If this is not a lesson learnt, then I do not know what is…
T & D Galvanising Ltd were found to have breached the duty of care owed to their employee, Mr Ali Zada, who sadly suffered severe injuries to his leg and foot in June 2015.
On the day in question, Mr Zada was lifting wires that were tied around a bundle of mesh panels, when the overheard crane snapped on one side which caused the mesh panels to swing down and hit his leg.
Mr Zada suffered fractures to his leg and foot.
Court Order
The Court ordered T & D Galvanising Ltd to pay a £9,000 fine and £1,379 in costs after finding the company had breached the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) 1974. They breached the Act by failing to ensure safe instructions of tying the wires.
This would have caused Mr Zada a loss of earnings and if the injuries that he sustained affected his future earning potential, he would have been entitled to damages.
The above Order is in relation to the Health and Safety proceedings brought against the company – the victim would have been able to claim damages fore their injuries and losses.
Employer’s Duty of Care
As his employer, T & D Galvanising Ltd owed him an important duty of care. This means that they should have ensured and took all possible steps reasonably to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of their employee. It seems clear that, in this particular case, the employer was negligent in failing to provide their employee with a safe working environment.
The Health & Safety Executive – the independent regulator for work-related health, safety and illness – investigated the accident and found that no checks had been made to ensure that Mr Zada understood that wire ties should not be used following the dip into the tank. When the mesh panels have been galvanised (dipped into zinc) the ties becomes more brittle, and this key information had not been relayed to him.
The company owed a duty of care to prevent such accidents from occurring by making sure that all employees were clear about the safe working load limits of the wire ties. The law makes it very clear that a duty is owed to all employees in section 2(1) of the HSWA.
