An accident at work has left one joiner paralysed and the parish council he had been working for with both a serious fine and the responsibility to pay the injured man personal injury compensation, it was recently reported.
The self-employed joiner, whose has gone unnamed so far, had been part of a team working at South Kensington’s St Paul’s Church, where the building was being fitted with an adjustable floor at the time of the incident. However, the man suffered a fall from height as the balcony railing he had been leaning upon dropped under his weight, sending him plummeting three metres to the floor below and causing a broken shoulder, several broken ribs, a broken back, and spinal injuries that have made it impossible for him to move below his waist.
Last April, the Health and Safety Executive prosecuted Holy Trinity Brompton parish council at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, where the council admitted to being responsible for the accident by failing to place a temporary high barrier on the balcony to eliminate the possibility of any falls from height, earning th council a fine of £5,000. There was such a barrier in place shortly before the incident occurred, but after complaints were made about how difficult it was to move materials on the worksite it was removed.
The parish council will also be providing damages to the unnamed joiner for his life-changing injuries, according to an article in the Kensington and Chelsea Chronicle newspaper, though no further information has been made available as to how much compensation the man will receive.