A 55 year old man suffered a serious personal injury at work after he fell from a trestle platform.
Matt Clarke was employed on a barn conversion at the time of the accident last October. In order to work on the property’s gable end he needed to stand on the trestle work platform and it was while he was carrying out this work that he fell to the ground 3 metres below.
As a result of the fall, Clarke suffered a broken arm, broken back and broken ribs. He is now unable to return to his job because of the severity of the injuries.
The HSE launched an investigation into the accident and discovered that inadequate safety measures had been implemented to prevent employees falling from the trestle platform. The employer, UK Storage Company (SW) Limited, pleaded guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £5,000 at Taunton Magistrates’ court last week.
An HSE spokesperson said that employers have a duty to care for their employees and ensure adequate safety measures are in place to prevent accidents at work. Despite this, thousands of employees sustain serious injuries from falls in the workplace every year in the UK.
If you have been a victim of an accident at work and wish to file a claim for personal injury compensation, you should get in touch with a reputable personal injury solicitor in the first instance and he will assess the validity of your claim.