Pages On: Employer Negligence

Construction Site Injury Claim Lawyer Glasgow

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries

Construction sites can be extremely hazardous work environments. The Health and Safety Executive reported that last year there were 69,000 cases of construction site work related illness and 65,000 construction workers suffered a non-fatal injury. Building, construction and demolition sites are often very busy and can be extremely noisy due to the sounds of heavy machinery, drilling and hammering. Due to the dangers associated with this industry, employers are expected to meet a high standard of care for their employees, and there are strict regulations in place. If an employer…

Sole Trader Fined Following Life-Changing Injuries to Worker

Posted: 30 November 2015

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Falls from Heights, Workplace Injuries

A self-employed roofer has been sentenced for failing to employ proper health and safety guidelines that led to a worker falling from the roof of a house and suffering severe injuries. As a result of the injuries, Brian Honeyman will reside in a care home for the rest of his life after the 50-year-old suffered serious head and spinal injuries. Mr Honeyman had been helping Adam Menzies, a self-employed roofer from Falkirk, to help with the job in 2012 before he fell off the roof, suffering severe injuries. A subsequent…

Workplace Accidents: What Must Employers Do

Posted: 22 June 2015

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries

Thousands of people lose their life or are seriously injured every year across the UK due to accidents in the workplace. The number of injuries affects workers, employers and the British economy with many having to take time off of work as a result of their injuries.  With many in Glasgow employed in some of the most dangerous areas of work, such as manufacturing or construction, it is important to make sure you are protected when in the workplace. Whether you work at height or in an office, your employer…

Construction Deaths in the UK Expected to Rise For 2014

Posted: 27 January 2015

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries, Wrongful & Accidental Death

A poll from construction union Ucatt has revealed that more than half of construction workers in the UK are concerned that there has been no improvement in health and safety, The damning results come as workers believe that there has been no effort in the last year to improve on health and safety issues resulting in more accidents in the workplace. Furthermore the poll found that 21% of workers believed their boss did not take health and safety seriously.  Rise in Deaths The damning poll from the union comes prior…

Grieving Family Call for Awareness of Construction Health & Safety Laws

Posted: 16 December 2014

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries, Wrongful & Accidental Death

The family of a Sheffield worker have called for more awareness regarding health and safety laws in the workplace in the UK to prevent others losing their lives.  Michael Dwyer, was killed when a steel casting fell on him which resulted in him being crushed against a shipping container. An inquiry into his death found that he had not been instructed properly about what he was doing that day and was not properly prepared to undertake the task. The family of Mr Dwyer has called for a raised awareness of…

New Bill Aims to Punish Negligent Work Practices Resulting in Fatalities

Posted: 1 December 2014

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries, Wrongful & Accidental Death

A new Bill proposed by the Scottish Government could see negligent bosses face life in prison following a fatal accident in work, under new plans to tackle health and safety malpractice. Comes after evidence The bill has been backed by by the UK’s biggest trade union Unite following evidence from the HSE which showed that 40% of construction sites fell below health and safety standards with mismanagement and failure to plan and comply with health and safety regulations being one of the major problems in the Scottish workplace. The move…

How Safe Are Employment Standards in The UK's Construction Sector

Posted: 13 November 2014

Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Falls from Heights, Workplace Injuries

Around 40% of construction sites fail to meet health and safety standards according to the national regulator for workplace health and safety, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Almost half of the close to 1,750 sites were found to have unacceptable conditions with some workers partaking in dangerous working practices. The report comes weeks after analysis from the HSE found that there were just under 2000 accidents and injuries in construction across the UK last year, with manufacturing having 3159 reported. Enforcement Action The latest findings from the HSE report found…

Statistics Reveal Workers Still at Risk in the UK

Posted: 4 November 2014

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries

Recent statistics from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that whilst Britain remains one of the safest places to work in Europe, there is still a worrying percentage of those injured or made ill through their employment, with construction, manufacturing and agriculture topping the list of jobs in which staff are most likely to suffer a serious injury. Injury Statistics Figures from the HSE found that in 2013/14: 1.2 million people suffered from an illness due to work related issuesThere were 133 fatalities in the workplace, down from 2012/13…

Three Quarters of Workers too Intimidated to Report a Health and Safety Issue

Posted: 10 September 2014

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries

Protecting, the risk assessment company, have published research that shows that 74% of UK workers fear reporting poor health and safety in their work place. These employees fear that complaining about health and safety in their work place may single them out as being a problem employee and cost them their job or hinder promotion plans. This concern for job security and proseperity means that many dangerous health and safety violations in factories, construction sites, shops and offices go unreported for too long, if at all.   The survey by Protecting…

Edinburgh Company Fined £12,000 After Employee is Crushed by Lorry

Posted: 25 August 2014

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Head and Brain Injuries, Workplace Injuries

Macfarlan Smith Limited, a pharmaceutical company based in Edinburgh has pled guilty to failing to ensure the health and safety of an employee in relation to an incident where a reversing lorry crushed the employee’s head and chest. Alexander Mackenzie, was emploed at Macfarlan Smith Limited and was working at the company’s Wheatfield Road premises in Edinburgh when the incident occurred. Mr MacKenzie attempted to signal a reversing lorry into a loading bay however the driver did not see him, as he was watching another employee who was also signalling…

Company Fined £240,000 After Worker is Crushed to Death By Grain Bin

Posted: 15 August 2014

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Head and Brain Injuries, Workplace Injuries, Wrongful & Accidental Death

An animal feed company has been fined £240,000 for safety failings after a lorry driver died of fatal injuries after being crushed by a two-tonne, fully-loaded grain bin falling from a fork-lift truck. David Leslie was employed by a feed services firm and was picking up a load from East Coast Viners Grain in Stonehaven, when the workplace accident occurred in March last year.  Mr Leslie sadly passed away after suffering crush injuries to his head, neck and chest. The accident was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)…

Lawyers Take Mesothelioma Case To High Court

Posted: 30 July 2014

Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Mesothelioma

A group of lawyers have begun a High Court challenge this week in response to the government’s decision to make mesothelioma sufferers pay from their awarded damages, legal and insurance costs. Previously, an exemption had preserved claimants’ rights to reclaim after-event premiums and success fees from the losing party in their case, however the government decided to remove this exemption. The enforcement of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act in April 2013 confirmed the abolition of recoverability for other injury claims.  The exemption was created subsequent to…

Academics Criticise HSE Safeguards against toxic workplace dust

Posted: 24 July 2014

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease

A failure by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to introduce adequate safeguards against toxic workplace dust mean workers are being put at risk of contracting lung cancer or other respiratory diseases say experts. The Scottish university academics have the HSE regarding its recommended safe level of exposure to the substance crystalline silica, a powder created when working with bricks, concrete and plaster. Silica is second biggest cause of occupational cancer deaths after asbestos and exposure to the substance can cause a range of other illnesses including silicosis, tuberculosis, kidney…

Employee Paralysed After Suffering Fall at Work

Posted: 12 June 2014

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Falls from Heights, Spine & Back Injuries, Workplace Injuries

Inex Works Ltd, a landscaping and gritting company, has pled guilty to breaching the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and fined £13,500 for failing to provide suitable safety protection for their workers. In 2010, one of Inex Works Ltd’s workers, Mr Shields, suffered permanent damage to his spine having climbed on top of a gritter and subsequently fallen 3 metres. He was attempting to help colleagues clear compressed grit salt from the interior of a machine used to treat icy roads. Since the fall, he has been paralysed from the…

Glasgow Company Sentenced After Employee’s Fall

Posted: 6 June 2014

Posted in: Arm Injury, Employer Negligence, Falls from Heights, Leg Injuries, Workplace Injuries

A firm of contractors in Glasgow was fined at Glasgow Sheriff Court earlier this week (4 June 2014) in relation to Health and Safety failings that caused an employee to fall five metres through a roof light. David Jack, aged 53 at the time of the workplace accident, was sub-contracted to work in his capacity as a painter and decorator when he fell through a fibreglass roof light. He suffered a cut leg requiring stitches, a blunt force abdominal injury and his wrist was sprained. These injuries resulted in an…

Health & Safety Breaches Result in Employee's Paralysis

Posted: 23 May 2014

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Falls from Heights, Spine & Back Injuries, Workplace Injuries

A construction firm has been fined and ordered to pay costs after breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 resulted in a worker being left paralysed from the waist down. The employee of Habitat Construction LLP was working as a part of a property refurbishing team when he fell eight metres from an unguarded window space into a basement. He landed on a concrete floor, causing severe damage to his spinal cord. After a hearing that resulted in the firm being fined £110,000 and ordered to…

Dangerous Skip Hijinks Caught on Video Result in Fine for Company

Posted: 16 May 2014

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Falls from Heights, Workplace Injuries

A skip hire firm owner has been fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £1,039 costs after he put an employee’s life in danger by lifting him in a digger bucket. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted him after a member of the public videoed the incident (available to view on YouTube here) that involved an employee trying to remove a small piece of damaged plywood above the main shutter doors. The owner had received a previous warning from HSE only two months before the incident after the same employee…

How can employers reduce occupational road risk?

Posted: 28 March 2014

Posted in: Car Accidents, Employer Negligence, Road Traffic Accidents

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has called on employers to consider how they could make a positive difference to the safety of their employees who drive for work. It is estimated that up to a third of road traffic accidents involve someone who is using the road for work purposes. In 2012, this means that up to 7,679 people across Great Britain could have been killed or seriously injured because of an “at work” road accident. RoSPA is encouraging employers to think about the impact that…

Salvage firm fined after mechanic seriously crushed

Posted: 7 March 2014

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Faulty Work Equipment, Hip Injuries, Spine & Back Injuries, Workplace Injuries

A vehicle salvage firm in Stalybridge has been fined over multiple safety failings after a car weighing more than half a tonne fell from a forklift truck, crushing a young mechanic underneath. The 22-year-old suffered severe injuries including broken bones in his back and ribs, a fractured pelvis and a partially collapsed lung. The firm was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found the forklift truck was not safe to use, and the employee had been allowed to climb under the car while it was…