Recently there was a very sad story in the news about a 21-year-old farm worker who was killed in a tragic incident involving farm machinery.
Agriculture is one of the most dangerous industries in the UK. According to data published by the Health & Safety Executive, 20% of all fatalities in the workplace in 2019/20 occurred in the agricultural sector and I have previously written an article exploring why this is in more detail.
If agriculture is only responsible for 20% of fatalities at work, then what accounts for the other 80%?
Construction accounts for 36%, manufacturing for 14%, transport and storage for 10% and other industries contribute much smaller numbers.
The most common cause of death in the workplace is falls from height, which is common in the construction industry when people are often working on scaffolding or on roofs. The next most common causes are being struck by a moving vehicle or a moving object, becoming trapped under something collapsing or overturning, and contact with moving machinery.
Our personal injury team have dealt with many cases where serious injuries have occurred from accidents at work.
We acted for a client, M, who was working at a factory producing heat bonded fabrics. Whilst working on one production line, the machine became blocked, which if not rectified would mean that the whole production line had to stop. Our client therefore set out dislodging the blockage, as he had done before. Unfortunately, he fell onto the production line and was pulled under a roller, causing a very serious degloving injury to his leg which required multiple skin grafts and a fracture to the leg.
We also acted for S, who whilst at work was struck on the back of the neck and head by a scaffolding pole that had fallen over. He initially sustained a whiplash type injury, and what appeared to be a minor blow to the head, but several months later had a seizure which medical experts believed was due to the blow to the head sustained at work. As a result of this, he was unable to drive for a year and was subsequently diagnosed with epilepsy.
If you or someone you know has been injured in an accident at work, please get in touch with our friendly personal injury solicitors.
