In 2007 a health and safety engineer plunged about 30 feet to his death, when he fell through a skylight on an inspection of a roof safety system.

Paul Voller, of Blidworth, was working for Nottingham safety testing firm, First Testing Ltd, who had recently won the contract for all B&Q stores. Mr Voller was doing a routine inspection of the roof safety system at a B&Q store in Bradford, when the accident at work occurred.

It was discovered after Mr Voller was found, that the safety harness each engineer has was still attached to his lanyard, which is usually the position when working on the ground not up high.

It was said in court that because of the new contract the firm had recently won, it was the first time any of its staff had been onto the roof of any of the stores and therefore not much was known about the roof layout, including where abouts the skylights were and how many there were.

First Testing Ltd, pleaded guilty to a number of offences including failure to ensure the welfare, health and safety of its employees, for example Mr Voller’s accident at work for which they were fined £12,000. Not carrying out a suitable risk assessment to other people, while work is carried out which they were fined £2,500 for.

The Nottingham based firm also pleaded guilty to not having their staff properly trained in rescue procedures and making on the fly unrecorded competency assessments of their employees.

It was said by the Judge of the case that although the issues that had arisen didn’t cause Mr Voller’s accident, they still increased the chances of more accidents happing.

Slips trips and falls are the most common work accident compensation claims and make up around 36% of injuries.

Accidents at work are made up from tripping over wires, falling from heights as well as other injuries sustained when incorrectly handling, lifting and carrying objects and also being hit by moving items such as vehicles or falling objects.

During 2009 the economy in the UK saw 4.7 million days lost because of accidents at work.

Employees were forced to take time off from work to seek medical treatment or in some case unable to work at all due to a work related injury. This means loss of earnings for the time the employee’s are off work and in some cases where the injuries were very severe, employees were unable to return to work.

You may be entitled to claim for compensation if you ever sustain an injury from an accident at work. When you claim for compensation this will include any payout for injuries sustained in the accident and any loss of earnings you may have incurred whilst you were unable to work.

Fatal Accident Compensation claims have decreased over the past twelve month for fatal accidents at work.

New figures released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for the number of workers in the construction sector who were fatally injured, show that between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010:

41 workers in the construction industry were killed at work, comparing that figure with the average of 66 workers over the past five year’s. Compared with the figures for 2008/09 when 52 workers died, the figures show a fall of 21%.

The construction sector has rate of 2 fatal injuries per 100,000 workers, making this one of the most dangerous industries in which to work.

A spokes person for HSE’s said:

“While it’s heartening to see a continued reduction in the number of deaths in construction, it’s tempered by the fact that 41 workers failed to come home to their families last year because of avoidable safety failings.

“Construction continues to be one of the most dangerous industries in Great Britain and employers and workers must continue to take an uncompromising approach to safety.

“It’s too soon to say that the decrease in fatalities is down to any particular reason, but it is imperative that as the economy recovers, health and safety is seen as a priority – we know from past experience that economic recoveries tend to lead to an increase in worker deaths.”

With the down turn in the construction industry it would also be logical that with fewer people employed the numbers of Compensation claims for accident at work would also fall.

If you have been injured at work, you could have a claim for compensation against your employer if they have not fulfilled their duty of care.

A London bus company was fined for health and safety breaches following an accident where an employee was crushed to death.

Centrewest London Buses Ltd, based in Uxbridge, Hillingdon pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. They were ordered to pay £400,000 as a fine, with costs still to be decided.

Robert Cherry was preparing one of the buses to leave the garage on its daily round. When he stepped between two of the parked buses, one of them lurched suddenly and he was crushed between them. He died at the scene of his injuries.

The garage where the buses were held was believed to be poorly run, with nearly double the amount of vehicles being held inside than considered safe. Originally 65 buses were meant to be held there but at the time of the accident there were 119 within it.

Drivers had also complained about the cramped conditions, and they were often forced to squeeze through tight spaces between buses; sometimes when they were manoeuvring on their way out. 

As well as this, many of the buses had technical faults. Ten out of 60 vehicles were found to have serious faults, whilst a further 30% had minor faults with them.

Centrewest London Buses Ltd was fined heavily for these health and safety breaches and failings.

A company was fined £20,000 after one of its workers lost a finger tip in an accident at work.

The employee of Noon Products Ltd, based in Egham, Surrey, was cleaning one of their dough divider machines when the accident happened in 2007.

A court heard how the man had removed a guard on the machine and was cleaning it with a screwdriver and an air gun. When he put his hand further into the machine, a sharp part caught his hand and sliced off the tip of his right index finger.

The company admitted breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which states: “It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.”

It also emerged that the machine was long overdue a repair, and that its poor condition meant important safety devices had been broken or removed. A separate incident had previously occurred in 2007.

The employee will now be able to make his own work injury compensation claim for the lifelong effects his injury will have.

Noon Products Ltd were also ordered to pay £5491 in legal costs.

A factory worker who suffered permanent eye damage when a corrosive chemical dripped onto his face has been awarded £100,000 work injury compensation.

The injury occurred when Sodium Hydroxide leaked from a broken pipe and dripped into his right eye. He subsequently suffered corneal damage, his eyelid turned inwards and he required surgery to move the hair follicles that were causing further irritation.

The worker made a claim for compensation against his employers Ciba Speciality Chemicals Ltd. The company makes chemicals including water sterilizing treatments.

He can no longer safely drive at night and has excessive dryness in his injured eye. Furthermore, the man already had problems in his left eye which were apparent from birth.

He has now been forced to take an early retirement and would have suffered a loss of income as a result without his work injury compensation award.

The £100,000 claim was eventually agreed in an out of court settlement.

A hotel was fined £20,000 after one if its employees was badly burnt with lit fuel in an accident at work.

Edinburgh’s City environment leader Robert Aldridge has since urged businesses to ensure training for employees is kept up to date to reduce injury threats.

An employee of the Marriott Dalmahoy Hotel and Country Club suffered burns and personal injuries when he was exposed to lit fuel in March 2008. He had moved a portable grate unaware that the fuel was lit underneath.

The ‘extremely sticky’ fuel is believed to be extremely sticky and causes severe skin burns.

The four-star hotel was fined after it was shown that the employee had not received adequate training to avoid the accident at work.

Mr Aldridge said: “This accident should remind all employers of the importance of carrying out a thorough risk assessment for work activities, which could be dangerous, to protect the safety of employees. This accident could have been prevented had a proper risk assessment taken place and a staff training regime been in place.”

A man has died in an industrial accident at work in Dunmow, Essex.

The worker, who has not yet been named, was killed when sheets of metal fell from height onto him, and trapped him underneath in the process.

Police and paramedics were called to Boddintons Electrical Ltd, situated on the the Chelmsford Road Industrial Estate on Wednesday evening. However, the man was declared dead at the scene. The accident at work has not been put down to any suspicious circumstances.

The ambulance crew arrived within six minutes of being called at 5.13pm, but declared the man dead at 5.30pm.

Boddingtons Electrical Ltd will now be investigated by the Health and Safety Executive, who will look into their practices and to why the accident occurred in the first place.

The company closed for the week following the incident, and are due to re-open on Monday.

A lorry driver has been awarded £86,000 work injury compensation after he was hurt when his vehicle overturned in high winds.

TDG driver Brian Young, 54, from Chester-le-Street sustained personal injuries including a double wrist fracture, a shattered ankle and shin and face lacerations when his lorry hit a stone wall in 2008.

The 15 foot high lorry, which was loaded with plastic bottles toppled over on the way to Bells Hill near Glasgow from Consett in County Durham. After the accident, Mr Young was trapped in the lorry’s cab for some time, which initiated his personal injuries further.

The nationwide transport firm TDG awarded Mr Young the work injury compensation despite not admitting liability for the accident.  However, it was revealed that eight other lorries owned by the company have had similar incidents the year prior to his own accident.

Solicitors representing Mr Young argued that the vehicle should not have been sent in the first place due to it being too light and would be a danger to the driver and other road users in bad weather conditions.

A worker from the industrial sector who lost his arms in an accident at work has been given innovative ‘thought powered’ limbs.

Christian Kandlbauer was electrocuted in 2005 in a horrific accident which saw 20,000 volts pass through his hands, arms and to the rest of his body.

He then had to go through the agonising procedure of having both of his arms amputated, as the damage caused was beyond repair.

However, after two more years and further surgery to relocate the nerves in his arms, he became the world’s first recipient of the ‘intelligent’ artificial limbs.

The new, mechanical arms are controlled in very much the same way normal limbs are, with the electrical impulses from the brain sending a message to the nerve endings which causes the reaction and movement.

Despite his accident at work, Mr Kandlbauer hasn’t been deterred by injuries and has returned to work at the same company who took him on as an apprentice mechanic.

Furthermore, his artificial limbs have enabled him to learn to drive once again, and he has recently re-passed his driving test – demonstrating the abilities of the ‘intelligent’ mechanical arms.