A manufacturing company has been prosecuted after a worker severed fingers in a devastating accident.

Simon Partridge worked as a production supervisor for Saint-Gobain Weber Ltd when the accident occurred in November 2007. He was in charge of the night shift at the tiling manufacturing plant when the waste extraction system became blocked. The system was full of the dust it extracts from the workshop, causing it to not function properly. Mr Partridge attempted to clear the blockage himself but ended up suffering a devastating injury.

His hand became trapped in the rotating valve and his finger and thumb were severed. He underwent surgery to try and reattach the digits, but this proved unsuccessful.

The Health and Safety Executive investigated the incident and discovered several failings. The machines guards could be easily removed using basic tools available to employees. This goes against health and safety law.

The company admitted breaking the Health and Safety Act in court, and were fined a total of £16,000. It is unclear whether Mr Partridge made a dangerous machinery claim against the company for their negligence in his accident.

A man from Cumbria is seeking motorcycle accident compensation after suffering serious injury due to hitting a pothole.

Paul Quayle was travelling down Ormsgill Lane in Barrow when the accident occurred. He was riding his Kawasaki 750 bike when he turned the corner onto Park Road and immediately hit a pothole. The hole was so big that he lost control of the bike and fell. Despite suffering serious injuries, Mr Quayle was indeed lucky, the accident could have been a lot worse if he hadn’t managed to swerve out of the way of an oncoming van.

Mr Quayle suffered broken ribs and a suspected broken collarbone. He is still waiting to discover if he needs surgery and is still in hospital. The North-West Evening Mail is reporting that he now intends to claim compensation from Cumbria County Council. However, the legal liability regarding pothole accidents is complicated. Cumbria Council has a hotline to report road defects and regularly inspects roads to check their condition. If the road has been inspected adequately and the defect was not there, and the hole had not been reported prior to the accident, Mr Quayle may struggle to prove the Council responsible.

Several personal injury claims are being made after a large gas explosion in Shrewsbury caused several people serious harm.

The explosion took place back in January on the corner of Bridge Street and Smithfield Road in the Shropshire town. The blast ripped through a block of flats and left parts of the town centre closed for over a month. The incident also left 12 people injured.

Now a legal wrangle in ensuing over who is liable for the incident. The BBC has reported the contents of a letter sent from solicitors acting on behalf of the National Grid to BT Legal. It claims that the gas leak was caused by the stress put on a gas main by the weight of a BT chamber. They claim BT are negligent for building so close to the gas main, breaking the Health and Safety Executive’s guidelines.

The question of liability is crucial as a number of compensation claims have been started in regards to the incident. One of these is that of twenty year old Sarah Pearse who lived in a flat close by. She suffered burns in the blast and spent weeks in hospital recovering. It has also left her with panic and anxiety attacks.

An engineering firm from Preston, Lancashire has been fined after a worker died from an industrial injury caused by an accident.

Michael Lohaza was working for Autoy Limited when the accident occurred in January 2009. He was working on a lathe in a small building next to the main workshop, and was alone at the time. Two colleagues discovered the 45 year old dead at the scene after becoming entangled in the machinery.

An investigation found that Mr Lohaza had been cutting the thread using a lathe on a one metre long metal screw when he became entangled with it. The Health and Safety Executive prosecuted the firm for the death of the long standing worker.

The HSE found that the firm had failed to carry out a full risk assessment to determine the risks of operating such machinery. A spokesperson for the HSE stated that the risk of entanglement with lathes is well known, and as such suitable clothing should be worn, and hair tied back.

The company was fined £17,500 for breaking the Health and Safety at Work Act.

A textile manufacturing company has been fined after an accident at work left a worker with a crushed arm.

Robert Dunn was working at E-Leather Ltd in November. He was operating a fabric winding machine which was later found to have incompetent safety guards fitted. He suffered serious injuries during the accident.

His hand was pulled into a roll of material and ended up being crushed. All three arm bones were broken and the force of being pulled in ripped the cartilage in his knee.

The incident was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive and the liability was firmly put at the feet of the company. They pleaded guilty to breaking Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and Regulation 3(1)(b) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The regulations ensure access to dangerous machinery parts is prevented with the use of safety guards.

They were fined £13,500 and made to pay costs of £5,000. It has not been reported if Mr Dunn made a work accident compensation claim against the company.

A builder is attempting to claim compensation from a homeowner after falling from a ladder while working on the property.

Labourer Tomasz Kmiecic was working on the home of Mrs Isaacs in North London when the accident occurred. He had been contracted by Armag Decoration to repair a leaky garage roof. However, it later turned out that the contractors were operating as ‘cowboys’, and did not have the legally required liability insurance. Hence, after Mr Tomasz Kmiecic suffered the accident he could not make a claim.

Mr Kmiecic slipped from his ladder while performing the work and suffered devastating injuries. His left elbow was shattered and he has been unable to work since. He had asked Mrs Isaacs if he could have access to the roof via a bedroom window in the house as his ladder was too short for the job. She refused as she did not want her carpets to get dirty.

He is now claiming compensation form Mrs Isaacs, trying to prove she is legally liable for his injuries after refusing him access to the house.

A previous hearing at the High Court put the blame firmly at the feet of the contractor and not Mrs Isaacs. However, the court of appeal has just granted him permission to appeal against this decision although no date has been set yet. The Judge acknowledged that the decision would leave home owners in horror, and Mrs Isaac’s law team said that the claim goes against common sense.

A man whose leg was crushed in a dramatic incident has won his farm accident compensation claim.

Stephen Hyndman was working for William Brown when the accident occurred back in September 2003. William Brown is an agricultural contractor from Northern Ireland but had contractors working for him on farms in Cumbria as well.

The Belfast Telegraph is reporting that Mr Hyndman was trying to clear blocked machinery in Cumbria but ended up suffering terrible injuries. The machinery in question was a potato harvester and the accident occurred when his trousers became caught in the machine. This dragged his foot into the machine and it crushed the lower part of his leg.

Mr Hyndman made a claim for compensation against William Brown for the work accident, and has recently been awarded £71,000 in damages.

A roofer has been prosecuted and fined after putting workers at risk of a fall from height accident.

Mark McKernan was spotted with three employees working on residential properties with no safety measures in place to stop them from falling. An inspector for the Health and Safety Executive watched and photographed them removing slates with nothing to stop them plummeting to the ground below if they slipped or fell. The inspector stated in court that a guardrail should have been erected around the roof or scaffolding should have been used to protect the men’s safety.

The inspector also saw the team throw removed slates from the roof into a skip on the ground in front of the house just feet from a busy pavement. It was highlighted that a rubbish chute should have been used to take waste safely to the ground.

After pleading guilty Mark McKernan was fined £2,000 and made to pay legal costs of the same amount for breaking Work at Height Regulations.

Unfortunately, around 11 roofers are killed every year as the result of a fall from height at work in the UK.

A man who was left badly burned by CS gas sprayed by a policeman into his face has won his battle for compensation.

David Johnston has a history of mental health problems and has been diagnosed as schizophrenia. In January 2006 he had become depressed at the thought that his children from a former partner were moving abroad. He took an overdose of his medication mixed with alcohol and was found wandering the streets by a friend.

The friend took him home and an ambulance was called. Due to his psychological state, the police were called as this is standard practice in such circumstances. A court heard last week that Mr Johnston allegedly left his house shouting abuse but at seeing the police officer in question held his hands out in a gesture of submission to show he was no threat. Despite this, and the fact that the officer was aware Mr Johnston was mentally ill and in need of help, he sprayed CS gas at him copiously.

The CS gas left Mr Johnston with burns to the face, neck, back, chest and legs. He was treated in hospital immediately. A jury has found that the officer used unreasonable force and Mr Johnston is entitled to compensation for his treatment.

Compensation payments to English and Welsh prisoners in the last year have doubled over payouts made during the previous year.

Figures are released in a report by the Press Association after submitting a freedom of information request to the Ministry of Justice. Total compensation payments for the period 2009/2010 amounted to £3.2 million pounds. This compares to just
£1.6 million in the previous yearly period.

The bulk of this payment – £1.6 million – was paid as a result of medical negligence. This was split between just 12 separate cases and comes as a result of below standard levels of medical care resulting in injuries and suffering.

More surprising, are the figures that highlight that £530,000 compensation was paid to victims of assault, not at the hands of fellow inmates, but at the hands of prison staff. Also, nearly £260,000 was paid to prisoners who due to administration errors were detained for longer than they should have been.

333 successful claims were brought by prisoners in the last year, with the Ministry of Justice settling 322 of them out of court.

A total of just over £13,000,000 has been paid in compensation to prisoners over the last five years. This figure has led to campaign groups calling for the prison service to do more to improve care of prisoners to cut this figure down.