Injury compensation claims

A man has received compensation after he suffered brain damage from a fall in a pothole.

Kyle Bullock was involved in the accident back in July 2007, whilst he was walking down Lightfoot Road in Hornsey. He tripped over a pothole as he was walking and fell to the floor.

The fall caused him to suffer serious injury. He had to undergo brain surgery but has been left with brain damage and epilepsy.

The Haringey Independent reports that the incident resulted in a compensation claim, which has finally ended in Mr Bullock’s favour at London’s High Court this week. The claim was made against Homes for Haringey, who were responsible for maintaining the road surface.

Although the amount of the settlement has not been reported, it has been described as substantial due to the severity of the injuries suffered.

A spokesperson for Homes for Haringey told the paper that they have introduced a comprehensive maintenance plan since the accident, and currently spend £300,000 a year on surface maintenance to prevent similar accidents from happening.

A furniture company has been fined after an accident involving a gluing machine left an employee injured.

The injury happened to a man – whose name has not been published – whilst he was working for Hammonds Furniture Ltd in February last year. At the company’s premises in Hinckley, he was working on a production line of furniture panels.

The machine the man was working on sprayed glue onto the furniture panels. It also used a roll of paper to catch the glue that was oversprayed. Whilst he was attempting to change one of these paper rolls, the man’s arm was accidentally pulled into the mechanism.

The man was trapped by his arm for 40 minutes until he could be freed by emergency services. The impact on his arm was immense and he fractured his forearm in three different places. The accident also had a psychological effect, leaving the man unable to stay in his position.

The HSE reports that last week, Hammonds Furniture Ltd were taken to court over the incident. Before the accident, the size of the rolls of paper used had increased. However, the company did not assess what risks this change in size would cause. They also did not train staff in a new method of changing the rolls.

A fine of £7,000 was issued to the firm last week at Leicester Magistrates’ Court.

A man suffered crush injuries to two fingers after he was involved in an accident involving a sausage roll machine.

The unnamed agency worker was working at the Excellent Food Company in Leeds at the time of the accident in March 2012. He had only been employed at the site for eight weeks when the incident happened.

The 26 year old man was emptying the hopper on top of a sausage roll machine, which holds the fillings for the rolls and for pasties. He was emptying the contents of the hopper with a jug, although it was too large to reach down to the very bottom. Instead, he put his hand into the bottom of the hopper to remove the remaining contents but his fingers came into contact with the machine’s hydraulic rams.

The rams crushed two of his fingers and severely damaged them. His third finger was so badly damaged that it had to be stitched back on by medical professionals. Both that finger and his middle finger suffered permanent nerve damage in the accident.

The HSE investigated and found that a safety guard on the machine was not working. They had previously served a notice on the company to improve safety guarding problems back in December 2011.

The case came to court last week, and Excellent Food Company Yorkshire Ltd pleaded guilty to breaking work equipment regulations. A fine of £5,000 was issued to the company by Magistrates.

An injured motorcyclist has been awarded compensation after they were struck by a car making a u-turn.

The injury happened to Owain Sullivan as he was travelling along the A22 in Sussex during April 2009. The trainee mechanic was riding his 250cc motorbike at the time.

A Peugeot 206 vehicle turned left into a side road from the A22. However, it made a sudden u-turn and pulled out straight into the path of Mr Sullivan’s motorcycle. He was thrown through the air in the collision and suffered injury.

He was airlifted from the crash scene to the nearest hospital, where he underwent treatment. He fractured his wrist in the accident as well as damaging his neck and groin.

Mr Sullivan tells the Sussex Courier that he was lucky not to suffer more serious injuries and that his motorbike left a large dent in the car. He also states that the incident left him traumatised for months afterwards.

The paper reports that last month Mr Sullivan finally received compensation from the insurers of the car for the injuries that he suffered in the accident. He has apparently been awarded £22,500.

Compensation of £220,000 has been paid out to pupils injured in school accidents in Essex.

The figure is reported by the East Anglian Daily Times after they made a Freedom of Information Request to Essex County Council (who are responsible for schools in the area). They state that £227,137 was paid out by the council from 2008 to 2010.

Noticeable reported claims include a payout of £23,580 to a child who was injured when they fell off monkey bars that were found to be defective. In a similar accident, another pupil caused a payout of £24,650 after they fell from climbing equipment. These figures include the legal costs as well as the compensation paid to the pupils.

The highest payout (£30,544) was made after a trip down stairs resulted in injury occurring. A slip on a wet floor also cost the council £27,780.

A spokesperson for the council told the paper that it takes its health, safety and wellbeing responsibilities seriously.

The spokesperson clearly stated that all claims were investigated thoroughly, with payments being awarded in cases where negligence has occurred.

The authority is responsible for over 500 schools in the area.

A rail infrastructure company has been fined after a man injured his hands in two separate accidents at work.

Keith Hawley was working at Balfour Beatty Rail Track Systems Ltd on the occasion of both accidents. The first occurred in May 2009 when he was moving a piece of rail track into a press machine. His right hand was injured when it became accidentally trapped between the rail and a roller.

The second accident happened close to a year later in almost identical circumstances. His left hand was accidentally crushed this time and severely injured. The first accident left him with a broken finger, whilst the second caused such crush damages to his little finger that it had to be partially amputated.

The Health and Safety Executive’s investigation found that the machine did not have adequate guarding. The company was in the process of installing a safety guard system after the issue was highlighted by the first accident. However, the guarding system had not been fitted at the time of the second accident.

The HSE prosecuted Balfour Beatty Rail Track Systems Ltd for breaking health and safety law. A fine of £8,000 was issued at court last week after the firm were found guilty of the charges.

A nurse is seeking compensation of £1.8million after she was injured slipping on spilt food at work.

Michelle Lay was the victim of the accident back in May 2004. She was working as a nursing assistant at an NHS mental health unit in Peterborough at the time.

The accident happened whilst Mrs Lay was unloading a food trolley. Leftover food had spilt onto the floor, causing her to slip and fall.

Mrs Lay suffered serious injuries in the fall. She suffered a back injury that left her in severe pain and resulted in an operation at a later date to fuse part of her cervical spine. She had to leave her position at the unit due to her injuries.

The Peterborough Telegraph reports that the NHS admits liability for Mrs Lay’s back injuries but disputes her claim that the fall also caused her neck damage.

The paper reports that she has made a compensation claim against the NHS for her injuries, and back in 2007, was initially seeking £100,000 compensation. However, her case was updated to include the injuries to her neck, and she is now reported to be seeking £1.8million compensation.

Lawyers for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust argue that her neck problems were started by an accident she had back in 1993, 11 years before the floor slip.

The case is ongoing and a decision will be made at a later date.

A carpentry firm has been fined after a worker fractured his skull in a fall.

The unnamed worker was just 21 years old at the time of the accident in June last year. He was working on the construction of a detached home in Cobham, helping to build a flat roof at the site.

The flat roof had a number of skylight openings on it. The incident occurred when the man accidentally fell through one of these openings. He fell three metres before landing on the ground below.

The fall caused the man to suffer a fractured skull as well as less serious soft tissue injuries.

Because of the seriousness of the accident, the Health and Safety Executive investigated. They found that the company constructing the roof – D&R Carpentry Ltd – had not put any measures in place to prevent such a fall. Such measures could have included safety decking or a soft landing system.

The company were taken to court this week for breaking health and safety regulation. It was heard that they had previously received warnings about fall from height risks during site visits in 2007.

After admitting to breaking the Health and Safety at Work Act, D&R Carpentry Ltd were fined £5,000.

A man has had his hand crushed in an accident at a sweet factory in Northampton.

The male worker – whose name has not been reported – was employed at Tilley’s Sweets factory when the incident happened in June 2011. He was operating a sweet manufacturing machine when it became jammed.

A build up of sweets was causing the jam so the 28 year old put his hand in to remove the blockage. However, when he did this, his glove became caught and his hand was dragged into the machine.

The man suffered serious damage to his right hand in the incident. The injury required him to undergo surgical procedures on the tendons and undergo physiotherapy. The worker was also required to take four months off work because of his injury.

The HSE reports that Tilley’s Sweets have just been prosecuted for breaking work equipment regulations in regards to the accident. A fine of £1,500 was issued this week because of this.

The HSE found after the accident a safety guard could have stopped the incident from happening. They immediately stopped further work taking place on the machine until a guard was fitted.

A golfer is being sued by a golf spotter after he was left blind in one eye when he was struck by a golf ball.

David McMahon was working as a ball spotter at the Levan Links course during the Scottish Amateur Champion of Champions competition in April 2009. He was on the 6th hole and had just been dealing with a couple who had strayed from a path at the side of the hole.

Gavin Dear and another golfer were coming down the 6th hole. The other golfer had hit his shot onto the fairway, whilst Mr Dear had hit his ball into the rough.

Mr McMahon claims that he was then hit in the eye by Mr Dear’s ball as he was walking back to his golf buggy. The force of the ball caused him to suffer a traumatic rupture to his right eyeball. This has left him blind in one eye.

The Herald Scotland reports that he is now suing for compensation. He is thought to be seeking £50,000 but the other side is contesting liability. Mr McMahon asserts that he heard no warnings (such as the traditional shout of “fore”) before the ball struck him. His team argue that had Mr Dean exercised reasonable care then the injury would have happened.

Mr Dear’s team counter that reasonable care was taken and that there was no reason to believe it was unsafe to take the shot. They assert that McMahon emerged suddenly and without warning from behind the golf buggy.

The case is ongoing.