How Inadequate Safety in the Workplace may Result in a Personal Injury Claim
Posted on 14th October 2019
Whilst at work, employees are owed a duty of care by their employer to keep them safe. This includes a range of issues, such as ensuring employees are adequately trained and providing protective clothing where necessary, as a handful of examples. More obviously, this also covers ensuring any equipment being is reasonably safe for use. This particular issue has been highlighted within a recent case, where safety was compromised, costing one employee two of his fingers.
A&L Furnishings Limited, a furnishing company in Leyland, Lancashire, have been fined £14,000, and been made to pay over £5,000 in legal costs, as a result of a claim for personal injury made by one of their employees.
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The employee had been operating a drilling machine, making parts for a chair, at the time of the incident. The machinery was, to the amazement of our solicitors in Preston, unguarded. This lack of protection resulted in the employee’s fingers becoming caught within the machine and caused severe damage to his left hand, with two of his fingers being amputated.
An investigation carried out by the Health and Safety Executive concluded that it was possible for employees to come into contact with the dangerous part of the machine as it was inadequately guarded to protect employees from injury and danger. The company were, subsequently, found to be in breach of Regulation 11 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
Regulation 11, of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, deals with ‘Dangerous Parts of Machinery’. More specifically, this Regulation expressly outlines that employers should take measures to protect employees from dangerous machinery by:
(a) The provision of fixed guards enclosing every dangerous part or rotating stock-bar where and to the extent that it is practicable to do so, but where or to the extent that it is not, then
(b) The provision of other guards or protection devices.
Evidently, this Regulation had been breached. The health and Safety Inspector went on to comment that, had the company ensured adequate guards were in place, the incident could have been avoided.
This case reinstates the need for due care and attention to safety in the workplace, as the results for this employee will be simply life changing. Our solicitors in Preston understand this, and have an expert team of personal injury solicitors who are on hand to help you attain the compensation you deserve.
If you have been involved in an accident at work that was not your fault, and would like to pursue a claim for personal injury, contact our solicitors in Preston today at injury@mglegal.co.uk.
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