May 2015 Legal Update:
Stephen recently attended an event run by the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) where speaker Jason Anker MBE tells of his workplace accident, which happened in 1993, when he was 24 years old. He has been confined to a wheel chair ever since.
Jason was a construction worker and used a ladder to work about ten feet from the ground. He fell from the ladder, which wasn't being footed or tied off, he was seriously injured in the fall.
Jason suffered serious mental health issues coming to terms with his life changing injuries and partly as a result of this drank heavily. Eventually this lead to him and his wife splitting up.
It took many years of legal processes and negotiations before Jason received any compensation for his injuries.
You can watch this free video, which goes into detail about the accident and its repercussion. Please go to the trouble of watching this (just over 10 minutes) and encouraging others to watch it.
If you have time also look at this next video:
While reading the following two articles please think about what constitutes a life changing injury. In a room full of health and safety professionals Jason Anker showed a picture of someone who had lost half of their middle finger in a workplace accident. He asked if this was a life changing injury. The response was predominately no, it wasn't a life changing injury. Then Jason asked if his injury prevented him from playing an instrument or carrying out one of his hobbies, would you feel the same?
Shropshire fuel firm fined £20,000
A fuel supply business has been sentenced after one of its workers was injured after being struck by a vehicle in a works yard.
D A Roberts Fuels Ltd of Grindley Brook, Whitchurch, Shropshire, pleaded guilty to safety failings after the incident at the premises in 19 February 2014.
Shropshire Magistrates’ Court heard the employee was tasked with clearing out the drains in the yard shared with an adjacent business. As he was kneeling to clean out a drain he was struck by an approaching vehicle,driven by the employee of the adjacent company, and suffering injuries including a bone fracture to the neck.
DA Roberts Fuels Ltd was fined £20,000 with costs of £2,989 after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), prosecuting, told the court the defendant had not provided a safe system of work, as there were no barriers to segregate the work area, no signage was used to warn people of the work and no consideration had been given to performing the work when vehicles were not moving.
Staffordshire waste firm fined after worker suffered life changing injuries in fall
Waste and recycling services company Veolia ES Staffordshire Ltd (part of Veoila UK group) have been prosecuted after a worker suffered life changing injuries when he fell more than 8 feet from height.
On 2 May 2014 the worker, who does not wish to be named, fell from the unprotected edge of a ‘grizzly conveyor’ at the firm’s site on Enterprise Drive whilst clearing items caught on the conveyor’s forks.
Veoila ES Staffordshire Ltd of London pleaded guilty at Stafford Magistrates court to breaching Regulation 6(3) of The Work at Height Regulations 2005 and Regulation 3(1) of The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and were fined a total of £16,600 and ordered to pay £1,773.15 in costs with a victim surcharge of £120.
Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector Katherine Blunt said:
“ This incident was entirely preventable, clearing the conveyor in this way was a routine part of the job but no risk assessment had been carried out. If it had it would have been obvious edge protection was essential.
” The injured worker is still suffering from his injuries now and has only been able to return to work on limited duties.
” Falls from height are the most common cause of serious injury and fatalities in the workplace, it’s imperative that risk assessments are carried out and suitable control measures are put in place to eliminate or reduce the risks”