Lawford Kidd, Personal Injury Solicitors

A farm company in Northern Ireland (NI) has been fined a record £187,500, plus £13,000 costs for health and safety failings that led to the death of 45-year-old employee Robert Wilson.

A private healthcare provider managing a hospital in Ipswich has been fined for safety failings after an employee suffered a fractured kneecap.

Proposed new changes to existing EU legislation, backed by the European Parliament's Public Health Committee, would trigger an automatic EU safety evaluation in the event of a safety alert about a medicinal product in any EU Member State.

A family from Wrexham have won their medical negligence claim against a health board for a wrong diagnosis that left their daughter suffering severe brain damage, reports the BBC.

InjuriesBoard.ie has published a review of workplace accidents in Ireland in 2011 that shows compensation totalling €22.5million (2010: €25.1million) was awarded in respect of 830 (2010: 889 awards) personal injury workplace claims.

On Saturday 28th April, unions and safety campaigners around the world will be marking Workers' Memorial Day and remembering the two million men and women who die every year as a result of work-related accidents and diseases.

An Edmonton-based recycling company has been fined for failing to protect employees working with lead.

A consultation has recently been launched by the UK Government on tightening the law on the criminal liability of partnerships. The consultation is also seeking views on reforming the law on unincorporated associations.

One in four call centre agents suffer voice problems because managers are failing to properly protect their health, a health and safety body has said.

The Scottish Government has welcomed publication of an inquiry by HM Chief Inspector of Fire and Rescue Authorities into the unsuccessful attempt to rescue Alison Hume from a disused mineshaft in 2008.

With effect from 6th April, employers no longer have to report to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) injuries which keep workers off normal duties for seven or fewer days. Previously, injuries had to be reported if they kept workers off normal duties for more than three days.

The Supreme Court has given its decision in the appeal by insurance companies over their obligations under various contracts of employers’ liability (“EL”) insurance. In particular, the appeals concern the scope of the insurers’ obligations to indemnify employers against their liabilities towards employees who have contracted mesothelioma following exposure to asbestos.

Review of Expenses and Funding of Civil Litigation in Scotland (The Taylor Review): Response by Lawford Kidd Personal Injury Solicitors to the Consultation paper

Thursday 15th March 2012

Lawford Kidd is a Specialist Personal Injury Practice. The firm welcomes the Review of Expenses and Funding.

Lord Gill’s consultation paper raised serious concerns regarding the availability of funding for claimants, particularly in relation to personal injury actions. Lord Gill made it clear that the proposals by Lord Justice Jackson in England raised fundamental issues which should be addressed by the Working Group on Judicial Expenses.

In view of the problems identified by Lord Gill relating to funding and its impact on Access to Justice Lord Gill made it clear that an urgent review was needed of the current cost regime.

In his recommendations (vol. 1 page 270, para190) Lord Gill states “the outcome of Lord Justice Jackson’s review and whether, in the light of his recommendations, the rule that expenses follow success may require to be modified in this jurisdiction, are matters that should urgently be addressed by the Working Group on Judicial Expenses”.

The firm welcomes the introductory remarks of the Review of Expenses where it is stated that the Civil Justice System “should be accessible to all and sensitive to the needs of those who use it”.

This response focuses principally on the question of costs in relation to personal injury litigation. The submissions are based on the acknowledged problems with the funding of personal injury litigation in Scotland identified by Lord Gill and confirmed in the review paper. It is clear that in Scotland at present there are significant problems in providing Access to Justice for personal injury claimants.

1.    Legal Aid funding is of minimal significance in personal injury litigation. The total number of grants of Civil Legal Aid in the Court of Session in 2011 amounted to 59, including clinical negligence. The annual case load of personal injury actions in that forum was around 3,000.

Health and safety experts have called on landowners to take more care and responsibility when looking after trees on their land.

In light of recent fatalities and injuries sustained from falling trees and branches, members of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) are reminding landowners and managers of the potential risks that failing to look after trees on their land can pose to public safety.

Alan Plom, from the IOSH Rural Industries Group, said: “Every year across the UK members of the public are injured, or even worse killed when a tree falls on them.

“Landowners and managers need to step up to the mark and be aware of the risks that unsafe trees on their land pose to the general public – they could  be seriously hurt should a tree fall.”

There have been some high-profile incidents and widely reported civil cases relating to poor tree safety and management. Liability concerns amongst landowners have led to a defensive approach and often unnecessary felling of trees.

Mr Plom added: “Tree safety isn’t a laughing matter, it’s a must. Landowners need to balance the risks and benefits that having trees on their land can bring, and adopt a sensible, proportionate approach to tree safety.

“When assessing whether trees are safe it’s important that risks are considered without adopting an overly defensive approach that can have a harmful effect on tree stocks or individual trees.”

A demolition firm has been sentenced after knocking down a building in the Lake District containing hundreds of asbestos ceiling tiles, putting the lives of workers and local residents at risk.

IBT Contracting Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after carrying out the work at a former photography factory, despite not having a licence to remove asbestos.

Kendal Magistrates' Court heard IBT had been given a survey by the owners of the site ahead of the work taking place, which stated that the building contained 166 square metres of asbestos ceiling tiles.

But the company failed to arrange for a licensed contractor to remove the tiles safely, and instead released deadly asbestos fibres into the air during the building's demolition.

IBT Contracting pleaded guilty to three breaches of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, for removing asbestos without a licence, exposing workers to asbestos fibres, and allowing the fibres to spread to neighbouring areas.

The company was fined £10,800 and ordered to pay £3,638.95 in prosecution costs. 

Asbestos was used in ceiling tiles up until the 1980s to help insulate buildings. The tiles only become dangerous if they are broken up and asbestos fibres are released into the air.

Fibres that are breathed in can become lodged in the lungs or digestive tract, and may lead to lung cancer or other diseases if large numbers of fibres are inhaled. However, symptoms may not appear for several decades.

Around 4,000 people die every year as a result of breathing in asbestos fibres, making it the biggest single cause of work-related deaths in the UK.

New evidence has emerged which shows that around 7,000 more women in the UK may be victims of the PiP scandal caused by a French breast implant manufacturer, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has announced. These women will be eligible for the same NHS care as announced in January.

French authorities had previously advised that only PiP breast implants that were used after 2001 may have been made with unauthorised silicone gel. Following an investigation by the UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the French authorities have now reported that PiP implants made before 2001 may also contain unauthorised silicone gel.

This means an extra 7,000 women, who had PiP implants before 2001, could be affected. About one in five breast implants need replacing within ten years, whatever the make, so it is unlikely that all these 7,000 women still have the same PiP implants.

The independent expert group – led by the NHS Medical Director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh – continues to advise that there is not enough evidence to recommend routine removal of PiP breast implants given that this would mean many women having to have surgery.

However, the government has recommended that if women are concerned they should speak to their surgeon or GP. The NHS will support removal of PIP implants if, after this consultation, the patient still has concerns and with her doctor she decides that it is right to do so. The NHS will replace the implants if the original operation was done by the NHS.

The government expect the private sector to do the same for their patients. It believe that private providers have a duty to take steps to provide appropriate after-care to patients they have treated. If a clinic that implanted PiP implants no longer exists or refuses to care for their patient – where that patient is entitled to NHS services, the NHS will support the removal of PiP implants where clinically necessary.

A firm specialising in the manufacture of wooden doors and windows has been fined for safety failings after a worker died at its Leyton premises.

Andrzej Rokita had been with M M Contracting Ltd for only ten days when he attempted to help his son, also an employee, to remove a large board from the middle of a pile stacked upright against a wall in the workshop.

The company's usual system for doing this was for one employee to stand in front of the stack, taking the weight of the unwanted boards on his hands, while a fellow worker pulled out the chosen one from the side. Unfortunately as Mr Rokita tried to support the weight of the leaning wooden panels they toppled over, crushing him and causing fatal head injuries.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident and found that the company did not have a safe system of work for the storage or retrieval of boards. Storing the boards flat on the floor or using a simple purpose-built racking system would have greatly reduced the risk of injury.

After today's sentencing hearing at Southwark Crown Court, HSE inspector Kevin Smith said:

"This was a death waiting to happen. Incidents such as this are still a common occurrence in the industry despite the existence of guidance from the HSE offering simple, inexpensive solutions for stacking wood safely.

"As a direct result of the company's failure to provide safe storage for their everyday materials, a father and husband has lost his life. There is no excuse for employers not ensuring that wood on their premises is properly stored, posing the most minimal risk to their staff."

The company pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £26,000 and ordered to pay £9,000 in costs.

InjuriesBoard.ie has published its review of 2011, which shows that compensation totalling €210 million was awarded in 2011 in respect of 9,833 personal injury claims. The average award in the period was €21,339. During the year the Board made an award of €829,444, its highest to date.

Award values via the Injuries Board remained consistent with awards through the Courts. The average award in 2011 was €21,339, down 3.8% on 2010. This reduction is largely due to a reduction in the proportion of work related claims – typically of higher value – and reduced loss of earnings, given lower salaries across the economy.

The total value of awards in the period increased by 23% but this was largely driven by an increase in the number of awards assessed in the period. Underlying claims volumes remained stable, increasing by 3% in the period and suggesting that the often mooted increase in claims during recessionary times has not occurred.

Over three quarters of awards (76.5%) were for injuries from road traffic accidents, while the remainder were split between workplace (8.4%) and public place (15.1%) accidents.

More than half of drivers (53%) are risking deadly pile-ups on motorways by driving too close to the vehicle in front, according to research by Brake and Direct Line. More drivers are taking this deadly risk compared to seven years ago (49%), and men are far more likely to do it than women, with a horrifying three in ten male drivers (30%) doing so at least weekly.

In Great Britain in 2010, 263 people were killed and 1,445 seriously injured in road crashes on motorways and 70mph roads.

While there are fewer crashes per mile travelled on motorways, crashes on these roads have an increased risk of death or serious injury because of the speeds involved. Crashes on 70mph roads are more than twice as likely to result in death than crashes on roads with lower speed limits.

Almost one in five fatal crashes on motorways involve four or more vehicles. These kinds of crashes often cause multiple deaths and injuries, and the resulting congestion and tailbacks can cause further crashes.

An Ammanford-based knitwear company and a cladding firm site foreman have been fined for putting workers and visitors at risk of exposure to asbestos.

Corgi Hosiery Ltd contracted Dragon Cladding Ltd to remove an asbestos cement sheet roof at their New Road branch in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire

Having received a complaint about the work, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) visited the site and found roofers had removed the asbestos sheets from the roof, but they had also removed plaster-like material from the underside of the sheets and structural steelwork.

HSE inspectors stopped the work immediately and tests confirmed the plaster-like material contained asbestos.

On further investigation it was found that Dragon Cladding Ltd's site foreman had instructed two workers to use a hammer and chisel to remove the plaster-like material from the building steelwork.

Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard no effort was made to establish what this material was prior to work commencing, and the debris was swept into domestic black bin bags and placed in open skips.

Throughout the duration of the work, Corgi Hosiery employees had continuous access to the main building, with one worker based in the area throughout the works. Visitors to the premises were not excluded from the works area and were also potentially exposed to asbestos.

HSE inspector Anne Marie Orrells said:

"Nowadays, the risks of exposure to asbestos are well known so this serious incident was inexcusable.

"Had Mr Phillips adequately assessed the risks prior to the start of the work, it would have been apparent that the work should have been carried out by an asbestos-licensed contractor, under controlled conditions.

"Corgi Hosiery Limited should have ensured measures were taken to exclude employees and visitors from the area while the roof work was being carried out overhead. As a result of these failings both workers and visitors to their premises were exposed to potentially deadly asbestos-containing materials."

When asbestos fibres are inhaled they can cause serious diseases which are responsible for around 4,000 deaths a year.