Yes yes, I know, a number of my recent articles have been on the weather! But let’s face it, it’s the big thing at the moment and as of yesterday it just got 10 times worse here as the snow pretty much disrupted everything from businesses to schools to the mass transit system!

And I know what you may be thinking; another article on the weather – that old chestnut! But it just seems to be getting worse and worse, and the floods of weather related new claims are coming in! But it is important to know when you can and can’t claim, particularly when the weather is a major contributory factor…

Just before Christmas, our Principle Solicitor Mr. Aman Johal was requested by Sky News to comment on claiming for injuries people are sustaining due to the weather, in light of accident and emergencies reporting significant increased admissions for fractures resulting from people falling on ice! The Sky News article (source) reported that some A+E’s had to open extra operating theatres to cope with the increase.
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Oil giant Shell and two of its contractors have been fined £283,000 by the Health and Safety Executive following an accident at one of their oil refineries which left a worker paralysed from the waist down.

According to The Times, the accident occurred at the Ellesmere Port  complex in Cheshire in 2007. A 500 kilogram container fell from a height of 30ft down on to the walkway below, landing on Mr Stephen Rizzotti and breaking his back, pelvis and both legs, leaving him wheelchair bound. The HSE labelled the incident as “totally avoidable” and Shell pleaded guilty to contravening the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 at Warrington Crown Court. Shell and its contracting companies conceded that they had “failed to provide a safe working environment” but did note that they “have taken steps…to prevent a recurrence” since the accident.

It is important that the HSE continues to put to task companies who fail in their duty of care to their employees and the scale of this fine will hopefully spur on Shell to continue to make safety adjustments where necessary to ensure that not only is there no recurrence of this incident but also that future potential safety hazards are identified and reasonable provisions put in place to limit the chances of accidents occurring. Employers are required to perform risk assessments on their system of working and operations in general and this is an ongoing requirement which needs regular review to ensure the safety of employees.
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Speed limits are there for a reason – to keep us all safe on the roads! And it’s no secret that many road traffic accidents occur because of the speed limit being broken. So are there any excuses for people ignoring these important life saving limits? Well, unless you’re a member of the emergency services, there certainly is not!

According to BBC reports, England football star Ashley Cole is being prosecuted for speeding in his Lamborghini after he was caught by police travelling at 104mph in a 50 zone when he was caught by a laser speed camera in November last year (source).  

The Chelsea left-back, who did not appear in court, has stated to officers that he was being harassed by paparazzi when he decided to go twice over the speed limit on the A3 in Kingston. Now I can’t imagine it’s easy to be constantly followed by the press looking for a story, but it’s certainly no excuse for dangerous driving risking the lives of other road users and the local public. When Cole was stopped he informed police he was aware it was a 50 zone and claimed to have been travelling at 80mph to get away from the harassment of the paparazzi.
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A lorry driver caused a crash on the M1, hitting a car and killing two people, Leicester Crown court heard yesterday.

The driver of the lorry, 75-year-old Mr John Leadenham, crashed in to the rear of Paul and Doreen Tomlinson’s vehicle on the M1 in October 2008. Their car was then crushed against another lorry.

Mr Leadenham is accused of braking too late on the motorway having failed to note traffic braking ahead because of an accident. He braked at 17 metres before the queue of vehicles and came to a halt at 68 metres. Mr Leadenham is alleged to have told officers at the scene that he was unable to brake in time because cars pulled in front of him. However, analysis of CCTV has indicated that all cars remained in the same lanes in the seconds leading up to the crash.
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A report in to a disaster involving the 1994 Chinook helicopter crash has found that the crash may have been caused by faulty computer software. The incident was originally believed to have occurred as the result of gross negligence by the vehicle’s two pilots. The incident resulted in the death of all 29 people on board when the helicopter crashed during fog on the Mull of Kintyre.

Now it has emerged that an internal Ministry of Defence report, written just nine months prior to the incident, identified the software as “positively dangerous”.  The report alleges that the deficiencies in the software meant that the pilot’s control of the engines could not be assured.

The official RAF enquiry indicated that the crash was a result of the negligence of the two pilots of the helicopter but this latest report adds to a growing amount of evidence suggesting otherwise. Another report, written on the day of the accident, stated that it was imperative that the RAF cease operations with the Chinook helicopter and also the helicopter test pilot, Squadron Leader Robert Burke, has indicated he felt that he believed the RAF rushed the machine in to use knowing that it was dangerous.
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Doctors in Belgium are to re-examine dozens of coma patients following the case of Rom Houben. Mr Houben lay imprisoned in his own body for over two decades before doctors in the department  of Neurology at Liege University hospital discovered through a PET scan that he was conscious and had an ”almost normal” level of brain activity.

According to the Guardian, Mr Houben was believed to be in a vegetative state following a car crash which occurred in 1983 and doctors told his family that he could hear and feel nothing. Now Mr Houben is able to communicate following physiotherapy on his finger, using a touch screen attached to his wheelchair. This does appear to be the limit of his recovery but his mother, Mrs Fina Houben, having already campaigned for 26 years to get her son’s consciousness recognised, refuses to concede that this is it, stating “We continue to search and search”.

Mr Houben’s case is exceptionally rare and there is apparently great difficulty in distinguishing using current technology between minimal levels of consciousness and a vegetative state. Indeed, it was only because of Mr Houben’s level of brain activity that his condition was discovered.
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I hope everybody had a very merry Christmas and a happy new year! And I hope you all took the advice to stay safe over the festive period; particularly with the seemingly continuing severe weather many parts of the UK are still experiencing.

The dream of a white Christmas came true for many this year, which was a welcome sight despite the severe weather we have faced over the last month. On a similar note, according to one amazing BBC report, one group of new year celebrators were trapped in the UK’s highest pub (statistically, above sea level) for a further two nights after they were snowed in on New Years Eve! (source).

And on the subject again of the weather, news reports are advising that the weather warnings are continuing and we are possibly set to see some bad weather well in to January, with the warnings to motorists still being issued as temperatures could be set to drop as low as 15 degrees Celsius (source). According to Sky News reports, seven people were fatally injured as a result of the horrific weather in the UK in December. So the advice to stay safe and take extra care on the roads is still required!
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I certainly am! In fact, the snow that arrived over the past week was a welcome festive gift for many (all be it a little early!). That was until a little snow turned in to a huge “blizzard” of sorts for many parts of the country, causing commuters havoc and holiday-makers a nightmare!

For many parts of the country we are now at that horrible icy state; where the snow has mostly melted and all that remains is a sheet of dangerous glassy ice lining the pavements and some roads. But over the last week we have seen news flash after news flash of the chaos the weather has caused.
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Justice Secretary Jack Straw has called for an increase to the maximum sentence for dangerous driving. Currently the offence carries a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment but under Mr Straw’s proposals that could increase to five.

According to the BBC, the proposals follow a campaign by the parents of toddler Cerys Edwards. Cerys was aged just 11 months when she was struck down by a car travelling more than 70 mph in a 30 mph zone. The driver was sentenced to two years for his crime but served just six months.
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The super Swedish furniture company Ikea has announced it is recalling a children’s high chair following reports that the chair is a potential danger to children using it, Sky News has reported (source).

According to the report, the locks securing the seat on the “Leopard Chair” can give way, leading to a child falling through frame. It is believed that so far one child has already become a victim of the seat, sustaining bruises to legs after falling through the frame. There are also fears children could choke on the detached locks.

The issue caught the attention of Ikea following 11 reports of the defective snap locks, including the incident above of the child that was injured, and a second incident whereby a detached snap lock was found in a child’s mouth, but was lucky retracted before any damage was done – so the fears are real!
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