In March 2013, a client of The Injury Lawyers was involved in an accident at work. Our client tripped due to a box left in a walkway causing our client to trip and fall down a set of stairs.
The client went home on that day, visited their GP, and was eventually referred to the hospital for x-rays. We’re pleased to have settled their claim for £7,000.00 for injuries and losses sustained.
Injuries
As with many cases of this nature, physiotherapy and pain management was required. MRI scans revealed the extent of soft tissue damage suffered in the back, and a hospital referral was made for steroid injections to help with the pain and suffering. This kind of treatment can be really useful in a case like this, and our legal team can, for some cases, organise private rehabilitation and medical care. This can be good to ensure our clients don’t have to wait on lengthy waiting lists for treatment.
Why we considered the defendant was at fault
The Defendant was considered to be at fault and/or in breach of their statutory duties because they, in our view:
- Failed to maintain the workplace in an efficient state, cleaned as appropriate, in efficient working order and in good repair, negligently and/or contrary to Regulation 5(1) of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
- Failed to keep every floor and surface of every traffic route in the workplace free from obstructions and from any article or substance which may cause the Claimant to slip, trip or fall, negligently and/or contrary to Regulation 12(3) of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
- Failed to make suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to health and safety to which our client was exposed whilst at work, negligently and/or contrary to Regulation 3(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
- Failed to discharge the common duty of care to see that the Claimant was safe in using the premises, contrary to Section 2 of the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957
- Failed to provide and maintain for the Claimant a safe place of work
- Failed to take any or any adequate care for the safety of the Claimant
- Exposed the Claimant to a danger or a trap or a hazard and a foreseeable and unnecessary risk of injury
- Failed to institute or operate any or any adequate system for the inspection and cleaning of the floor such as would have enabled the matters complained of to be detected and remedied prior to the Claimant ‘s accident
- Caused, permitted or suffered the box to come to be or to remain upon the floor
- Failed adequately or at all clear the area in order to render the area safe
- Failed, whether orally or by means of signs, notices, or otherwise howsoever, to prevent the Claimant from walking in the vicinity of the said hazard
- Failed, whether by means of fencing, bollards, barriers or otherwise howsoever, to prevent the Claimant from walking in the vicinity of the said hazard
- Caused, permitted, suffered or required the Claimant to walk in the vicinity of the said hazard while it was unsafe to do so
- Caused, permitted or suffered the floor to be or to become or to remain a danger to visitors to walk on
- Further, or in the alternative, the substance constituted a nuisance which you caused or permitted or failed to abate and the said accident was caused by that nuisance
As you can see, there is a number of key health and safety regulations we had in our arsenal to ensure we could hold the defendant accountable for their negligence. There are a lot of workplace health and safety regulations, and they can all be useful to protect employees in the workplace, and ensure negligent employers can be brought to justice.
We had to chase the defendant for their admission liability, and we were successful in persuading them to admit liability for the claim. This allowed for our client to be able to recover compensation for their injuries and losses, which we valued using specialist independent medical evidence. We organised this on a private basis as we always do.
Settlement
The case was settled before a court hearing. The Defendant initially made an offer a few thousand pounds short of the settlement, but we successfully negotiated a settlement of £7,000.00.