Pages On: Employer Negligence

Salisbury man awarded compensation for contracting mesothelioma

Posted: 25 April 2016

Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Mesothelioma

A 60-year-old Salisbury man, originally from Sardinia in Italy, has received a six figure sum in compensation for developing the fatal disease, mesothelioma whilst working as a chef. Mr Luigi Pes had moved to Britain, aged 31, in 1982. He had been working for La Gondola Italian Restaurant in Fisherton Street in Salisbury where he was exposed to asbestos from the seals on the pizza oven and in the store room ceiling. Mr Pes was not warned by his employers about the dangers that working with asbestos could pose to his health. When…

Ministry of Defence compensates talented chef

Posted: 12 April 2016

Posted in: Armed Forces Injuries, Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries

A talented chef, who was serving in the British army, sustained injuries that were so severe he can no longer work within his trade. Hopewell Marindire, from Kettering, had been posted to Sennerlager training camp in Germany where he had been working in below freezing temperatures. He developed a condition known as ‘non freezing cold injury’ which caused him numbness, permanent intolerance to cold temperatures, damage to tissues and in considerable pain.  The chef, who was originally from Zimbabwe, had been working in conditions as low as 14 degrees Celsius wearing nothing…

Former pipefitter wins compensation for asbestosis

Posted: 22 March 2016

Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease

A former pipefitter who approached his union following a diagnosis of the incurable lung disease, asbestosis, has been awarded compensation after winning his claim against a former employer. 64-year-old Michael Adcock developed the disease after having worked for 18 years for a Leicestershire engineering company refurbishing boilers that had asbestos in their insulation. As part of his job, Mr Adcock had to remove insulation from boilers manually which caused asbestos dust to be in the air and then settle on his skin, hair and clothing. It was learned that he had worked at…

What is Mesothelioma and can you claim compensation for getting it?

Posted: 16 March 2016

Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a devastating disease. It is a highly aggressive form of cancer most commonly found in men who have been exposed to asbestos throughout their working life. The condition is contracted by breathing asbestos fibres into the lungs. The microscopic asbestos fibres aggravate the cells of the lungs and cause them to mutate into cancerous cells. Mesothelioma usually affects the lungs but can also be found in the stomach. Common symptoms of mesothelioma include chest pain, breathing problems, fatigue and weight loss. More than 2,600 people were diagnosed with…

Concerns over lung disease diagnosis

Posted: 30 January 2016

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Medical Negligence

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has asked a senior NHS expert to look into concerns raised following the diagnosis of lung disease in ex-mineworkers. The concerns were raised when the Union of Democratic Mineworkers paid for 2 redundant ex-miners to have CT scans of their lungs privately. It was discovered that both miners from Nottinghamshire were suffering from pneumoconiosis despite previous X-rays in 2013 coming back marked as “satisfactory”. The union is now calling for all former miners to get CT scans following the results of Ray Nunn and Crawford Hunter, both…

Government urged to compensate mesothelioma

Posted: 2 November 2015

Posted in: Armed Forces Injuries, Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Mesothelioma

The government has been urged to make changes to the way in which veterans are treated when diagnosed with mesothelioma – a cancer caused by asbestos exposure. Armed forces charities, senior military figures and politicians have all stepped forward in a bid to provide better support to veterans who were exposed to asbestos during their time in service, and have contracted mesothelioma as a result. They are demanding that all veterans will receive the same compensation as civilians, arguing that the government is currently breaching the Armed Forces Covenant. Thousands…

Teacher to receive £1.5m for workplace harassment

Posted: 22 July 2015

Posted in: Employer Negligence, School Accidents

A schoolteacher from Bishop Auckland is to receive £1.5million in compensation after years of suffering workplace victimisation. 43-year-old Karen Hall contacted Durham County Council chief executive George Garlick when the bullying became an issue, with the hope that he would take action. However, despite numerous letters and attempts of contact, he failed to acknowledge her plead for help. The former teacher of West Cornforth Primary School said she suffered eighteen individual instances of victimisation at work, which have left her with serious health problems. She said: “My health is still…

Did You Contract an Illness Due to Your Working Environment?

Posted: 20 March 2015

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Workplace Injuries

Bristol’s history as a centre of trade and industry is an interesting aspect to our local culture.  Whilst not quite at the levels that it once was, there are still some very active businesses who work in older traditional type industries. We would like to think that all of them adhere to the best health and safety practices, but that’s not always the case unfortunately. In the past this was particularly true, and it’s only now that some workers are experiencing illnesses that were contracted as a direct result of…

Accident at Work Claims in Bristol: Injury Compensation

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries

We are specialists in accident at work claims in Bristol. We help people in Bristol and Avon to claim for personal injury compensation for an injury they have suffered in the workplace. With an expert team of solicitors and lawyers, we can support you in getting the justice and compensation that you deserve for the injuries that were not your fault. We work on a no win, no fee* agreement, meaning you can receive legal representation despite your financial circumstances. How to Claim for Accident at Work Compensation in Bristol All…

Wife of asbestos victim appeals for information

Posted: 24 August 2014

Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Mesothelioma

The widow of a former dockyard worker who died as a result of asbestos exposure has appealed for information surrounding her late husband’s working conditions. Kenneth Strong died at age 80 after battling mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos exposure, for five-months. His wife Jean is appealing to her husband’s colleagues to assist in an investigation into the working conditions of the dockyard. Ken died earlier this year after contracting mesothelioma, a cancer in the lining of the lungs, at work. He began work at Devonport Royal Dockyard at the age…

Asbestos victim denied compensation

Posted: 12 May 2014

Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Mesothelioma

A cancer patient has been given ‘enormous sympathy’ but no compensation for her cancer caused by asbestos expose in her workplace in the 1970s. 58-year-old Marie McGregor was 15 when she worked in Lewis’s Department Store in Liverpool. She had been employed by the British Shoe Corporation (BSC) which managed a concession there.  In 1976 a workman was employed to fix the store’s escalators. Although Mrs McGregor and her colleagues thought nothing of it at the time, the store was covered in a thin layer of white dust that gathered on…

Leading cheese company fined following tractor death

Posted: 20 June 2013

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries, Wrongful & Accidental Death

JA&E Montgomery Ltd have been fined a total of £120,000 after one of their farm workers was killed when the sub-standard tractor she was driving overturned. 26-year-old Kim Webb was out checking the cattle when she was thrown out of the vehicle in June 2009.  She was crushed as the tractor overturned and was later pronounced dead in hospital.   The tractor Kim was driving failed to meet health and safety regulations, missing both a seatbelt and roll-over bar, which are both essential safety devices for tractors. Because of this, Somerset-based JA&E…

Company fined for worker's injuries

Posted: 18 April 2013

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Falls from Heights, Foot Injuries, Hip Injuries, Spine & Back Injuries, Workplace Injuries

A self-employed roofer has been fined after an employee suffered major injuries falling through a skylight at a Nuneaton industrial estate. The employee was re-cladding the asbestos roof when he fell seven metres to the factory floor below. He fractured his pelvis, back and foot and was unable to work for several months. The self-employed roofer was responsible for the work and was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found he failed to do enough to prevent or mitigate the fall. He was fined £1,000…

A quarter of construction sites fail safety inspections

Posted: 9 April 2013

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Falls from Heights, Workplace Injuries

Inspectors for the Health and Safety Exective recently carried out a month-long exercise to improve standards in the construction industry – one of the most dangerous industries in Britain. They made unannounced visits to construction sites in Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk to ensure companies are managing high-risk activity, such as working at height. They also checked for general good order, assessed welfare facilities and checked whether personal protective equipment, such as head protection, was being used appropriately. A total of 17 of the 71 sites they inspected were found not…

Workman fined for friend's fall through roof

Posted: 20 March 2013

Posted in: Arm Injury, Employer Negligence, Falls from Heights, Workplace Injuries

A self-employed maintenance worker has been fined after a friend, who was helping him on a job, fell through the roof of a disused factory. The injured man, in his forties, suffered a broken elbow when he fell three metres through the asbestos cement roof at a disused rubber factory in the Forest of Dean. HSE found that the maintenance worker, who was employed to dismantle the roof of the building, did not plan the work properly or have any safety equipment in place that might prevent or mitigate the…

TUC updates its guide to workplace safety

Posted: 12 March 2013

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Workplace Injuries, Wrongful & Accidental Death

The TUC has published an updated version of its guide to workplace safety, entitled ‘Hazards at Work’. The publication comes at a time of increased concern over a reduction in the number of workplace safety inspections and an increase in workplace fatalities. The TUC says that the current upward trend in workplace fatalities will be not be reversed unless there is an increase in the enforcement of health and safety law in all workplaces. The guide has 24 chapters on the common hazards and causes of ill health at work…

Gloucestershire paper company fined for safety failings

Posted: 24 January 2013

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Hand Injuries, Workplace Injuries

A Gloucestershire paper producer has been fined after an employee’s hand was crushed in an unguarded machine as he tried to clean it. The 43 year-old worker received a serious crushing injury, cuts and bruising to his right hand when it was drawn between the rollers of a paper coating machine, he was unable to return to work for two months. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) established that the rollers had to be cleaned periodically, sometimes several times a day, when the coating material is changed.…

Enterprise Bill “stacks odds against workers”

Posted: 15 January 2013

Posted in: Employer Negligence, Workplace Injuries

Government plans to change workplace law are a license for rogue bosses to let safety standards fall, claim the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). APIL is lobbying for a Government amendment to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill to be dropped as it is debated in the House of Lords. “The Government is trying to overturn 100 years of legal procedure by making the injured worker have to provide all the evidence to prove that the employer who has injured him was at fault,” explained APIL president Karl Tonks.…