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£24,000.00 for Client Who Suffers Fractured Ankle in Accident at Work
Our client was employed as an operative in a food distribution warehouse in Crewe. He was working his normal night shift when he noticed a cage containing over one hundred bags of carrots (weighing approximately 600kg) had been left in the middle of the warehouse which needed moving. When he tried to move the cage, he discovered the wheels were jammed so he located a pump truck to help him. As he began moving the cage, it started to tip over. Our client tried to steady the cage, but it suddenly fell and crushed his ankle. One of his work colleagues later found him on the floor and called an ambulance.
At hospital our client was diagnosed with a fractured ankle, or to be more precise: a comminuted fracture of the taler neck of the left ankle with angulation and displacement of the posterior part and lateral dislocation of the talus at the subtalar joint.
Due to his injury he was unable to work, so he approached us for help. After speaking to the client we decided to take the case on a ‘no win no fee’ basis, which means that if the claim had failed the client would not have had to pay us any money. We arranged for him to be seen by a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and to receive an MRI scan. We then obtained funds (known as an interim payment) to allow our client to have a private operation on is ankle and to help him pay his personal bills and living expenses whilst he was temporarily unable to work.
Who was at fault?
We presented the case to our client’s employer’s insurance company, setting out the details of the accident and why we thought the employer was at fault. The following regulations (among others) apply:
- The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992/3004 (“The Workplace Regulations”)
- The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, as amended (“The Management Regulations”)
- The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER).
In our view the employer was at fault because they failed to ensure that the workplace was maintained in an efficient state, with equipment in good working order as required by the Workplace Regulations. They failed to undertake any assessment of the risks to health and safety and they failed to ensure that the work equipment, in particular the cage, was suitable for the job – no employer should ask their employees to use faulty equipment. In cutting these corners, they exposed their staff to an unreasonable risk of injury.
After we had fully presented our client’s case to the insurance company they accepted responsibility for the accident. Following a period of negotiation we settled the case for £24,000, which compensated our client for his injury and his lost income.
If you have been involved in an accident in a warehouse or injured anywhere whilst at work, please contact us for a free no obligation discussion to see if we can help you. All our team are experienced qualified solicitors which gives our clients the peace of mind that they are getting the full compensation to which they are entitled. Call us on 0161 989 9400, email us to info@llbsolicitors.co.uk or complete our online claim form.