WEEKLY NEWS RECAP: 7 DAYS ENDING 9 SEPT 2013
Whilst sometimes I may take a bit of a flippant tone when it comes to personal injury at work, it’s really no laughing matter at all if you think about it.
I know that I may not be the most serious-minded bloke out there. It’s easy to lose sight of the impact a work injury can have on someone sometimes, but there’s a very real and serious set of consequences to a worker when he or she is injured at the hands an employer’s idiocy – and this week’s news stories just prove it.
For instance, have you heard about the hand injuries one worker sustained at a Jarrow engineering plant? 19 year old Jack Ward had been working hard on a manual lathe as part of his job duties at Premier Precision Engineering Ltd when his hand ended up getting pulled into the machinery, dislocating his knuckle and breaking his index finger so badly that he required surgical implants to wire and pin it into position for it to heal.
Young Mr Ward to this day is still suffering from limited mobility in his hand. His personal injury solicitors say that he’s going to need further surgeries to restore a larger range of motion to his injured hand – and all because his employer neglected to carry out proper risk assessments on his method of working.
Sure, Premier ended up with a hefty fine from the Health and Safety Executive, and I’m sure there’s going to be a rather weighty personal injury compensation award eventually for Mr Ward, but think of the pain and suffering of the poor lad! Here he was simply trying to earn a living and he ends up with his hand quite literally mangled.
Meanwhile, another civil engineering firm ended up in very hot water after one of its groundworkers was injured quite seriously at a building site in Cheltenham. The injured worker declined to be identified but the details of his injuries are clear: a tipper truck struck him from behind, causing such severe injuries to his left leg – including a massive puncture wound, severe damage to his thigh muscle, and an a leg artery that was completely severed – that he was off work for nearly two months.
Can you imagine the pain and suffering of this poor man, again caused by poor working practices at his place of work? My heart goes out to both these injured blokes, and I sincerely hope that they receive big fat personal injury compensation awards.
