Home > News > Failed equipment causes neck injury at work
28th April 2009

Failed equipment causes neck injury at work

Our client suffered an injury at work when a piece of equipment he was using during a maintenance procedure, failed causing him to fall backwards, suffering injuries to his neck.

Our specialist personal injury lawyers provided injury at work advice and he asked us to represent him in bringing an accident claim for accident at work compensation.

Accident at work

Our client had been asked to carry out a maintenance task on a piece of equipment, a task which he had not done previously. Although he had been present when colleagues had carried out the same procedure, he had never received training to do this task himself. In the absence of appropriate training or supervision, he had tackled the procedure in the same way he had observed others who had done the work previously.

Our client had been attempting to replace the belt on a conveyor and was using a hand tool to pull the belt into position. Unfortunately, the hand tool failed and, losing his grip, our client fell backwards.

Injuries suffered in workplace accident

As he fell backwards, our client sustained a neck injury, which was identified by an MRI scan and required extensive surgery to correct.

Although the surgery was successful, he has been left with a weakness in one of his arms, possibly due to neurological damage, and still suffers pain and discomfort as a result of this injury at work.

His ongoing condition means it is unlikely he will be able to return to maintenance work, which by its physical nature, is likely to put strain on his neck and upper torso. He has also been advised that he is now incapable of carrying out heavy work and this will render him disadvantaged in the open labour marked.

Breaches of regulations

As the hand tool had been provided by the defendant, our client’s employer, the failure of this piece of equipment was a clear breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. His employer had failed to ensure that the work equipment was suitable for the purpose for which it was used or provided.

The employer had also failed to provide an adequate system of inspection or maintenance to ensure the equipment provided by them was safe and in good repair.

The defendant had further breached the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 in that they had failed to provide appropriate training in relation to the best method to adopt when carrying out this task.

Injury at work compensation

The Defendant denied liability and our specialist personal injury lawyers had to fight to secure fair injury at work compensation. Eventually we were successful in obtaining over £20,000 for our client in personal injury compensation.

Accident at work compensation claims

Our advisers will be happy to talk you through the injury at work claims process, in plain English. They will provide you with expert legal advice to answer any questions you may have regarding your personal injury claim.

If you or a family member has suffered an accident at work, please ring us on 0800 783 9019 and speak to one of our advisers. Alternatively, you may prefer to complete our online compensation claim forms and one of our representatives will contact you as soon as possible.

Clear Answers’ lawyers are specialists in all types of injuries at work. We have teams of experts waiting to help you, should you decide to instruct us to represent you in your claim. The insurer of the person responsible for your workplace accident will pay our legal fees and the entire service will be cost-free for you. You will receive 100% of your compensation if you select Clear Answers to represent you in this matter.

back to news index