A West Midlands-based demolition firm has been prosecuted by the Government’s Health and Safety Executive after learning one of their teenage workers lost an arm in a horrific injury, according to work accident claim experts familiar with the case.
Lichfield, Staffordshire native, Thomas Bird, had been working as a labourer for UK Demolition Services Ltd at the time of the incident, which occurred in Ramsey on a site at Great Whyte, accident claim experts say. The nineteen year old worker had been working in conjunction with the driver of an excavator in order to load debris into the hydraulically-powered selector grab, according to statements read into the record at Huntingdon Magistrates’ Court.
However, without warning, the machine suddenly swung around, pinning the young man’s right arm between it and a wall nearby, crushing it. Personal injury compensation experts say that Mr Bird was rushed to hospital by air ambulance, but due to the massive damage the appendage sustained, surgeons were unable to save it and instead amputated the arm below the elbow.
The HSE investigated the incident, discovering that the driver of the excavator had been attempting to leave the vehicle whilst neglecting to turn off the ignition. As he tried to do so, his jacket became entangled with one of the excavator’s levers, engaging its power and sending the boom of the excavator careering into the teenage labourer.
As a result of the firm’s negligence by way of the excavation driver, UK Demolition Services Ltd was given a fine of £4,000 and also told to pay a total of £3.500 in court costs after it admitted that it had breached health and safety regulations.