Personal Injury Solicitors

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a building products manufacturer, after a worker suffered serious cement burns on his first day of work.

The 21-year-old agency worker attended the site at Stoney Stanton on his first day of full-time employment on 28th April 2014.

He was exposed to alkaline cement slurry after standing in a drainage pit with inadequate Personal Protective Equipment, HSE investigators found.

The young worker suffered chemical burns to his feet and ankles – he required plastic surgery and his feet and lower legs are scarred for life. He was also in hospital for three weeks.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive into the incident found that the company had not appreciated that slurry from cured concrete dust poses the same risks as that from cement or wet uncured concrete.

The company also had no risk assessment for the slurry – and did not have suitable and sufficient controls to eliminate, reduce or control the risks.

A mechanical system to remove slurry from the water pit would have prevented these life changing injuries, HSE inspectors told the court.

At Leicester Magistrates’ Court, Stressline Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £12,000, with costs of £2,121.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Dr Richenda Dixon said:

“The risks from concrete and cement are well known in this industry.

“Companies need to protect agency workers, as they are as likely to have injuries in the first six months of employment as in the rest of their working lives.”

In his statement provided to the court, the unnamed worker said:

“A year after the accident, my feet are scarred – my right foot is worse than my left. I find it difficult still to walk. I don’t know how my feet will improve in the long term.

“I wouldn’t like anyone to go through what I have had to go through”.

Duncan Lewis Personal Injury Solicitors – No win no fee Construction Worker Injury Claims

Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors can advise construction workers who suffer injury at work as a result of negligence on how to make a no win no fee claim for compensation.

Construction worker injury claims have to be made within three years of injury or diagnosis of injury.

Duncan Lewis can also advise on cases where an injury has deteriorated over time and caused further injury or disability – and offers sympathetic legal advice on how to claim compensation to bereaved families whose loved one has lost their life as a result of negligence in the construction industry.

For expert legal advice on no win no fee Construction Worker Injury Claims, call Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors on 0333 772 0409.