Schools have played a huge part in our lives and are going to do the same in our children’s. For many of us school was the best time of our life and if we could, we’d love to go back to the days when the only thing we had to worry about was getting our weekly spending money and being first in line for the dinner queue.

With the recently extended age to which children now have to stay in education, it’s essential that schools follow the essential health and safety rules. Depending on the area you live in some public schools can have around 2000 pupils. When a lesson changes that’s a lot of destruction going up and down the stairs. With pupils pushing and shoving to get to their lessons there needs to be some sort of lesson change mode.

With the different types of lessons going on in schools staff on site should ensure the equipment they intend to use in their lesson is in full working order. Some of the lessons where pupils are required to use more dangerous equipment are in science lessons and design technology. In these types of lessons pupils are required to use equipment such as gas taps, hot flames, saws and electric sanders, therefore it is essential they are taught how to use the equipment safety.
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Supermarkets are the place that most of us prefer to conduct our weekly shop. Not only do they have everything we need under one roof, which is a huge help especially in winter with the harsher weather conditions, but they also have a variety of offers on a range of different goods every week. Due to the current financial situation with the recession – this is a benefit to every family.

Depending on the time we choose to conduct our weekly food shop, it can actually be extremely stressful. Especially in ‘supermarket rush hour’, which is usually on a Thursday or Friday evening or a Saturday afternoon. With shopping trolleys left, right and centre it can drag out our food shop to take twice as long as we’d hoped.

Supermarkets are extremely busy places and it only takes a small spillage on the floor to cause someone to slip or fall. In fact, with the number of breakable items and stacks of tin cans, it’s surprising that accidents in supermarkets don’t occur more often – despite how common they actually are!  Read More

A whiplash injury is caused when there is a sudden movement of the head / neck, causing it to jerk or jolt violently away from your body. Anything that causes your neck to jolt sideways, backwards or forwards may cause the injury. It often results in the ligaments, tendons and muscles in the neck being overstretched.

The most common cause of a whiplash injury is a car or a motorcycle accident; this is because when they become involved in a collision there is a sudden stopping force, which is the cause of your head moving violently away from your body. Even collisions that occur at a low speed can cause a whiplash injury.
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Road accidents are common – it’s the reason we all have a legal responsibility to have insurance which covers us all for any accidents we cause. But the sad story is that the insurance companies are somewhat displeased that their heavily lined pockets are being ever so slightly dented with claims against their policy holders; which in itself is a bit of a conundrum, given that the insurance product they sell is designed to insure people!

So, the insurance companies have for many years now being finding ways to save themselves some money – which unfortunately can end up having a serious negative effect on a claim for personal injury.

But how?

Well, the insurance companies’ involvement is normally known as Legal Expense Insurance – so here’s the real explanation as to what exactly Legal Expense Insurance is:
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With the AA’s call for young drivers to have further training before they are allowed on the roads, it makes us think whether they have any faith in young drivers what so ever. The AA said that in their latest poll at least two thirds of teenagers admit that they know someone who has either been killed or seriously injured in a road traffic accident. They are calling for road awareness lessons to be taken in school to make teenagers more aware of the dangers of driving.

For any young driver passing their driving test, especially young male drivers, they will be aware that insurance rates are going through the roof. For some male drivers insuring their first car quotes are between £2000-£2500. For anyone with a teenage son, they know that this is probably twice the amount they paid for their car. This is because statistics show that young male drivers are most likely to be involved in a car accident.
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Anyone who becomes involved in a road traffic accident is at risk of suffering from serious injury. The Highway Code states that it is pedestrians who are most vulnerable and at risk if they become involved in an accident. Unlike motorists or cyclists, pedestrians have nothing to protect them if the do become involved in an accident – they have no air bag or helmet to protect them from injuries.

As a pedestrian, there are a number of guides you can follow to ensure your safety on the road. The main guide is the Green Cross Code. It has been in use since the early 1970’s and is still seen as a useful guide for pedestrians to follow when crossing roads, and is still taught to children throughout school. It gives a number of steps to ensure your safety on the road:
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A hotel acts as a temporary home for anyone going on holiday, having a short break, or working away from home. They are like a home from home with sleeping, bath, & shower facilities, and hopefully have at the least a kettle to make a cup of tea, and a television in the room. There are hundreds of different hotels in the UK – some franchised ones such as the Premier Inns, and some independently run. Either way the hotel must provide us with somewhere safe to stay.

A lot of hotels, especially the franchised ones, are regularly inspected. This means that someone comes in each room and checks that there are no hazards in the rooms and that they stick to health and safety regulations. Unfortunately, some hazards may not become apparent at an initial inspection.

In a hotel there are a number of different workers, with each having a responsibility for keeping the hotel safe, and preventing any possible hazards. Cleaners are responsible for keeping the hotel clean and cleaning up any spillages, whilst maintenance workers are responsible for making sure that all electrical appliances are safe, and have been tested.
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According to sources from the Daily Mail, Kenneth Clarke is aiming to hit hard on the “greedy solicitors” who operate under No Win No Fee deals that end up costing parties at fault thousands of pounds in legal fees. It’s quite a bold statement, and quite a bold article. We at The Injury Lawyers of course believe it’s important to analyse the real situation; so let’s take a look at the report and see what our government are planning to do:

Described as a “radical shake-up”, the report advises that Clarke aims to stop the “ambulance-chasing lawyers” from “cashing in on frivolous cases.” Although it appears that No Win No Fee isn’t actually going to be scrapped; what is being reviewed are the success fees that solicitors are entitled to for winning a case; which operates on a sliding scale basis relevant to the risk of the case. The article is of course is more than happy to point out the obvious one that often hits the news; seemingly increasing NHS bills from negligence claims against them.
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For some motorists, motorcyclists are their worst nightmare! Motorcyclists are seen by some drivers as hazards on the road. They often appear as if from nowhere, and speed past drivers on some of the most dangerous roads. However, the latest government campaign called Think! Bike aims to change those views. They don’t want drivers to judge motorcyclists as rebels on the road; they want us to see them as people – i.e. a mother or a father, or as someone’s daughter.

Motorcyclists are 57 more times likely to be injured in a serious or fatal crash than car drivers. That is why it is important that motorists keep an eye out for bikes when on the road. They should check their blind spots before turning to make sure that no bikes are behind or to the side of  them.

If you are a motorcyclist, you must also show a duty of care to other road users. A lot of motorbikes are seen as speed machines – this doesn’t mean they are. Just like any other vehicle, as a motorcyclist, you should still stick to the speed limit. Failure to do so could result in a road traffic accident, and puts the lives of you and other road users at risk.
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The majority of motorists in the UK have a clear understanding of road safety; otherwise they would have instantly failed their driving test and shouldn’t be on the roads today. We are all aware that wearing a seat belt is not only part of UK law, but it also saves lives in the unfortunate event that your vehicle does become involved in a road traffic accident. With this in mind, you can imagine the shock on a police officers face when he opens the door of a 10ft caravan and ten people pile out…

The Daily Mail reports of a father who drove 100 miles towing a small caravan that shocked fellow motorists enough to result in them calling the police. Motorists alerted the police when they spotted children peering through the curtains of Sameer Mirza’s 10ft caravan on the A55 in north Wales.

Police finally caught up with him on the A4244 and pulled him over at a petrol station near Deiniolen, North Wales. Police officers noticed that the tyres on the caravan looked weighed down, and asked to look inside. The last thing they were expecting was for 10 people to emerge from the tiny caravan. The caravan had been carrying seven children aged five to 14 and their mothers, including Mirza’s wife.
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