A manufacturer has agreed to a five-figure damages settlement with a worker who suffered a string of injuries in a workplace accident when falling through the roof of a caravan on his first day on the job.
As part of a legal case led by our accidents at work compensation specialists Hudgell Solicitors, it was alleged the employer failed to meet Health and Safety at Work Regulations.
Insurers acting for the company admitted liability for the accident and settled the claim without the need for the matter to be heard in court. The worker suffered swelling and soft tissue injuries to his right-hand side hip, chest, and lower back, affecting him for around a year afterwards.
He also suffered with blood in his urine for a week following the accident, as well as psychologically, saying he had a ‘breakdown’ after trying to return to work a couple of months after the incident.
Workplace health and safety requirements ‘overlooked’
Sarah Moore, of the personal injury team at Hudgell Solicitors, alleged the company had breached workplace health and safety regulations by allowing the worker to go onto the roof without giving him any specific instructions, advice or details on safety procedures, as he was tasked with tacking down the ceiling to the internal walls. She said:
In any manufacturing environment, it is essential that sufficient risk assessments are conducted, particularly to ensure safety standards are met with regards to regulations around working at height, which should always be done in a safe manner, with sufficient measures in place to prevent falling and injury to minimise workplace accidents.
It is also crucial that staff are given full and detailed inductions and training. Sadly, in manufacturing environments where there are high turnovers of staff, many of whom are agency workers, and high-pressure working environments where there are pressures to meet strict targets and deadlines, this is not always done as it should be.
In this case there were clear failings, leading to a serious accident which resulted in a string of injuries for my client. He suffered various soft tissue injuries which impacted him for up to a year after the accident.
We were happy to secure an admission of liability from the insurers of the company, and also a higher damages settlement than was initially offered.
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Workplace accident had ‘significant impact’
The man says that today, two years on from his workplace accident, he still has days where he struggles.
It had a significant impact on me, and even now I have difficult days where I struggle with pain.
After the accident I had a couple of months off work, and when I tried to go back I found I was really struggling physically, especially when lifting things above waist height. I spoke to my partner about how I was struggling and then I had a bit of a breakdown.
I think it was the pressure of feeling that I needed to go back and be earning to provide for my family, but knowing myself that I wasn’t ready physically. It was a tough position to be in and I was stressed about the situation.
I then found myself out of work and having to claim benefits. That’s when I thought about making the legal claim as it was a difficult time financially.
‘They assumed I knew the dangers’
The man said he believed his background in the caravan industry led to assumptions being made that he ‘knew the job and the risks’. He said:
No real instructions were given to me. I think they assumed I’d be fine as I’d worked in the industry for a number of years, so I was put straight to work.
However, at my previous employer I had always been able to walk on the roof of the caravans they manufactured. I tried to do the same here and I just went straight through the roof, hitting my side on a rafter as I went through.
I’m using the money to pay off some debts which I have as a result of being out of work for some time, and we may have a holiday in the sun when the colder weather comes around as I feel we deserve it.
