Accident solicitor experts have recently reported a serious injury occurred in Hayes when one man was pinned by two-and-a-half-tonne stone slabs that fell off a truck at the granite company at which he was employed.
The injured man, who has requested his name not be released to the media in order to preserve his privacy, had been working with his employer, Mr Monzer Mahmoud Alrayes, unloading stone slabs from the back of an articulated lorry. However, one pack of stone slabs fell off the back of the truck, pinning the man between two pallets, state accident claim experts.
After sustaining serious injuries to his arm and his upper body, the worker was rushed to hospital where he needed to undergo several surgical procedures to correct the damage. The man also needed months of rehabilitation and therapy in the wake of the incident – and may be considering a work accident claim as well.
Both Mr Alrayes, the company for which he is a director, M & R Granite and Marble Ltd, located in the Brook Industrial Estate, Hillingdon, were brought before the Magistrates’ Court for the City of London for a hearing in which the Health and Safety Executive prosecuted them for being in breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act. After entering a plea of guilty, both the firm and the director were given a fine of £5,000 for their role in the man’s injuries.
In the wake of the hearing, one inspector for the HSE called the accident entirely avoidable. The HSE inspector remarked that the inherent dangers involved with both the loading and unloading of heavy, dangerous objects such as stone slabs had not only been highlighted by the HSE, but the manufacturing industry as a whole.