A worker employed by an engineering company may bring a work accident claim against his employer after he fell from height and suffered serious personal injury.
Ness Engineering employee David Thomson, twenty two years of age, had been involved in removing an RAF aerial mast that had fallen into disuse as part of a team when the incident occurred, according to accident claim specialists familiar with the case. The work team had been working from the interior of the aerial tower in order to dismantle the mast piece by piece before lowering the removed items to the ground through the use of a tele-handler with an attached bucket.
However, one particular item proved to be too difficult to remove from within the tower, prompting Mr Thomson to climb into the bucket of the tele-handler so he could be raised into position outside where he could more easily remove the offending part. As the bucket was being lowered back to the ground, one piece of metal that had already been removed from the aerial slipped, sending the young man tumbling from the bucket and down to the ground from a height of nine feet.
According to Mr Thomson’s personal injury claims, the worker sustained serious injuries in the fall, which included not only a number of cuts and bruises but also a broken arm and a fractured vertebra. Mr Thomson missed nine weeks’ worth of work as he recovered.
The Health and Safety Executive conducted an investigation into the incident, revealing that the company, which had carried out a risk assessment for the removal of the aerial, did not include a worker standing in the bucket of the tele-handler in their assessment. As a result of this oversight, Ness Engineering Ltd was given a £26,700 fine in the wake of the HSE successfully prosecuting the company.