Pages On: Falls from Heights
Workplaces hold a duty of care to their staff to prevent accidents. Falls from heights are some of the most dangerous and preventable forms of accident at work. If your employer has failed in their duty of care to you, and you have suffered a fall from a height, it may be lucky if you walk away with your life. They are the top cause of fatal injury at work, and are a blight in construction and agriculture industries. If you or a loved one has suffered a workplace injury and are not at fault, you may be entitled to claim personal injury compensation for the employer negligence.
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…
Read MoreGardener falls 60ft down shaft
Posted: 14 October 2013
Posted in: Falls from Heights, Foot Injuries, Public Place Accidents, Spine & Back Injuries, Workplace Injuries
Marvin Christie, a gardener from Banbury Street in Battersea, is lucky to have survived after he fell down a 60ft shaft while doing routine landscaping work. The 23-year-old had been weeding some plants on a traffic island, with the assistance of his mother, when the metal grill on which he was standing gave way beneath him. The 60ft fall (which happened on the 24th of July) caused him to break his back, shatter his ankle and break many of the bones in his feet. A personal injury claim is soon…
Read MoreEmployers 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…
Read MoreFood 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.…
Read MoreFirm 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…
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