According to his work accident claim, one Bristol sub-contractor sustained serious injuries to his head while working on a building site.
Paul Hinton, fifty six years of age, was working as a sub-contractor on a domestic property in Bristol for Elegance Building Contractors Ltd when the incident occurred, say personal injury claims specialists familiar with the case. Mr Hinton was injured when a stone weighing 10 kilogrammes fell from a scaffolding tower, plummeting three metres through the air before striking him on the head.
Mr Hinton who had not been wearing a hard hat as he was working at the building site, was taken by air ambulance to hospital in order for his severe head injury to be treated. The sub-contractor missed more than six months of work in the wake of the accident, and his accident claim states that his head injuries have caused him to undergo permanent personality changes.
At a recent hearing at North Somerset Magistrates’ Court, it was revealed that the construction firm had neglected to fit their scaffolding with brick guards, which are devices which would have acted to prevent any errant building materials from falling off the scaffolding and dropping down to the ground underneath. Bristol-based Elegance Building Contractors Ltd, located in Princess Victoria Street, admitted to being in breach of the Work at Height Regulations, and as a result of the role they played in the man’s injuries, the court fined the company £6,000 and also ordered them to pay a total of £4,733 in court costs.
After the hearing had been concluded, one Health and Safety Executive inspector remarked that the incident could have all too easily been avoided.