One metal roofing company worker based in Cardiff who suffered severe wrist injuries whilst on the job may bring an accident claim against his employers, personal injury compensation experts have said.
Forty two year old Darren Gillard had been working on metal roof panel manufacturer Euro Clad Ltd’s production line using a piece of machinery at the time of the incident in April of last year. The machine, which positions packs of roof panels above wooden blocks, had become jammed with blocks when Mr Gillard’s injuries took place, according to the man’s personal injury lawyers.
The worker entered the machine’s enclosure while it was still in automatic mode and reached underneath it to clear the jammed blocks. However, while he was doing so, the machine began operating once more, which resulted in his wrist becoming crushed between the frame and the blocks.
After being rushed to hospital to treat his injuries, the Euro Clad employee had to undergo skin grafts to repair the severe skin abrasions he suffered in the accident, while the damage done to his wrist necessitated the insertion of a metal plate in order for it to heal properly. While he was recovering from his multiple surgical procedures, Mr Gillard missed a total of four months of work, court documents say.
At a recent hearing, the Court heard that the gate of the fence that had encircled the machine had a broken interlock. This meant that it allowed workers to enter the enclosure without needing to render the machine safe to perform maintenance upon it.
Euro Clad Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive for neglecting to make sure that the correct measures had been taken when allowing access to dangerous pieces of machinery.