries

A Macclesfield window manufacturer has been fined after a workplace accident saw one of its employees had a finger cut off by a rotating saw. Macclesfield Magistrates’ Court heard that the 26-year-old was positioning a piece of uPVC plastic under the circular blade while it was still running. His left hand came into contact with it and his index finger was severed to below the second knuckle. The court was told that, in order to keep production moving swiftly, the machine would not be switched off in between cuts. This…

Wakefield Workplace Negligence Injury Claim Lawyers

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries

You have the right not to fear for your health and safety whilst at work. This is because employers have a duty of care towards the safety of their employees which is set out in employment contracts, established under common law and imposed by statute (namely the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974). If employers are negligent and breach this duty, which results in an injury to an employee, then the employee is entitled to make a compensation claim against their employer. Employer Responsiblities Employers are responsible for carrying…