Pages On: Employer Negligence

Stress At Work in Leeds Claims

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries

Are you suffering stress at work and don’t know what to do? Our solicitors for Leeds could help you today. We understand just how stressful your job can be, with most people feeling as though they can’t speak to their employer directly in case it has a negative effect on their career. That’s where we can help. We have a wealth of experience in dealing with stress and injury at work cases, experience that you could benefit from if you get in touch with us. We handle every claim with…

Compensation awarded to prison officer forced to leave her profession

Posted: 1 May 2016

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Hand Injuries, Workplace Injuries

A former prison officer, working in a London young offender’s institute, has been forced to quit her job after sustaining a debilitating injury whilst at work. The officer, who has chosen to remain unnamed, was eventually awarded the sum of £140,000 in compensation, following a six year battle with her ex-employer.  Her solicitors argued that the prison service was to blame following an altercation between two inmates that should never have been allowed to occur.  The officer had warned colleagues that the two inmates were on ‘separate unlock’, meaning that they…

Making a Claim for Asbestos Related Death

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

Before being banned in 1999, asbestos was routinely used in many industries. It was a standard insulating material and was used in manufacturing, electronics and boiler making. For this reason, the workers who are most at risk of contracting an asbestos-related disease include construction workers, electricians, builders and those who worked in the shipbuilding industries. Due to the industrial connection, the vast majority of asbestos disease sufferers are male. When materials that contain asbestos are disturbed through demolition, chipping or sawing, tiny fibres of asbestos will move into the air…

Teacher’s Family Claim Compensation for Asbestos Death

Posted: 15 March 2016

Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Mesothelioma, School Accidents

The family of a teacher who was exposed to asbestos at work have successfully made a compensation claim against her former employer. Elizabeth Belt died of mesothelioma aged 68. This is a deadly form of cancer that is directly connected to breathing in asbestos fibres. Asbestos was routinely used as an insulating material in homes and schools before it was banned in 1999. The substance poses no threat while it lies dormant. However, when the material is disturbed the air can fill with the harmful dust. If breathed in, these…

How Your Employer Should Protect You in Cold Temperatures

Posted: 21 December 2015

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries

As the days grow colder, working outside becomes increasingly hazardous. It is important that your employer takes extra precautions during these winter months to protect you at work. The law states that it is your employer’s responsibility to protect you from the dangers of cold and stormy weather, so make sure that if you are injured, you claim compensation. Your employer has a ‘duty of care’ towards you, which involves a number of responsibilities with regards to winter weather. Alongside protective clothing, safe equipment and up-to-date training, there are a…

Farm owner fined over worker accident

Posted: 8 November 2015

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Leg Injuries, Workplace Injuries

A Northumberland farm owner has been sentenced after one of the farm’s workers suffered severe leg injuries after a concrete panel fell onto him. It was heard at Mid and South East Northumberland Magistrates’ Court that on the 4th August 2014, the worker, who remains unnamed, and one of his colleagues, were using a telehandler with a fork attachment to build cattle troughs. The troughs were being made out of reinforced concrete panels weighing approximately 1.5 tonnes. Six fractures to lower right leg The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told…

Firm fined over worker death

Posted: 5 February 2015

Posted in: Criminal Injury and Assault, Employer Negligence, Falls from Heights, Workplace Injuries, Wrongful & Accidental Death

A building firm has been fined after one of its workers died as a result of falling from a roof. 42-year-old Jason Pennington fell 7.6m through a skylight onto a concrete floor in 2011. His employer, Cumbria-based building firm Peter Mawson Ltd, was fined £200,000 for corporate manslaughter at Preston Crown Court. The accident happened in 2011 when Mr Pennington had been working at West Cumberland Farmers LTD in Lindal, Ulverston. An investigation carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), following his death, found that the company had…

Company director fined over unsafe work procedures

Posted: 1 May 2014

Posted in: Employer Negligence

The managing director of a roofing company has been fined for its dangerous work procedures after a member of public photographed one of the workers jet washing a roof without any safety measures in place. The photo was taken in June 2013, showing a man standing on the sloping roof of a house using a power washer. He had been employed by the homeowner to clear the dirt and moss from the roof. The photograph was sent to the Health and Safety Executive, who sent the roofing company a Prohibition Notice ordering…

Dockyard workers win £35m in asbestos poisoning compensation

Posted: 3 March 2014

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

Figures have been released by the Ministry of Defence revealing that dockyard workers have been awarded a total of £35m in compensation for asbestos poisoning at Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth. A Freedom of Information Act request has highlighted that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has had to settle a total of 273 cases for asbestos-related illnesses in the last 7 years, (spanning from 2006 to 2013). These compensation claims led to a total of £19.4m being paid out. Plymouth has been highlighted as the city with the highest rates of…

Widow receives £700,000 in asbestos compensation

Posted: 26 January 2014

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

A widow who contracted the same cancer as her husband had, has received £700,000 in asbestos compensation following years of washing his asbestos-covered clothing.  66-year-old Monica Haxton cared for her husband Ronald as he suffered with mesothelioma.  Ronald had spent years working as an electrician for Philips Electronics UK Ltd in Guildford before eventually dying of the incurable lung cancer associated with asbestos. Mrs Haxton, a mother of four and a grandmother of eight, cared for her husband during his final years, and two years before his death in 2009,…

Sole trader sentenced for tipper death failings

Posted: 19 March 2013

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Road Traffic Accidents, Workplace Injuries, Wrongful & Accidental Death

A Berkshire haulier has been fined for safety failings after a long-serving employee was run over and killed by a tipper lorry at his Reading head office. Brian Gutteridge was crossing a road from the main office to a car park when the vehicle struck him. He died at the site as a result of the injuries he sustained. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated and found there were no designated crossing points on the road, and nothing to segregate pedestrians and vehicles or guide on who had the…

Tradesmen still at risk from asbestos

Posted: 13 March 2013

Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence

The frequency of asbestos cases being reported to the Health and Safety Executive demonstrates that adequate measures are still not being taken to protect workers from the illnesses associated with exposure to asbestos. Asbestos kills thousands each year Asbestos is the single greatest cause of work-related deaths in the UK. It is responsible for more than 4,500 deaths each year.  Asbestos is still present in many buildings and any work likely to disturb the asbestos needs to be positively managed to prevent exposure. Architects’ failure risked workers lives One example…

Council in court for ignoring asbestos threat in school

Posted: 6 March 2013

Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents

Thurrock Council has been fined after admitting to failures in how it managed asbestos across its schools. Basildon Crown Court heard that despite being made aware of asbestos concerns in a boiler room at a Junior School, no action was taken. A specialist contractor tasked with carrying out an asbestos survey by the council in 2004 said that dust and debris found in the boiler room containing asbestos fibres should be removed immediately under licensed conditions. However, an HSE inspection in April 2010, as part of a national initiative to…

Employers fail to ensure safety of workers

Posted: 10 February 2013

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Falls from Heights, Workplace Injuries

The safety of workers across the country is still being put at risk by employers who fail to carry out the necessary risk assessments, or implement the most basic of safety measures, to ensure their well-being. Falls from height One area where worker safety is most under threat is carrying out work at height.  According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), falls from height remain the most common cause of workplace fatality.  HSE figures show that in 2008/09, falls from height resulted in: 35 fatalities, 4,654 major injuries, and a further 7,065…

European Parliament adopts report on asbestos

Posted: 29 January 2013

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

The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs of the European Parliament has adopted a report on dealing with the problem of asbestos, reports the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). The report is largely in line with the stated aims of the ETUC and organisations representing asbestos victims in different countries. The report explores the different areas in which the European Union can intervene, and calls for a policy that protects workers and the population effectively. It notes that millions of tonnes of asbestos in existing buildings and facilities continue to…

Court case highlights poor machine safety

Posted: 24 January 2013

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Faulty Work Equipment, Finger Injuries, Workplace Injuries

A food manufacturer has appeared in court for safety offences after one of its workers lost the tip of her finger using a badly-guarded machine in a Doncaster factory. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident and prosecuted the company for breaching regulations designed to safeguard workers using machinery. Doncaster Magistrates heard that Ms Thapa was in the production area at the firm’s premises. A mobile screw conveyor was being used to fill a packing machine with powdered ingredients but the machine was known to block regularly. HSE…

Food company fined for failing to protect workers

Posted: 30 November 2012

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Falls from Heights, Shoulder Injuries, Spine & Back Injuries, Workplace Injuries, Workplace Slip

A global ingredients company has been fined for safety failings after two workers were seriously injured in separate incidents a year apart at its UK manufacturing base near Hitchin. In the first incident, in July 2009, a maintenance engineer fell more than two metres while attempting to clean flour product from inside an elevated conveyor. He stood on the frame of a nearby machine to remove upper guarding on the conveyor but slipped, fracturing his right shoulder blade and a vertebra in his spine when he hit the floor below.…

Firm prosecuted for unsafe scaffolding

Posted: 15 November 2012

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Falls from Heights, Workplace Injuries

The lives of several construction workers were put at risk as they worked on unsafe scaffolding at a farm in the Ribble Valley, a court has heard. The men were spotted working on a barn conversion during a series of on-the-spot inspections carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) targeting refurbishment and roof work. The inspector immediately served a Prohibition Notice ordering the men to come down from the scaffolding and their employer was prosecuted for failing to take sufficient measures to prevent workers being injured in a…

Demolition firm fined for illegal asbestos removal

Posted: 8 November 2012

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

A Cheltenham demolition company has been prosecuted after exposing its own workers to dangerous asbestos fibres and illegally removing asbestos waste from a property in Gloucester. The court heard the firm undertook an asbestos survey before demolishing the building showing it contained a quantity of Asbestos Insulating Board (AIB). The report identified that this would have to be safely removed in a controlled manner before demolition went ahead. However, during a six-week period in August and September 2011, the building was demolished and asbestos boarding removed by the firm’s employees,…

Office Injury Compensation Claims

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries

Offices are generally safer than other working environments, particularly industrial workplaces such as factories and construction sites, but this does not mean that office accidents do not happen. If you work in an office then you have the right to work without fear for your health and safety. This is because employers have a duty of care to ensure that their employees (and visitors to the office) do not get injured during the course of employment. When Can I Make A Claim For An Office Injury? All workplaces are subject…