Compensation options for people
injured or made ill by their jobs

Compensation news archive

Britain: Railway worker loses legs and his job
A railway worker who lost both legs and his job after he was run over by a train has received £750,000 in compensation. The ASLEF member from Harlow, whose name has not been released, has been medically retired since the traumatic incident in August 2007.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 536
Hazards news, 17 December 2011

Britain: Engineer compensated after fall through roof
A Unite member who lost his job after he seriously damaged his arm when he fell through a roof at work has received more than £164,000 in compensation. The 66-year-old from Shrewsbury, who had to take medical retirement as a result of his injuries, was installing CCTV cameras at Lime Street train station in Liverpool as part of his role as a commissioning engineer with Siemens.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 536
Hazards news, 17 December 2011

Britain: Railway worker was traumatised by gun attack
A railway worker who was threatened at gunpoint by a robber suffered post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result. The RMT member has now received a £45,550 payout from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) for the effects of the terrifying ordeal in August 2006.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 536
Hazards news, 17 December 2011

Britain: Lifting tonnes, and what do you get?
A Unite member called on to lift a huge piece of electrical equipment suffered a hernia as a result. The 65-year-old fitter with Alstom Grid UK needed major surgery after helping colleagues to handle the 10 tonne structure.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 535
Hazards news, 10 December 2011

Britain: BAE safety systems weren’t ship shape
A welder working for a high tech engineering giant suffered multiple injuries when he fell two metres because a scaffolding pole had not been properly secured. GMB member Rex Hann, 61, hurt his back, neck and right hand in the incident at BAE Systems Surface Ships Portsmouth in Farnborough.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 535
Hazards news, 10 December 2011

Britain: Injured man can no longer drive lorries
A worker’s career as an HGV driver was brought to a premature end after he badly broke his wrist at work. Unite member Peter Stocks, 63, from Newton Alfreton in Derbyshire, is now unable to drive HGVs after suffering the injury, which led to two operations on his right wrist.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 534
Hazards news, 3 December 2011

Britain: Work injury ended career before it started
An apprentice plater was forced to delay his training after a 37-stone steel structure broke his foot at work. GMB member James Davies, 22, was left with a fractured metatarsal and had to take four months off work after the huge steel component which was being built for the offshore industry fell towards him whilst he was working for Wilton Engineering Services in Port Clarence.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 533
Hazards news, 26 November 2011

Britain: Plater damaged for life by vibrating tools
A plater suffered permanent damage to hands as a result of using the vibrating tools provided to do his job. The 53-year-old GMB member from Northallerton, whose name has not been released, developed Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) while working for Severfield Reeve Structures at Dalton Airfield, Thirsk.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 533
Hazards news, 26 November 2011

Britain: Government inaction leaves mother uncompensated
A mother who was diagnosed with mesothelioma will be deprived of compensation unless her employer's insurer can be found. Sharon Walker, who worked as a seamstress in Leeds, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in August 2010 but she is unlikely to receive compensation from her former employer because the firm no longer exists and no trace can be found of its insurers.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 532
Hazards news, 19 November 2011

Britain: Union legal services come up trumps
GMB has managed to help a member get compensation after she was turned down by no-win no-fee lawyers. Union member Sheila Gilling, from Northamptonshire, had to take nine months off work following a fall at Birmingham International Airport which badly dislocated her shoulder.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 532
Hazards news, 19 November 2011

Britain: Video displays drop on office worker
A fire service control worker who suffered multiple injuries when four wall-mounted video display panels fell on her has received compensation.  The 46-year-old GMB member, whose name has not been released, was injured in the London Fire Service Control Room in June 2008.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 531
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

Britain: Chemical reaction keeps painter out of work
A painter who developed a reaction to epoxy paints has had to give up his trade as result. The 61-year-old from South Tyneside, whose name has not been released, developed a sensitivity to the paint after 40 years in the trade.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: Dock worker’s family get asbestos cancer payout
The family of a Humber shipyard welder who was killed by asbestos has received compensation. Lifelong GMB member Arthur Prestidge was 80 when he died from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Grimsby Telegraph • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: Electrician gets pay out for cancer that will kill him
A former electrician diagnosed with an invariably fatal asbestos related cancer has received £140,000 compensation from his former employer’s insurers. The 76-year-old Unite member from Liverpool, whose name has not been released, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in October 2010.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: Occupational dermatitis led to lower paid job
A manual worker who developed a painful skin condition after being exposed to skin allergens at work has received £75,000 in compensation. Unite member Gary Rigby, 50, has had to move into a much lower paid job after being exposed to hexamine, a type of resin coated sand, in his job at pipe fitting manufacturer St Gobain PAM UK.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 529
Hazards news, 29 October 2011

Britain: Head injury worker gets compensation
A member of Unite the union has received compensation with the support of his union after he ended up with a 15 centimetre scar on his scalp because he wasn't provided with suitable head protection by his employer, a beer can manufacturer. The 46-year-old from Carlisle was checking if a can coating machine was working correctly while wearing only a baseball-style cap for protection as he had not been provided with a hard hat. Thompsons press release • Risks 527
Hazards news, 15 October 2011

Britain: Insurance industry slammed
The TUC has attacked the insurance industry for trying to stop workers or their dependants from claiming compensation after they are injured or made ill as a result of their employer's negligence.
Independent on Sunday • Guardian article • Touchstone blog • Risks 527
Hazards news, 15 October 2011

Britain: Waitress suffers fractured pelvis
A waitress broke her pelvis after she slipped on a wet restaurant floor. The 26-year-old from Basildon was finishing her shift at an Outback Steakhouse in October 2007 when she slipped on water on the floor near the restaurant’s dishwasher.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 526
Hazards news, 8 October 2011

Britain: Sellafield worker injured by faulty equipment
A nuclear power worker needed surgery for a knee injury caused by a piece of faulty equipment at work at the Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing Facility. Unite member Peter Straughton, 39, suffered the injury on a turnstile at the Seascale plant that management knew was broken, but had failed to repair.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 526
Hazards news, 8 October 2011

Britain: Back injury ended carer’s career
A care worker from Leicestershire was forced was to give up her career after she damaged her back at work. Julie Bowler, 35, from Coalville, has been left unable to lift and suffering from back pain and sciatica after she was injured whilst working for Southern Cross-owned Rowans Nursing Home in 2010, after her requests for turn sheets were ignored.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 525
Hazards news, 1 October 2011

Britain: Tetley makes tea bag maker unemployed
Tea giant Tetley has paid compensation to a former employee who suffered a career ending injury at its factory in Stockton on Tees. GMB member Linda Gray, 44, damaged her shoulder lifting a 25kg reel.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 523
Hazards news, 17 September 2011

Britain: Law Society slams ‘self-serving’ insurers
Claims the country is in the grip of a 'compensation culture' are a myth, the Law Society has said. Responding to a report from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) that said Britain has a 'have a go' compensation culture, the society said the report “is entirely self-serving to the insurance industry.”
Law Society news release • ABI news release and report [pdf] • Morning Star • Risks 522
Hazards news, 10 September 2011

Britain: Injury claim referral fees to be banned
The government has confirmed it is to ban referral fees in personal injury claims in an attempt to curb what it says is a “compensation culture”. Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly said the fees are “are one symptom of the compensation culture problem and too much money sloshing through the system.”
BBC News Online • Legal Week • Risks 522
Hazards news, 10 September 2011

Britain: Council scrimping cost carer her job
A carer was forced to take early retirement because of a severely damaged back suffered after her employer refused to invest in new equipment. The 62-year-old GMB member from Hastings has been left in constant agony after she strained her back attempting to lift a 17-stone patient.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 521
Hazards news. 3 September 2011

Britain: Lifting a box was bad for the back
A garden centre employee who damaged his back at work has warned employers to make sure employees are trained in manual handling techniques. GMB member Mark Lee, 41, was off work a month following the injury suffered while working for Whitleys Garden Centre in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, in 2008.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 520
Hazards news, 27 August 2011

Britain: Office worker laid low by an insect bite
A tax office worker has received compensation after she suffered a septic insect bite at work when her employer failed to keep her office clean. The PCS member from Washington, Tyne and Wear, was forced to take four weeks off work after she was bitten by an unidentified insect whilst working for the HMRC.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 520
Hazards news, 27 August 2011

Britain: Quarry job caused disabling lung disease
A former stone mason who contracted a debilitating occupational lung disease caused by breathing stone dust has received a payout from the Bradford quarry where he worked for a decade. The 61-year-old suffers severe breathing difficulties and struggles to walk or climb stairs after contracting silicosis, caused by inhaling silica dust made airborne when working the sandstone quarried by Fagley Quarries Ltd.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Telegraph & Argus • Risks 518
Hazards news, 13 August 2011

Britain: Ladder fall had devastating consequences
An electrician suffered a devastating back injury after falling from a ladder at work. Anthony Smallwood, 66, a Unite member at Technique Projects Ltd, must now use a wheelchair because the fall exacerbated an old back injury.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 518
Hazards news, 13 August 2011

Britain: Caretaker overcome by noxious fumes
A caretaker who was exposed to noxious fumes at work passed out, fracturing his ribs. Unite member Desmond Groom, 44, from Cannock in Walsall struck his side on a sink as he collapsed, after starting to use a new cleaning product supplied by his employer, Burrowes Street Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) Ltd.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 517
Hazards news, 6 August 2011

Britain: Trainee furnace worker injured twice
A GMB member who was injured in the workplace twice in a period of weeks has received £8,000 in compensation. The 42-year-old from Brownhills in Walsall, whose name has not been released, had received no manual handling training in his job as a trainee furnace man for Castings plc.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 516
Hazards news, 30 July 2011

Britain: Nurse compensated after fall in reception
A nurse who needs risky surgery on her spine after she slipped on a wet floor as she arrived at work has received £17,500 in compensation. The Unite member, a specialist nurse working for an NHS Trust in London, has been told she will need the operation on her back after she fell heavily.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 515
Hazards news, 23 July 2011

Britain: Legal changes will hurt victims
A government shake-up of the legal system will be bad news for many of the hundreds of thousands of people harmed by their work each year. TUC’s Hugh Robertson was commenting as the government confirmed it will press ahead with the reforms to civil compensation, including personal injury claims.
Touchstone blog • Risks 515
Hazards news, 23 July 2011

Britain: Gloves off in cleaner’s dermatitis case
A London Underground station cleaner developed a severe skin condition after his employer introduced an industrial cleaning chemical and took away his protective gloves. The Unite member lost his eyebrows, developed hypo-pigmentation on his face and had black patches on his hands after using the product Traffic Film in his job as a cleaner at Piccadilly tube station.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 513
Hazards news, 9 July 2011

Britain: Ford forced to up rotting flesh payout
A Ford worker who was offered just £2,000 after developing occupational dermatitis which left his flesh ‘rotting’ has received £24,000 with the help of union lawyers. The 41-year-old Unite member, whose name has been withheld, developed the painful skin condition after he was exposed to a rubber lubricant used while building engines at the Ford plant in Dagenham.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 512
Hazards news, 2 July 2011

Britain: Council job caused deafness
A council driver was made deaf by exposure to dangerous levels of noise at work. GMB member David Carr, 65, from Rotherham has received £6,000 in damages after developing noise induced hearing loss and tinnitus while working for Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council during the 1960s and 1970s.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 512
Hazards news, 2 July 2011

Britain: Victims made to pay in new offenders bill
Victims of occupational injuries or diseases will be unable to afford a compensation claim or will have to pay the legal costs as a result of a proposed law introduced by the government. The TUC says provisions in the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill to switch the cost on personal injury cases from those who negligence caused the problem to the victims will not deliver a saving to the government but “will simply line the pockets of insurers.”
Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill [pdf] • Prime minister’s office news release and transcript of related press conference • ASGVF news release [pdf] • Unite news release • Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Simpson Millar Solicitors news release • Risks 511
Hazards news, 25 June 2011

Britain: Victims made to pay in new offenders bill
Victims of occupational injuries or diseases will be unable to afford a compensation claim or will have to pay the legal costs as a result of a proposed law introduced by the government. The TUC says provisions in the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill to switch the cost on personal injury cases from those who negligence caused the problem to the victims will not deliver a saving to the government but “will simply line the pockets of insurers.”
Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill [pdf] • Prime minister’s office news release and transcript of related press conference • ASGVF news release [pdf] • Unite news release • Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Simpson Millar Solicitors news release • Risks 511
Hazards news, 25 June 2011

Britain: Poor wood dust control caused cancer
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is to investigate the occupational risks facing those in the furniture and woodworking industries, more than 10 years after the last checks found the official standard was routinely ignored. The news coincides with a £375,000 compensation payment to the widow of a cabinet maker who died of nasal cancer in 2005.
The Guardian • HSE wood dust survey 2000 [pdf] • HSE news release on the Millbrook prosecution • Risks 510
Hazards news, 18 June 2011

Britain: Firm was several rungs short of safety
An employer that routinely provided workers with ladders that were too short and failed to train its staff in the safest way to work at height has been forced to stump up compensation after a labourer suffered a hernia. The 49-year-old GMB member from Maryport in Cumbria needed major surgery after suffering the injury as he pulled himself up from a step ladder through a loft while working for Home Group in Whitehaven.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 510
Hazards news, 18 June 2011

Britain: Ford pays out for double failure
A machine operator at a car manufacturer has received £20,000 compensation after an unsafe storage system led to a workplace injury, which was subsequently aggravated when he fell through a rotten floorboard in the factory toilets. Barry Lester, 64, was forced to take three weeks off work after he strained his groin attempting to lift a box of car parts at Ford Motor Company in Dagenham.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 510
Hazards news, 18 June 2011

Britain: Worker’s wrists ‘shattered like glass’
A Macclesfield man who plummeted 10ft from a ladder causing his wrists to ‘shatter like glass’, leaving him permanently disabled, has secured a six figure settlement. He fell as he was doing some preparation for plasterwork in his job at a Macclesfield car garage.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Risks 515
Hazards news, 11 June 2011

Britain: Care worker holed up with attacker
A careworker left alone overnight with a violent patient after being beaten was forced to give up her job as result. UNISON helped support worker Lorraine Morgan, 42, obtain compensation after her bosses ignored the beatings and instead instructed her to hole up overnight, resulting in another assault the following morning.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 515
Hazards news, 11 June 2011

Britain: Bike crash led to months off work
A Unite member who suffered a serious injury requiring months off work after his cycle hit a pothole has received nearly £13,000 in compensation, as a result of court victory obtained with the support of his union. Keen cyclist Martin Bourne, 55, dislocated his shoulder when his bike hit a 10 inch long hole on a busy road.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 515
Hazards news, 11 June 2011

Britain: Slip ended driver’s career
A trade union is reminding business owners to keep their premises safe after a driver was forced to give up his job after he slipped on an unsecured mat and broke his ankle. The Unite member from Taunton has needed four operations on his ankle since the incident, which happened in 2006 as he collected a bed settee which was being returned to Argos by the Whitbread run White Lodge public house in Somerset.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 508
Hazards news, 4 June 2011

Britain: Injured driver pays the Asda price
An Asda lorry driver who damaged his knee at work has received a £4,000 payout. Ian Burridge, 42, developed the degenerative condition osteoarthritis between two and five years earlier than he would have due to the injury.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

Britain: Burnt bike trip leads to broken bones
A council has paid damages to a GMB member who broke his ribs in a nasty fall when he tripped over the burnt out remains of a motorbike on a London estate. The 45-year-old from east London, whose name has not been released, was walking home from work in the dark when he had the bad fall in August 2008.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

Britain: Car crash ended nurse’s career
A UNISON member whose nursing career was ended by injuries suffered in a road smash as she travelled to see a patient, has received a £441,227 court payout. She was forced to take the union-backed case to the Royal Courts of Justice (RCJ) after an insurer refused to concede her serious injuries left her unable to work.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 506
Hazards news, 21 May 2011

Britain: Tax office trapped disabled worker
A PCS member with a disability who was injured by a faulty lift in the government building in which she worked has received £3,700 in compensation. The lift had already been reported faulty after closing suddenly on two other employees earlier that day but nothing was done to put it out of action.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 506
Hazards news, 21 May 2011

Britain: Corus welder gets shin injury payout
A welder left with a large scar on his shin after a workplace incident has received an undisclosed sum in compensation after help from his trade union. GMB member Richard Parry, 45, from Newport has a two inch by one inch scar in the shape of a tick on his shin after lacerating it against the sharp metal framework of a train base whilst working for Corus.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 503
Hazards news, 30 April 2011

Britain: Injury victims face ‘ever tightening screw’
Injured people face an “ever tightening screw”, the head of a top legal body has warned. David Bott, the new president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), told the organisation’s annual conference this week that it is “plain wrong” for injury victims to take a cut of up to 25 per cent of their compensation to meet some legal costs.
APIL news release [pdf] • Risks 502
Hazards news, 16 April 2011

Britain: Foot injury cost two jobs
A retained firefighter whose foot was crushed on duty had to give up two jobs as a result of his injuries. Andrew Murray, 45, was forced to give up not only part-time firefighting but his full-time job as a financial adviser after the incident in Spilsby market place, Lincolnshire, in December 2006.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 502
Hazards news, 16 April 2011

Britain: Union wins protective equipment precedent
A union has won a landmark ruling on the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) at work. Sukhdev Gill of Thompsons Solicitors, who represented Mr Spalding for Unite, said: “The High Court has provided important clarification in the application of the PPE regulations, bearing in mind that PPE should always be a last resort if the risk to health and safety cannot be removed.”
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 502
Hazards news 16 April 2011

Britain: No defence for MoD’s painful neglect
A civil servant who suffered a serious knee injury when a faulty lift at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) went into free fall has received a £16,500 out-of-court payout. PCS member Velma Williams, 61, was terrified when the lift in the MoD’s Defence Geographic Centre in Feltham fell out of control from the third floor.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 500
Hazards news, 2 April 2010

Britain: Government to rob injury victims of justice
Government changes to the compensation system will deny thousands of sick and injured workers access to justice, unions and legal experts have warned. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “This is yet another attempt to reduce the rights of those at work to secure justice when employers break the law.”
Conservative Party news release • TUC news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • BBC News Online • Risks 500
Hazards news, 2 April 2010

Britain: Work victims come second to insurers’ profits
Victims of industrial disease have seen their entitlement to compensation come a distant second to the profits of insurance companies, a legal group has charged. Karl Tonks, incoming vice-president of the not-for-profit Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), said: “Dying workers are tired of subsidising insurers who have taken money in premiums but who have avoided providing proper compensation because of problems with tracing old insurance policies.”
APIL news release [pdf] • Risks 499
Hazards news, 26 March 2011

Britain: Kwik-Fit worker died two years after injury
A widow whose husband died almost two years after receiving a serious head injury at work has received a “substantial” sum in compensation. In medical evidence obtained for a compensation case, it was confirmed the head injury suffered by the 44-year-old was the direct cause of the high blood pressure which subsequently caused the stroke in 2007 from which he died.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 499
Hazards news, 26 March 2011

Britain: Job injury leads to employment fears
A metal worker who broke his elbow after a fall at work has received £60,000 in compensation after he was left unable to do his job properly. GMB member Geoffrey Skelton, 61, needed three operations on his elbow following the incident.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 499
Hazards news, 26 March 2011

Britain: Vibration gives gardener damaged fingers
A council worker whose hands have been permanently damaged after using vibrating tools at work has received £60,000 in compensation. Landscape gardener Andrew Bowler, 51, is now only capable of a three day week after developing carpal tunnel syndrome while working for Nottinghamshire County Council.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 498
Hazards news, 19 March 2011

Britain: Tool maker disabled by work asthma
A Hereford tool maker whose occupational asthma forced him to quit the job he loved has won a court battle for justice. Philip Gundy, 59, contracted occupational asthma as a result of the chemicals he was exposed to at work, operating grinding machines using metalworking fluids as coolants, and he was left with no choice but to give up his job.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Risks 497
Hazards news, 12 March 2011

Britain: Train firm failed to fix faulty door
A train driver damaged his back at work using a faulty door his employer had failed to fix despite a series of complaints. The ASLEF member from Cardiff has now received £3,175 compensation in a union-backed claim.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Britain: Union rep gets asbestos cancer payout
A former GMB shop steward and shipyard convenor from South Shields has received a “substantial” payout just nine weeks after he was diagnosed with an asbestos cancer. The 81 year-old, whose name has not been released and who has the incurable cancer mesothelioma, was exposed to asbestos while working as a chipper and painter for shipyards on the River Tyne, including Redheads Ship Repairers and Tyne Dock Engineering in South Shields.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 495
Hazards news, 26 February 2011

Britain: Faulty lorry caused lasting disability
A worker from Gateshead who suffered debilitating long term damage to his hearing caused by defective work equipment has received £8,500 in compensation. GMB member Charles Haswell developed tinnitus, a condition which means he hears constant ringing in his left ear, after he was hit in the side of the face by a faulty lorry door handle on a 40ft lorry trailer, owned by McBurney Transport.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 494
Hazards news, 19 February 2011

Britain: Injury forced nursery worker to give up job
A nursery worker was forced to change her career after she was badly injured in the workplace. The GMB member, who slipped on a freshly mopped floor at the Foleshill Children’s Centre’s creche in Coventry, has received a £7,500 out of court payout.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 493
Hazards news, 12 February 2011

Union secures six figure crash payouts
The union Unite has secured six figure payouts for two members injured in road traffic accidents.
Thompsons Solicitors news releases on the cyclist and pedestrian cases • Risks 493
Hazards news, 12 February 2011

Britain: Safety improvements follow compo case
A factory worker whose hand was dragged into a machine and crushed has received £300,000 in compensation. Unite member Wayne Miller, 48, has been left permanently incapacitated after suffering the injury at paper manufacturer James Cropper Plc in Kendal.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 491
Hazards news, 29 January 2011

Britain: Injury costs print worker his job
A printers’ assistant was left unemployed after suffering a workplace arm injury that resulted in permanent pain and a loss of function in the limb. Unite member Peter Fill, 54, received £115,000 in compensation four years after the incident at Mackays of Chatham.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 491
Hazards news, 29 January 2011

Britain: Shredded arm ended work hopes
A West Midlands factory quality inspector whose arm was shredded by a circular saw was forced to take more than three years off work before retiring earlier than he had hoped. GMB member Sarwan Singh Bains needed three operations after the saw cut through his right arm at Caparo Precision Tubes in Oldbury in October 2006.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 491
Hazards news, 29 January 2011

Britain: Network Rail pays damages to rail widow
The widow of a rail worker who died in April 2007 when he was struck by a fast-moving train has been awarded a “substantial” sum in compensation by Network Rail. Charles Stockwell, 50, was killed whilst welding a track as a train approached the busy Ruscombe Junction in Berkshire.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 490
Hazards news, 22 January 2011

Britain: Heavy recycling work caused hernia
A GMB member needed surgery to correct a hernia which could have been avoided if his employer had undertaken and acted on a simple risk assessment. Andrew Kelly, 47, needed the major surgery after moving several objects weighing up to 40kg during an eight-hour shift for global recycling giant Sims Group UK.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 490
Hazards news, 22 January 2011

Britain: Family continues its fight for justice
The family of a young factory worker who died in a workplace explosion wants his employer to admit its role in his death. Unite member Peter Reynolds was just 28 when he died from head injuries after he was blasted out of the Cemex factory in January 2008, falling 10 metres to the ground.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 490
Hazards news, 22 January 2011

Britain: Heavy work hurt warehouse worker
A warehouse operative has received £4,500 in compensation after his employer admitted blame for an injury that left him unable to carry out everyday tasks and that took more than eight months to heal. GMB member Paul Pritchard, 37, was forced to take almost four months off work when he was injured whilst packing aeroplane components at the Rolls Royce Depot in Sunderland for Mitie Group.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 489
Hazards news, 15 January 2011

Britain: Bed firm ignored the doctor’s orders
A failure to act on the advice of a doctor has cost a major bed company £9,500 in damages to a former employee. The settlement was offered by Sealy Sleep Products (UK) Ltd to Norman Kirkbride, 41, whose GP had written to the company suggesting that Mr Kirkbride’s back condition would worsen if he continued lifting heavy objects.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

Britain: Injury payouts expose the lie of ‘low risk’ job
UNISON has secured £27,398,985 in compensation in 2010 for members who fell victim to assaults, car crashes, and work-related illnesses and injuries. The union’s case file, which includes cases involving office, nursery, school and hospital staff, provides more evidence a government move to relax health and safety requirements on ‘low risk’ office and service sector jobs is ill-advised.
UNISON news release • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

Britain: Office work can be a repeating pain
A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) employee from Pontypool has received £7,850 compensation for a shoulder injury and hernia she received due to her employer’s negligence. The PCS member’s work involved the repetitive handling of documents, moving heavy boxes of files on and off shelves and transferring them around the building on trolleys.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

Britain: Workers reluctant to claim compensation
Many workers in the UK are reluctant to claim compensation for work-related health problems, new research has found. A survey for the not-for-profit Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) found 30 per cent of respondents would not consider claiming even if they developed a life-threatening occupational disease.
APIL news release • Risks 487
Hazards news, 18 December 2010

Britain: Head injury cost worker his job
A reception assistant at Rampton Secure Hospital was forced to quit work after he was left with blurred vision, severe anxiety and personality changes from being hit in the head with an iron bar. UNISON member David Prince, who has received a six figure compensation payout, was inspecting an EH Lee Ltd delivery wagon when he suffered the head injury.
UNISON news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Yorkshire Post • Risks 486
Hazards news, 11 December 2010

Britain: Nursery worker crushed by metal door
A children’s nursery worker who was crushed under a falling metal door has been awarded a “substantial sum” in compensation by Sheffield City Council’s First Start Children’s Centre. UNISON member Beverley Hampshire, 47, was fetching play equipment from an outdoor shed when the heavy metal door fell off its hinges, collapsing on her and trapping her against a fence, causing a frozen shoulder and chronic regional pain syndrome.
UNISON news release • Thompsons Solicitors • Risks 486
Hazards news, 11 December 2010

Britain: Injured snapper gets payout from the Met
A press photographer has received £30,000 damages from the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police after being injured in an unprovoked attack by a police inspector. NUJ member David Hoffman was covering the London G20 protests on 1 April 2009.
NUJ news release • Video of the incident • Bindmans LLP news release • The Guardian • The Mirror • Editorial Photographer • Risks 486
Hazards news, 11 December 2010

Britain: Rolls Royce coolant caused rash
Rolls Royce has agreed to pay £5,500 compensation to an employee who developed painful dermatitis after he was exposed to a corrosive coolant at work. The 42-year-old Unite member, identified by his lawyers as Mr Pattison, was exposed to the coolant while working as a turner on aircraft turbines.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 485
Hazards news, 4 December 2010

Britain: Compensation a victim of legal aid cuts
Major government reforms intended to cut the legal aid bill by £350m a year by 2015 will deny many workers injured or made ill by their work access to justice, unions have warned. The proposals announced by justice secretary Kenneth Clarke will dramatically reduce access to legal support, with employment and personal injury costs on the government hit list.
Ministry of Justice news release • Unite news release and Justice for All campaign • BBC News Online • Risks 483
Hazards news, 20 November 2010

Britain: Injury after firm ignoring safety concerns
Yorkshire Water Ltd has agreed to compensate a former employee for causing the injuries that forced him out of his job of nearly 30 years. The 60-year-old, whose name has not been released, sustained serious neck, back and shoulder injuries in December 2007 when his work vehicle hit a series of potholes he and his workmates had repeatedly asked management to fix.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

Britain: Power worker gets vibration payout
A power company worker who developed a vibration related occupational disease has received a £8,750 payout. Electricity network operator CE Electric UK agreed the compensation settlement after roadworker Deryne Hughes, 52, developed hand arm vibration syndrome.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 480
Hazards news, 30 October 2010

Britain: Jumping beer keg crushes finger
A beer delivery man from South Shields has received £3,500 compensation from his employer after his finger was crushed and left deformed when it was crushed by a beer keg. GMB member Paul Anderson, 42, sustained the injury in May 2008 while attempting to unload a delivery of beer kegs at a pub in Newcastle.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 476
Hazards news, 2 October 2010

Britain: Faulty ladder makes caretaker ‘the fall guy’
A school caretaker has received £30,000 compensation after damaging his knee when he fell from a ladder at work. The GMB member, who worked in Leeds but whose name has not been released, was attempting to unlock a toilet cubicle door when the ladder he was using slipped on shiny quarry tiles.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 476
Hazards news, 2 October 2010

Britain: Payout for prison officer injured by inmate
A prison officer at who was injured while trying to restrain an inmate has received £47,500 compensation from the Ministry of Justice. Keith Brown, 55, who still works at HM Prison Dorchester, was charged by one of the inmates, and while trying to restrain him sustained a fracture to the base of his right thumb.”
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 475
Hazards news, 25 September 2010

Britain: Repetitive job led to strain injury
A factory worker who developed a repetitive strain injury has been awarded £3,000 compensation for his injuries in a union-backed claim. Unite member Geoffrey Coleman, 41, an employee at an unidentified factory in Kendal, Cumbria, sustained his injuries while packing a new product in the finishing department.
Thompsons Solicitors • Risks 473
Hazards news, 11 September 2010

Britain: Sticky plastic led to arm injury
A Unite member has received a £90,000 payout after he broke his forearm in two places and fractured his elbow when he was caught in a printing press. Andrew Watts, 45, who had more than 20 years’ experience working for packaging company Amcor Flexibles when the incident occurred, was setting up a printing press to apply different colours to plastic packaging.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 473
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Britain: Hospital porter retires early after injury
A hospital porter who was injured at work after his employer refused to respond to health and safety warnings has been forced to take early retirement. UNISON member Peter Streek, 66, received £13,000 compensation in a union-backed claim after suffering a badly ruptured Achilles tendon.
UNISON news release • Risks 471
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Britain: Rail worker received £9,750 burns payout
A rail worker whose leg was badly burned as he cut a rail has received £9,750 compensation. The RMT member, who has permanent scarring, had not been provided with suitable personal protective equipment (PPE).
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 471
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Britain: Lost leg costs trainee nurse her career
A former nursing student whose career was ended by a road traffic accident, has received a six-figure payout. UNISON member Lisa Bennett, 43, lost her leg after being knocked off her 125cc motorbike by a car in December 2004.
UNISON news release • Risks 471
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Britain: Factory worker gets deafness payout
A process worker has been awarded £15,000 compensation after developing a disabling level of noise-induced hearing loss. Gerald Cox, 52, worked for LG Philips Displays from 1980 to 2005, when the Durham factory closed.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 470
Hazards news, 21 August 2010

Britain: Attack leads to job loss for carer
A grandmother who was forced to quit her career as a care worker after an attack by an aggressive patient, has been awarded a £12,500 out of court payout.
UNISON news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 470
Hazards news, 21 August 2010

Britain: Prison fall leads to pay out
A prison officer who suffered serious facial injuries when she tripped and fell during a night patrol has received an undisclosed compensation payout. The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) member fell over a metal lock back latch that was embedded in a concrete floor.
Thompsons Solicitors news release •  Risks 469
Hazards news, 14 August 2010

Britain: Assault on care worker ends her career
A care assistant has had to take medical retirement after being attacked by a resident at an old people’s home in Middlesbrough. The UNISON member, who was employed by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, has now received over £57,000 compensation after an eight year legal battle.
UNISON news release • Risks 468
Hazards news, 7 August 2010

Britain: Lorry driver gets crushed thumb payout
A lorry driver from Grimbsy, whose thumb was crushed as he tried to unload a trailer at work, has received a £5,500 compensation payout. GMB member Ian Castle, who worked for general haulage firm PA Dunwell Transport Limited, was lowering the roof door of the lorry when it crashed down suddenly, hitting him in the shoulder and trapping his thumb against a lever.
GMB news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 468
Hazards news, 7 August 2010

Britain: Joinery job led to asbestos cancer
A former joiner has received a payout for an asbestos cancer, despite one of his employers having ceased trading. Unite member Bernard Dean, 61, received a “substantial” payout after developing mesothelioma.
Thompsons Solicitors news release and ELIB campaign • Risks 468
Hazards news, 7 August 2010

Britain: Sex assault trauma for prison gardener
A gardener at a young offenders’ institute had to give up work as a result a sexual assault by inmates. Unite member David Thomas suffered psychological trauma as a result of the May 2004 attack at HM Prison and Young Offenders Institution Onley, near Rugby, Warwickshire.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 466
Hazards news, 24 July 2010

Britain: There is no compensation culture
There has been a dramatic decline in compensation claims for work-related injury and ill-health, union legal advisers have told a government-commissioned enquiry. They say the government’s own Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) statistics which show employer liability claims have fallen 69 per cent from 2000/01 to 2009/10 – from 219,183 in 2000/1 to 78,744 in 2009/10.
Thompsons Solicitors submission • Prospect news release • Risks 465
Hazards news, 17 July 2010

Britain: Acid eye damage from duff goggles
A 25 year old man left with an injured tear duct and permanently needing to treat his eye with lubricating drops after acid entered his right eye at work. GMB member Phillip Heeney was injured at Omya UK limited of North Ferriby while moving a drum of liquid acid with a colleague.  
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 465
Hazards news, 17 July 2010

Britain: Injured elbow points to neglected safety
Problems spanning several years with water leakage from cooling racks eventually claimed a victim at GlaxoSmithKline in Ulverston, Cumbria. Unite member Dorothy Kirby, 52, slipped and fractured the elbow of her right arm.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 465
Hazards news, 17 July 2010

Britain: Scaffolder gets brain damage payout
A scaffolder who was left with a severe brain injury after a workplace fall has received a “substantial” sum in compensation. Unite member Patrick O’Malley, 35, spent four years in hospital after the injury, suffered while working for Powertherm Access Services.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 464
Hazards news, 10 July 2010

Britain: Six figure payout to injured shunter
A GMB member whose leg was seriously injured when he was flung from a barrow truck while working at a haulage company has received £245,000 compensation. The man, whose name has not been released but who worked as a shunter at GCT in Thorne, was helping to load pallets on to wagons.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 463
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

Britain: Unfit fitter finished by flawed floor
A Unite member has been forced to take early retirement as a result of injuries sustained when he tripped over a fire hydrant cover at work. Thomas Mirehouse, 63, from Maryport in Cumbria, has been left with a significant disability in his left shoulder after suffering the injury.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 463
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

Britain: You decide, says firm – eyes or ears?
A West Midlands fitter was forced to make a choice between protecting his ears or his eyes at work. The 66-year-old Unite member is now deaf in his left ear and suffers from tinnitus after he was exposed to excessive levels of noise while working for a factory for 40 years.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 462
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

Britain: Worker maimed in molten metal spill
A foundry worker who suffered 65 per cent burns during a spillage of molten metal has received a ‘substantial’ sum in compensation. The 28-year-old Unite member from Horwich, whose name has not been released, suffered extensive burns to his legs, feet, arms, hands and torso and was put into a medically induced coma following the incident at PMT Industries in Tonge Moor in January 2008.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 462
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

Britain: Slipped disc costs scaffolder his job
A Scunthorpe scaffolder has had to give up his job after suffering a serious back injury at work. Unite member Kenneth Higgins, 55, suffered the slipped disc while working for Powertherm Access Services in February 2005.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 461
Hazards news, 19 June 2010

Britain: Bread sandwiches worker against rail
A bakery worker who was pinned against a safety rail by an 80 kilo stack of bread has received almost £4,000 in compensation for his injuries. The worker, a member of the union BFAWU, was left with soft tissue injuries to his lower back and severe bruising to his thigh following the incident at a bakery in Stockton in December 2009.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 461
Hazards news, 19 June 2010

Britain: Ear protection came 30 years too late
A GMB member who was exposed to dangerous levels of noise in the workplace for over 30 years has been left with occupational deafness and tinnitus. Terence Haywood, 62, has received £13,000 in compensation for the damage to his hearing caused by the noise from his job as a dye caster for Hallams Castings.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 460
Hazards news, 12 June 2010

Britain: Union warning on over-crowded schools
A teaching union is calling for better school facilities after a primary school teacher suffered a serious injury in a cluttered school corridor that was being used as a temporary classroom. NASUWT said the 37-year-old union member permanently damaged her spine after she fell while trying to navigate the corridor at a Hartlepool school.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 460
Hazards news, 12 June 2010

Britain: Nuke plant slip hurt worker’s prospects
A nuclear plant surveyor who suffered a trapped nerve at work in a workplace slip missed out on promotion as a result. The 54-year-old GMB member, whose name has not been released, was forced to go on restricted duties after slipping on liquid while working at Sellafield in Whitehaven.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 459
Hazards news, 5 June 2010

Britain: Caterpillar didn’t move after warning
A Unite member working as a painter for Caterpillar needed two operations to correct a hernia following a workplace injury has received more than £7,000 in compensation. Keith Robinson, 43, needed the major surgery after moving a 12ft high and 30ft long walkway to access a work area.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 459
Hazards news, 5 June 2010

Britain: Bending machine wrecks worker’s hand
A factory worker whose hand was crushed in a defective machine was forced to take five months off work as a result of the horrific injuries. GMB member Darrell Neromilotis, 46, needed two operations to save his hand following the November 2007 incident at outdoor equipment manufacturer Playdale Playgrounds Ltd.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 458
Hazards news, 29 May 2010

Britain: Sellafield fitter hurt by wrong tool
A mechanical fitter who needed surgery on his shoulder following a workplace injury has received more than £5,000 in compensation. Unite member Geoffrey Burns, 59, from Whitehaven had to take six months off work following the incident in August 2008 while working for nuclear firm Sellafield.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 458
Hazards news, 29 May 2010

Britain: Supermarket slip costs worker her job
It wasn’t a fall in her own workplace that caused a bakery worker to give up work, it was a visit to the supermarket. But the BFAWU member still received £45,000 in damages after her union stepped in with legal support.
BFAWU news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 458
Hazards news, 29 May 2010

Britain: Widow calls for insurance fix
An asbestos widow has called on the government to help asbestos victims and their families overcome barriers to obtaining compensation. Caroline Squires from Wacton in Norfolk has voiced her support for an Employers’ Liability Insurance Bureau (ELIB) after her husband, Almer, died from asbestos related cancer mesothelioma. Mr Squires, died in October 2008, aged 66.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 457
Hazards news, 22 May 2010

Britain: Payout after seven floors plunge
A civilian worker with the police who was in a workplace lift that plunged seven floors to the ground has received a “substantial” sum in compensation. The PCS member, who works for the Metropolitan Police in London and whose name has not been released, suffered from neck and back pain as a result of the incident in May 2008 and required treatment for an anxiety disorder after she was left with a fear of getting in lifts.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 457
Hazards news, 22 May 2010

Britain: Union asbestos register pinpoints exposure
A former engineer has spoken of his relief in obtaining compensation after being diagnosed with the incurable asbestos cancer mesothelioma in February 2009. Unite member David Marren, 63, became aware of the diseases caused by asbestos when his union launched a National Asbestos Exposure Register.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 456
Hazards news, 15 May 2010

Britain: Temp’s lack of training led to injury
A GMB member who suffered a broken jaw and lost seven teeth in while on placement from an employment agency has received £47,500 in compensation. John McFarlane, 42, from Washington was hit in the mouth by a tool called a warwick after he was forced to work on his own in a new temp placement, after just two days of a promised seven day training programme.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 456
Hazards news, 15 May 2010

Britain: Insurers must not evade payouts
The new government must provide injured workers with enhanced access to compensation, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). The association was commenting as a government consultation, Accessing Compensation, which closed on 5 May.
APIL news release [pdf] • Assessing Compensation consultation, DWP • Law Gazette • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

Britain: Nuclear worker suffers vibration injuries
A GMB member has received £35,000 in compensation after developing a strain injury from prolonged use of vibrating tools. The 49-year-old from Cumbria, whose name has not been released, was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) after working at the Sellafield nuclear waste plant in Calder Bridge for 23 years.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 445
Hazards news, 8 May 2010

Britain: Scaffolder’s leg broken by 300k weight
A scaffolder who needed surgery after a 300 kilo weight fell on his leg has received £30,000 in an out of court payout. Unite member Michael Simpson, 63, was trapped under the heavy metal block when it fell onto his ankle in December 2005 while he was working at Felixstowe Docks.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 445
Hazards news, 8 May 2010

Britain: These boots weren’t made for walking
A highways worker who had to take three months off work after she was forced to wear unsuitable footwear at work has received £3,600 in compensation. PCS member Deborah Allen developed Achilles tendonitis when her eczema flared up after she was forced to wear synthetic work boots.
Thompsons Solicitors • Risks 454
Hazards news, 1 May 2010

Britain: Slip leads to months off work
A factory worker was forced to take almost six months off work after a serious fall that led to injuries, a compensation payout and a change in work practices. Unite member Brent Songhurst, 59, from Bridgend was left with a broken wrist and severe shoulder pain after he slipped on dust created by shot blast while working at medical instruments manufacturer, Biomet UK Ltd in Bridgend.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 453
Hazards news, 24 April 2010

Britain: Burns resulted from poor protection
A factory worker was seriously burned after being provided with inadequate protective gear at work. GMB member Scott Harper, 33, from St Neots in Cambridgeshire was left with a six-by-three inch scar across his forearm after the incident while working as a shift leader for food packaging manufacturer Sealed Air Limited.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 453
Hazards news, 24 April 2010

Britain: Hospital porter faces deadly DVT risk
A theatre porter has been forced to give up his 14-year career and face the daily risk of developing a fatal blood clot after a workplace injury. UNISON member John Beresford, from Nottingham, has to take medication for the rest of his life to avoid a clot, after developing Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) from twisting his knee at work.
UNISON news release • Risks 453
Hazards news, 24 April 2010

USA: Verdict highlights deadly biotech risks
A federal court’s decision to make a $1m plus payout to a sick biotech worker highlights the dangers faced by those employed in cutting edge industries. Becky McClain was awarded $1.37 million by a US District Court last week after saying her serious health problems stemmed from being infected by an experimental virus while working at Pfizer Inc’s Groton laboratories.
The Day • New York Times • Risks 451
Hazards news, 10 April 2010

Britain: Serious injury on fan mended with string
A scaffolder lost his leg after falling onto an industrial fan which had not been properly repaired. Unite member Terry Ledger, 43, was dismantling scaffolding at Coryton Oil Refinery in Essex when he fell through wire caging used to protect the fan, which had been damaged in an earlier accident but had only been repaired using a piece of string.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 451
Hazards news, 10 April 2010

Britain: Firm to blame for worker’s brain damage
The mother of a Derbyshire man who was left blinded and with serious brain injuries when he was hit on the head by a five and a half tonne metal sheet has expressed her relief at the High Court’s decision to hold his employer 100 per cent liable. However, despite the judge finding the company was responsible for serious and numerous breaches of safety legislation, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had earlier decided it would not pursue a prosecution.
Irwin Mitchell news release • Sheffield Telegraph • BBC News Online • Risks 450
Hazards news, 3 April 2010

Britain: Teenage work noise led to deafness
A GMB member exposed to dangerous levels of workplace noise as a teenage apprentice is now reliant on two hearing aids at the age of 48. Neil Dawson from Hull has received £5,750 in damages after developing occupational deafness.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 450
Hazards news, 3 April 2010

Britain: Slippery car park cost worker his job
 A council parking attendant who was forced to give up his job after he suffered a serious injury at work has received £140,000 in compensation. The 59-year-old Unite member from Stoke on Trent, whose name has not been released, has been left unable to walk more than 150 metres after slipping on black ice.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 450
Hazards news, 3 April 2010

Britain: Real dangers shattered rail worker’s wrist
Track worker Maurice Marshall suffered extensive injuries to his wrist after a rail employer failed to act on a safety alert from track inspectors. The RMT member has received substantial damages after he suffered open fractures of the radius and ulna in his wrist which have resulted in lack of movement, grip and strength.
RMT news release • Risks 450
Hazards news, 3 April 2010

Britain: Ferry workers warned about hearing risks
A ferry worker developed noise induced hearing loss after just eight years working on Stena Line ferries. RMT member Peter Hall, 49, had worked out of Holyhead for 18 years, but says he has had hearing difficulties for a decade.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 449
Hazards news, 27 March 2010

Britain: Quick-thinking worker saves school kids
A UNISON member’s quick action saved school kids from being crushed by a collapsing climbing frame in a Midlands school. Julie Belcher, 49, was injured by falling wall bars in the incident.
UNISON news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Birmingham Mail • Risks 448
Hazards news, 20 March 2010

Britain: Airport worker hurt in make-up bust-up
A security worker on the receiving end of a vicious passenger attack at Heathrow Airport which led to her giving up her job has received an undisclosed sum in compensation. PCS member Margaret Needs, 57, was working as a security supervisor for BAA when she was attacked in 2006.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 448
Hazards news, 20 March 2010

Britain: Foot injury costs engineer his job
A Unite member who was forced to give up his job after he suffered a serious foot injury at work has received £210,000 in compensation. The 55-year-old, from Retford in Nottinghamshire, spent a year in rehabilitation learning how to walk after he suffered a complex fracture to his right foot following the incident at Cottam Power Station.
Thompson Solicitors news release • Risks 448
Hazards news, 20 March 2010

Britain: Jolting pastries caused back injury
A bakery delivery driver who damaged his back pushing pastries was forced to take almost a year off work. The member of bakery union BFAWU suffered the injury working for Peter Cathedral Bakers in Durham in May 2007.
BFAWU news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 447
Hazards news, 13 March 2010

Australia: Tragedies linked to compensation worries
Injured workers in South Australia are going without food and medication and some have been driven to suicide because they cannot afford basic necessities, it has been claimed. SA Unions, the umbrella organisation for unions in the state, is campaigning to “restore fairness” in the system, which is says is currently “the costliest, least fair and most poorly managed workers compensation scheme in the nation.”
Ann Bressington news release • SA Unions news release • The WorkCover Suicide video can be viewed on the Todaytonight website • Risks 446
Hazards news, 6 March 2010

Britain: Compensation law moves forward in Scotland
A Labour MSP said he is “delighted” to have won cross-party support for his proposed shake-up of compensation laws for wrongful deaths in Scotland. Bill Butler has put forward a Member’s Bill aimed at speeding up the process of paying compensation to victims of disease and accidents, including those caused by or related to work.
Bill Butler blog • The Herald • Risks 445
Hazards news, 27 February 2010

Britain: Faulty brakes and faulty bosses caused crash
A GMB member who had complained about defective brakes on his work van has received a payout after the vehicle subsequently crashed. Michael Ross, 46, had asked his employer, AMEY, to check the van’s brakes on three occasions but was told each time that there was nothing wrong with them.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 445
Hazards news, 27 February 2010

Britain: Compensation for asbestos victim's family
A union has obtained compensation of £230,000 for the family of an Exeter engineer who died from asbestos related disease mesothelioma. The Unite member worked for Lucas Industries from 1960 until the 1980s and came into contact with asbestos when carrying out heat tests wearing asbestos gauntlets.
Thompsons Solicitors press release • Risks 444
Hazards news, 20 February 2010

Britain: Cooker company ignored lifting regulations
Factory worker Michael Mountford from Stoke on Trent suffered serious damage to his shoulder and neck while putting together heavy cookers for Indesit Company UK, based in Blythe Bridge, Staffordshire. His job on the assembly line involved lifting the cookers before adding parts to them.
Risks 443
Hazards news, 13 February 2010

Britain: Body armour hurt council worker
A community enforcement officer who was injured by ill-fitting, second hand body armour, has received a £2,000 payout. UNISON member Anthony Roach, from Eaglescliffe in Teesside, was left with serious back and shoulder problems after being provided the faulty police cast-offs.
UNISON news release • Risks 442
Hazards news, 6 February 2010

Britain: Claims firm ditched deaf worker
An engineering worker who was exposed to dangerous levels of noise at work for over 20 years has received a £13,500 payout – after a claims management firm dropped the case. Unite member Ashiq Hussain Shah, 58, suffered the hearing damage while working for Bradford-based motor parts manufacturer Federal Mogul from 1989.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 442
Hazards news, 6 February 2010

Britain: Police worker receives £10,000 after fall
A police receptionist has received more than £10,000 in compensation after getting ‘triplash’ when her foot caught in loose wires. The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union member, who had earlier reported the trip hazard, was left with serious whiplash injuries to her shoulder and neck following the incident.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 441
Hazards news, 30 January 2010

Britain: Firefighter warns workers to log accidents
A firefighter has said workers should make sure they log all workplace injuries and incidents, no matter how minor, after developing a debilitating condition from what at first appeared to be an insignificant niggle.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 441
Hazards news, 30 January 2010

Britain: Compensation reform must not hurt justice
Proposed reforms to the civil compensation system must not compromise access to justice, the TUC has said. The union body was commenting on the publication of the final report of the Civil Litigation Costs Review by Lord Justice Jackson, whose proposals would introduce the biggest ever shake-up to the costs of taking cases through the civil courts.
Judicial Communications Office news release and the Jackson Review • TUC news release • BBC News Online • The Independent • Risks 440
Hazards news, 23 January 2010

Britain: Broken ankle leads to lifetime clot risk
A driver who faces the risk of developing a life-threatening blood clot after breaking his ankle at work has received £20,000 in provisional damages. The 53-year-old GMB member from Kent, whose name has not been released, will have to take medication for the rest of his life to avoid a potentially fatal clot from occurring after he developed Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) as a result of the break.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 440
Hazards news, 23 January 2010

Britain: Employers are failing to prevent falls
An outreach play and learning worker for Staffordshire County Council received £6,250 after slipping on ice in December 2008. UNISON member Sandra Lewis, 50, broke her left wrist and suffered severe bruising to her hips in the slip at Queen’s St Community Centre in Burton.
UNISON news release • Risks 440
Hazards news, 23 January 2010

Britain: Scaffolder survives a 40ft fall
A Unite member who survived a 40ft fall has been awarded £90,000 in compensation. Trevor Cox, 43, at the time an advanced scaffolder with Wakefield-based Cape Industrial Services, was off work for eight months with his injuries after the incident in July 2007.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 440
Hazards news, 23 January 2010

Britain: Injury pain led to morphine addiction
A care assistant who developed a dependence on morphine following a serious workplace injury has received £18,000 in compensation. The GMB member from North Yorkshire, whose name has not been released, was off work for several months after she was hit on the ankle by a hoist, used to move immobile patients.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 440
Hazards news, 23 January 2010

USA: Poisoned BP workers get $100m payout
A federal jury in Texas has ordered UK-based multinational BP plc to pay $100 million (£62.5m) to 10 workers who were sickened by a 2007 chemical release at its Texas City refinery. Tony Buzbee represents another 133 workers suing BP over the chemical release and says originally his clients asked BP for $5,000 each in damages, but went to trial when BP wouldn't budge from a $500 settlement offer to each worker.
Buzbee Law Firm news release • Houston Chronicle • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 438
Hazards news, 9 January 2009

Britain: Train worker gets needle injury payout
An RMT member who was injured by a dirty needle has received £8,500 in compensation. The 34-year-old from Sunbury on Thames, whose name has not been released, was stuck by a needle in his knee while attempting to fix lights on a train carriage at Paddington Station.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 438
Hazards news, 9 January 2009

Britain: Broken limbs and scaly skin at JCB
Unsafe workplaces can hurt you; unhealthy workplaces can make you sick. And it appears the JCB factory at Rocester in Staffordshire is guilty of a bit of both.
Thompsons Solicitors news releases on the broken arm and dermatitis payouts • Risks 438
Hazards news, 9 January 2009

Britain: Hovis maker pays out for fall injury
A bakery worker has received £17,500 in compensation after he fell from an unsafe ladder at work. The 28-year-old member of bakery union BFAWU, whose name has not been released, was unable to do heavy manual work for two years as a result of the injury in April 2006.
BFAWU news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 438
Hazards news, 9 January 2009

Britain: Six figure payout for injury HSE wouldn’t probe
An electrical engineer who had his left leg amputated below the knee after falling from a ladder in Rotherham has been awarded £450,000 in compensation. Keith Waring fell 13ft off the ladder on to a block paved patio, seriously injuring his left ankle- the case led to criticism of the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) role, after Hazards revealed HSE had been informed of the September 2002 incident, but had refused to investigate because it was not considered serious enough.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Yorkshire Post • Sheffield Star • Risks 437
Hazards news, 19 December 2009

Britain: Builder secures damages for loss of finger
A building worker who lost a finger in a circular saw has received an undisclosed sum in compensation. GMB member Albert Hardy, 58, from Chesterfield has been forced to change trades after his index finger on his left hand was amputated following the incident while working for a building firm in Belper.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 437
Hazards news, 19 December 2009

Britain: Welder gets two diseases from vibration 
A welder has developed two serious occupational diseases in his hands as a result of using vibrating tools. The 56-year-old Unite member from Wolverhampton, whose name has not been released, was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 436
Hazards news, 12 December 2009

Britain: Government accepts insurers have failed
Campaigners have welcomed a government proposal that may close a loophole that denies compensation to many victims of workplace diseases and their families. After a government review, work and pensions minister Lord McKenzie accepted many employees did not have access to the compensation they deserved, especially in cases where conditions, such as occupational cancers like mesothelioma, may take many years to develop.
DWP review [pdf] • Asbestos Forum news release [pdf] • Irwin Mitchell news release • Independent on Sunday • Risk 435
Hazards news, 5 December 2009

Britain: Injury forces change career
An electrician who has been forced to change his career after he suffered a serious injury at work has received £50,000 in compensation. Unite member Paul Merrell, 50, was forced to give up his 35-year-career after he slipped, seriously damaging his arm, while working for Premier Foods International.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risk 435
Hazards news, 5 December 2009

Britain: Lifesaving work becomes work losing injury
A paramedic has received a £200,000 payout after suffering debilitating injuries in a fall while attending an emergency call. UNISON member Michael Kirkham, 58, had to take early retirement as a result of injuries sustained when his bulky work equipment caught on a door handle in March 2003.
UNISON news release • Risk 435
Hazards news, 5 December 2009

Britain: Chemical causes permanent eye damage
A factory worker has received £100,000 in compensation after being left with permanent eye damage when sodium hydroxide, a corrosive chemical, dripped onto his face. The GMB member from Bradford, whose name has not been released, has been left with reduced sight in his right eye following the incident in November 2005 at Ciba Speciality Chemicals Ltd.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risk 435
Hazards news, 5 December 2009

Britain: Cash firm pays out for back injury
A GMB member who was forced to continue lifting heavy objects after he damaged his back, leading to further injury, has received £13,500 in compensation. Alan Titley, 62, from Atherstone in Warwickshire, suffered the permanent injury as result of his work for G4S Cash Services UK in Coventry.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risk 435
Hazards news, 5 December 2009

Britain: Tool use caused hand injuries
A retired power station worker has received a £15,000 payout after his hands were left permanently damaged by using vibrating tools at work. Unite member David Hopps, 65, from Doncaster was left with the debilitating condition Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS), also known as vibration white finger, after using vibrating tools in his job at Drax Power Station.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 434
Hazards news, 28 November 2009

Britain: Injury after boss ignores stairs warning
A GMB member who needed surgery after he fell down a flight of stairs had previously warned his employer about the dangerous staircase. The office worker, whose name has not been released, received more than £9,000 compensation in a union backed claim.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 434
Hazards news, 28 November 2009

Britain: Payout for fired whistleblower
A council equalities officer who suffered years of stress and harassment and was sacked after blowing the whistle on management has been awarded £442,466 in compensation. UNISON member Pauline Scanlon had been “destroyed”, adding: “The council abused its power, ruined my reputation and sabotaged my attempts to find another job.”
UNISON news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 434
Hzards news, 28 November 2009

Britain: College lecturer deafened by work
A college lecturer has been left with permanent damage to his hearing after being exposed to excessive noise at work. UCU member Malcolm Hipkin, 65, received undisclosed damages after he was diagnosed with noise-induced deafness and tinnitus.
UCU news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 433
Hazards news, 21 November 2009

Factory worker gets asthma payout
A factory worker has received £20,000 compensation after she developed asthma within weeks of being exposed to dangerous fumes. The 42-year-old, whose name has not been released, was diagnosed with occupational asthma after she was exposed to soldering fumes at Turbo Power Systems Limited, Gateshead.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 432
Hazards news,  14 November 2009

Britain: Machine noise caused deafness
A 52 year old engineering worker who is suffering two debilitating health conditions caused by noise exposures at work has received a “substantial” compensation award. Unite member Paul Harvey, 52, has to wear a hearing aid and suffers from tinnitus following exposure to excessive noise while working for Avon Vibration Management Systems in Chippenham.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 432
Hazards news,  14 November 2009

Britain: School assistant suffers slipped disc
A school assistant has received a “substantial” sum in compensation after she suffered a slipped disc while lifting heavy objects at work. GMB member Yvonne Macklin, 48, from Colchester in Essex, was helping a colleague to lift a heavy insulated box containing school lunches; she has been unable to work since the incident in March 2006, is in constant pain and now has a limp and must use crutches.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 432
Hazards news,  14 November 2009

Britain: Ignored warning led to injured hand
A hospital worker needed surgery on her hand after a laundry contractor ignored her requests to repair defective equipment. UNISON member Rita Stone received a £7,000 compensation payout after her hand got stuck when she was moving cages full of linen out of the hospital lift.
UNISON news release • Risks 431
Hazards news, 7 November 2009

Britain: Head bang led to chronic headaches
A woman suffered severe chronic headaches for years after being concussed when she was hit on the head by faulty equipment at work. GMB member Kay Holt, 28, was forced to give up her job for Wilkinsons Hardware Stores’ distribution centre near her home town of Worksop as a result of the November 2007 injury, and has now received a “significant” settlement out of court.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 431
Hazards news, 7 November 2009

Britain: Bin lift led to bad back
A waste lorry driver who needed surgery after he suffered two slipped discs caused by lifting heavy bins has received a “significant” out of court payout. Unite member Les Webb, 49, was off work for seven and a half months following the 2006 incident while working for Viridor Waste Management in Plympton.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 431
Hazards news, 7 November 2009

Britain: Cancer sufferer escapes insurance trap
A 76-year-old grandfather has succeeded in his claim for compensation for asbestos related cancer after being told at first no employers’ liability insurer could be found to cover the payout.
John Pickering and Partners Solicitors news release • Risks 430
Haazards news, 31 October 2009

Britain: Safe danger brings forward back problem
A council worker is stuck with a chronic back problem after using a badly positioned safe. GMB member Sharon Kerry, 41, a hostel duty officer for Leicester City Council, was putting money into the safe when she hurt her back in October 2007.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 430
Hazards news, 31 October 2009

Britain: Drayman run over twice by lorry
A Unite member has received £350,000 in compensation after his leg was crushed by a delivery lorry that ran over him twice. The 46-year-old from Wolverhampton, whose name has not been released, was working as a drayman for Marstons plc when the incident happened on Christmas Eve 2007.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 430
Hazards news, 31 October 2009

Britain: Back injury costs driver his job
A delivery driver who had to leave his job after injuring his spine at work fears he will never find alternative employment. Unite member John Atkin, 49, from Sunderland, received a £22,000 out of court payout after suffering the injury while working for Johnston Press.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 429
Hazards news, 24 October 2009

Britain: Railway worker suffers vibration injury
A member of the rail union RMT has received £10,000 in compensation after his hands were permanently damaged by prolonged use of vibrating tools. The 50-year-old track worker from Sheffield, whose name has not been released, was left with the debilitating condition Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) as a result of his work for Jarvis Rail and other companies since 1978.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 429
Hazards news, 24 October 2009

Britain: Holiday job costs student his leg
A university student lost his right leg below the knee after he was pinned by a forklift truck during his holiday job. Mitesh Patel, 21, from Wembley in Middlesex was working for Tile Depot when the incident happened in June 2008.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 428
Hazards news, 17 October 2009

Britain: Delivery driver developed asbestosis
A former driver who for four years delivered asbestos products developed asbestosis, a condition normally associated with long-term, high level exposures to the fibre. The 75-year-old from Leeds, whose name has not been released, was diagnosed with the lung scarring disease in June 2008 after years of difficulty breathing.
Thompsons Solicitors • Risks 427
Hazards news, 10 October 2009

Britain: Wrong tool led to tendon injury
A Unite member who suffered a serious hand injury at work after being forced to work with the wrong tool has received £25,000 in an out of court compensation settlement. Manual worker Tom Offer, 57, needed surgery on his hand after a tendon was severed at DSV Road Ltd in Harwich.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 427
Hazards news, 10 October 2009

Britain: Two days vibration causes permanent harm
A GMB member has received a £17,500 out of court settlement after his shoulder was permanently damaged by using a vibrating tool at work. John Sides, 44, suffered the injury when removing paint from a floor.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 427
Hazards news, 10 October 2009

Britain: Widow denied asbestos compensation
The widow of a man who spent 44 years working with asbestos has missed out on a potential £200,000 payout. Dinah Eaves is not eligible for the money because the firm her husband David worked for was taken over after he was exposed to the deadly dust.
Bristol Evening Post • Daily Mirror • Risks 426
Hazards news, 4 October 2009

Britain: Payout for lucky-to-survive bus driver
A bus driver who nearly lost his life in a head-on crash has been awarded £250,000 compensation. Medics told Unite member James Morton, 60, he was lucky to survive after a Mercedes van smashed into his bus on a country road near Cramlington, Northumberland.
Evening Chronicle • Risks 426
Hazards news, 4 October 2009

Britain: Chlorine damaged trainee doc’s throat
A trainee doctor who was exposed to dangerous levels of chlorine at the Hilton Hotel while working in a part time job has received a £1,000 payout. Stephen Barratt, 28, received the damages after he suffered from a burnt larynx when working as a deputy gym manager at the LivingWell Health Club, part of the Hilton in Sheffield.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 425
Hazards news,  26 September 2009

Britain: Recycling trip led to pain and cost
A council bin man who seriously injured his shoulder while collecting rubbish for recycling has received £57,000 in compensation. UNISON member Alan Shambrook, 55, tripped on a raised paving slab while collecting recycling boxes.
UNISON news release • Risks 425
Hazards news,  26 September 2009

Britain: Injured fitter forced to retire early
A fitter with a metals recycling firm who was forced to give up his job following an accident at work has received a substantial sum in compensation. Unite member Stanley Gibbons, 66, from Dagenham in Essex, was left with a damaged left shoulder after being forced to carry out heavy manual work despite warning his employer he suffered from a frozen shoulder, a condition which leaves the shoulder painful and stiff.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 425
Hazards news,  26 September 2009

Britain: Trip led to back problems for pregnant mum
A pregnant civil servant who tripped at work and damaged her back has received £9,000 in compensation. PCS member Andrea Swales, 39, was almost five months pregnant when she tripped on a loose carpet tile at HM Revenue and Customs offices in Peterlee in July 2006.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 423
Hazards news, 12 September 2009

Britain: Injury ends lifeboat heroics
A lifeboat volunteer, who received a royal honour for decades of life-saving, has been awarded £6,000 compensation after a car accident forced him to quit. UNISON helped Robert Briggs after he suffered whiplash injuries when his car was hit from behind on the M27 in November 2005.
UNISON news release • Portsmouth News • Risks 423
Hazards news, 12 September 2009

Britain: Attacks drove teacher out of education
A Scottish teacher who was attacked repeatedly by a pupil has been awarded £71,000 damages. Teresa McCarthy, 52, quit her job as a special needs teacher after she was attacked four times by the teenager.
Daily Record • The Herald • Scotsman • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 5 September 2009

Britain: Directors told to pay asbestos compensation
Company directors who pocketed the assets when they closed a company have been ordered to pay an asbestos disease settlement from their own pockets. The former bosses of Stalybridge engineering firm Vernon & Roberts will have to hand over £60,000 to the widow of Frederick Hughes, who died of mesothelioma in 2001 after being exposed to asbestos working for the firm in the 1960s.
Manchester Evening News
Hazards news,  5 September 2009

Britain: Payout for woman floored by forklift
A Worksop distribution centre worker has received 'substantial' damages after she was knocked down by a forklift truck. Kathryn Warren suffered serious crushing injuries to both ankles after the incident at the Clipper Group warehouse and needed surgery and treatment for stress.
CHAD • Risks 420
Hazards news, 22 August 2009

Britain: Caretaker busts a gut at school
A school caretaker needed surgery after suffering a hernia when lifting a heavy room divider. UNISON member Alan Thomas, from South Kirby, near Pontefract, was off work for two months following corrective surgery in November 2007 and has received a £3,471 payout.
UNISON news release • Risks 420
Hazards news, 22 August 2009

Britain: Council refused to watch lifeguard’s back
A sports centre supervisor who was forced to retire when he injured his back lifting a faulty set of swimming pool steps has received £50,000 payout. UNISON member David Barber, from Rochdale, who had worked at the council-run Haywood Sports Centre for 20 years, had complained about the steps a number of times, but had been told that fixing them was not a priority.
UNISON news release • Risks 420
Hazards news, 22 August 2009

USA: Most nuke worker disease claims refused
A US federal programme created to help sick nuclear weapons workers is improperly rejecting thousands of claims, a former top medic on the scheme has said.
Eugene Schwartz, who recently resigned, said many of the complaints that workers, advocates and lawmakers have levelled at the controversial programme are valid.
ProPublica • Risks 419
Hazards news, 15 August 2009

Britain: Worker suffers whiplash in bath incident
A care assistant was forced to take three months of work after she suffered whiplash injuries from a faulty bath. The GMB member, whose name has not been released, had to undergo intensive physiotherapy following the incident at a Leeds City Council day centre.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 419
Hazards news, 15 August 2009

Britain: Firefighters free fingers from faulty food van
A delivery driver who was freed by the fire service when a faulty van door crushed his hand has received a £7,000 payout. GMB member David McCulloch, 52, was forced to take seven weeks off work following the incident, which left him with a broken index finger.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 419
Hazards news, 15 August 2009

Britain: Shot guard left waiting by CICA
A union has condemned the shoddy treatment meted out to a security guard who is still waiting for criminal injuries compensation over four years after suffering a debilitating injury when he was shot during a robbery. G4S security guard and GMB member Colin Baker, who was shot at work in September 2004, believes he has been let down by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA).
GMB news release • Risks 419
Hazards news, 15 August 2009

Britain: Car job led to vibration injury
A former fitter for car manufacturer Ford has received £8,500 in compensation after his hands were left permanently damaged by using vibrating tools at work. PCS member Anthony Barry, 61, was left with the debilitating condition Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) - also known as vibration white finger - after using vibrating tools in his job as a toolmaker for Ford Motor Company Ltd in Halewood.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 418
Hazards news, 8 August 2009

Britain: Broken chair caused a slipped disk
A council worker forced to use a dodgy chair for nine months suffered a slipped disk and nearly died during an operation to remedy the problem. UNISON member Kay Fagg, who has received a £10,000 compensation settlement, developed the problem after Southend-on-Sea Borough Council failed to replace her chair when it broke in early 2003.
UNISON news release • Risks 418
Hazards news, 8 August 2009

Britain: Break cut led to deadly blood clot
A government worker who developed a life-threatening blood clot after sitting at her desk for hours without a break has received more than £10,000 in compensation. PCS member Angela Lamberton, 53, nearly died after the work schedule at her office was restructured to reduce the time employees spent away from their desks.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Leicester Mercury • Telegraph • Risks 416
Hazards news, 25 July 2009

Britain: Consolation for family of death crash teacher
A widow has said a compensation payout received after her husband was killed while cycling home from work will at least mean financial security for his daughter. Dedicated teacher David Kerslake, who cycled to work every day, was just 44-years-old when he was knocked off his bike in Bolton in October 2004.
UNISON news release • Risks 417
Hazards news, 1 August 2009

Britain: Woman's leg crushed at work
A paper multinational has admitted liability after a worker’s leg was crushed by a reel of polythene. Unite member Nicola Upsher, 29, was forced to take six months off work after the incident at tissue manufacturer Kimberley Clark’s Gravesend factory in August 2007.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Kent News • Risks 417
Hazards news, 1 August 2009

Britain: Wrong goggles fail to protect eyes
A steel erector suffered permanent damage to his eye during the construction of the new Wembley Stadium after being provided with unsuitable safety goggles. Unite member Ian Pearson, 36, was working on the stadium in December 2005 for Fast Track Site Services.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 415
Hazards news, 18 July 2009

Britain: Work injury stops endurance sportsman
An engineering worker who had to give up endurance sport after injuring his leg at work has received £5,250 in compensation. The 48-year-old Unite member, whose name has not been released, was a keen marathon runner and established duathlete - a race where participants run and cycle - before he damaged his leg.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 415
Hazards news, 18 July 2009

Britain: Serious fall injuries lead to payout
A Unite member who was off work for more than 20 months after a fall at work has received £35,000 in compensation.  John Kelly, 61, needed surgery on his shoulder and intensive physiotherapy following the incident at Sertac Group Holdings in Coleshill, Birmingham.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 415
Hazards news, 18 July 2009

Britain: Firefighter gets payout after foundry fall
A firefighter who suffered extensive injuries when he fell down a 20ft pit while trying to put out a blaze has received £250,000 in compensation. The FBU member, whose name has not been released, received the compensation for injuries he sustained when he attended a fire at Sigmacast Iron Ltd in Cardiff in September 2004.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 414
Hazards news, 11 July 2009

Britain: Welder forced to retire by injury
A welder has been forced to retire after he injured his back at work. RMT member Kevin Hartley, 63, needed surgery after sustaining the injury at Network Rail Infrastructure in Sheffield.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 414
Hazards news, 11 July 2009

Britain: Union treatment for broken bones
Breaking a bone at work is never a good experience, but at least union members end up with compensation. Radiographer Kathryn Knight, 23, who broke her ankle while working has received a £3,000 payout after suffering the injury at Bradford Royal Infirmary in May 2008; film extra Jeff Lipman, 48, received an undisclosed payout through his union BECTU after he suffered an elbow fracture working on The Flood, an apocalyptic drama about global warming.
Thompsons solicitors news releases on the SoR and BECTU cases • Telegraph and Argus • Risks 412
Hazards news, 4 July 2009

Britain: Paying the price of a vibration injury
A GMB member has received a £10,000 compensation payout after his hands were left permanently damaged by using vibrating tools at work. Keith Rowley, 55, a fitter from Stourbridge, was has the debilitating condition Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS), also known as vibration white finger.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Stourbridge News • Risks 411 • 20 June 2009

Britain: Six digit payout for wrecked hand
A GMB member who lost four fingers after his hand was mangled at work and who later had to have his thumb amputated has received a six-figure sum in compensation. His employer was also fined £50,000 for criminal safety breaches related to the incident. The 49-year-old worker, from Farnworth near Bolton was working as a waste disposal operative for Greater Manchester Waste Limited when his left hand was crushed in a machine in December 2005.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 409
Hazards news, 6 June 2009

Britain: Employer ignored workers’ concerns
Unsafe employers continue to pay compensation rather than remedy safety problems. Unite member Gerard Healey, 59, received a “substantial” sum in compensation after his former employer Mayr-Melnhof Packaging Limited failed to listen to employees’ health and safety concerns.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 409
Hazards news, 6 June 2009

Britain: Firm pays twice for firing injured worker
A major events organiser fired a worker after he broke his foot at work – but ended paying for both his unfair dismissal and his injury. BECTU member Tony Pike was dismissed from his job as a production manager for Dream Events Limited after he suffered a stress fracture in his foot.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 409
Hazards news, 6 June 2009

Britain: Unite anger at compensation law delay
The union Unite has reacted angrily after a Scottish law intended to create a fairer compensation system for victims of accidents and diseases was blocked this week by SNP, Conservative and Liberal Democrat members of the Scottish Parliamentary Justice Committee.
Unite news release •  Proposed Damages (Scotland) Bill [pdf] • Risks 409
Hazards news, 6 June 2009

Britain: Union wins gun trauma payout
The driver of the tube train on which an innocent member of the public was shot dead by anti-terror police has received £1,000 compensation for trauma because he was chased down an underground tunnel by officers in the aftermath of the incident. ASLEF member Quincy Oji had to take time off work with post traumatic stress after being caught up in the tragedy at London’s Stockwell tube station in July 2005.
ASLEF news release • The Guardian • BBC News Online • The Telegraph • Risks 409
Hazards news, 6 June 2009

Britain: Firm failed to listen to union
London Underground has paid “substantial” compensation to a Tube driver after it ignored union complaints about dirty, hazardous train carriages. Derek Walters, 45, is facing surgery on his hand after his finger was slit open by a piece of broken glass left in a train cab.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 408
Hazards news, 30 May 2009

Britain: Six figure payout for serious leg injury
A warehouse operative has been awarded a £359,717.62 payout for a workplace leg injury which may eventually result in amputation. Unite member Michael Crane, 62, received this interim compensation award from Lenham Storage one week ahead of scheduled High Court hearing.
Pattinson and Brewer news release • Risks 407
Hazards news, 23 May 2009

Britain: Ankle break costs worker his leg
A labourer who had to have a leg amputated after breaking his ankle in a three metre fall at work has received a six-figure sum in compensation. Unite member William Edge, 64, needed eight ‘agonising’ operations after the fall.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Plymouth Herald • Risks 405
Hazards news, 9 May 2009

Britain: Worker gets vibration payout
A GMB member has received a “substantial” out of court settlement after his hands were left permanently damaged by using vibrating tools at work. Alexander Simpson, 60, from Workington in Cumbria was left with debilitating Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) - also known as vibration white finger - after using vibrating at West Cumberland Engineering.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 405
Hazards news, 9 May 2009

Britain: College lecturer hurt in fall
A college lecturer who damaged his shoulder after slipping on a wheelchair ramp has received a “substantial sum” in compensation. UCU member Warren Spour, 36, suffered injuries to his wrist and shoulder in October 2006 when he fell on the ramp while entering a temporary classroom at South Tyneside College’s Hebburn campus.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Shields Gazette • Risks 403
Hazards news, 25 April 2009

Britain: Wrong step hurts bank worker
A bank cashier who fractured her ankle when she fell down a step has received almost £9,000 in compensation. Jackie Edwards was off sick for six months following the incident at Lloyds TSB’s Benfleet branch in Essex.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 403
Hazards news, 25 April 2009

Britain: Broken thumb caused by bad communication
A company changed the spec for a factory process – but didn’t tell the engineer doing the job, with painful consequences. GMB member Anthony Lacey, 59, was left in agony when his thumb was broken in two places in May 2007.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 402
Hazrads news, 18 April 2009

Britain: Slip leads to months off work
A school caretaker had to take five months off work after slipping on a spill on the dining room floor. Unite member Jean Simpson, a caretaker at Abbey Primary School in Bloxwich, Walsall, was awarded compensation at trial for the fractured ankle bone suffered in the slip.
Rowley Ashworth Solicitors news release • Risks 401
Hazards news, 11 April 2009

Britain: Firm fails but claim succeeds
A GMB member whose shoulder was injured at work has received compensation even though his employer subsequently folded. David Billingham, 40, from Halesowen, received £3,500 after injuring his right shoulder while working as a caster for G Clancey Ltd.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Halesowen News • Risks 401
Hazards news, 11 April 2009

Britain: Strain injury takes away a future
A concrete technician who developed a debilitating workplace strain injury fears he may never find work again after he was made redundant. GMB member Paul Flintoff, 46, from Selston in Nottingham was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), a painful lower arm disorder which can be caused by prolonged use of hand-held vibrating tools.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 401
Hazards news, 11 April 2009

USA: Docs lie and workers lose
A New York Times review of case files and medical records and interviews with workers’ compensation claimants indicate that the exam reports are routinely tilted to benefit insurers by minimising or dismissing injuries.
New York Times • Risks 400
Hazards news, 4 April 2009

Britain: School asbestos exposure killed teacher
The widow of a senior teacher who died after exposure to asbestos in school science labs has been awarded £290,000 in compensation. The former chemistry teacher, who taught at the same school in East Sussex for 34 years, died from mesothelioma in September 2007, aged 61, just a year after retirement.
The Argus • TES • Asbestos in Schools website • HSE mesothelioma statistics including breakdown by age • Risks 400
Hazards news, 4 April 2009

Britain: Heavy stuff will hurt you
Whether you are lifting it up or it is falling down, heavy stuff can hurt you. Two six figure settlements secured for Unite members show poor manual handling systems can be costly for employers too.
Rowley Ashworth Solicitors news releases on the beer keg and dishwasher cases • Risks 399
Hazards news, 28 March 2009

Britain: Prison officer gets payout after attack
A prison officer who was injured while trying to restrain a violent inmate has received £8,000 in compensation. GMB member Michael Blinkhorn, 42, was off work for five months following the incident at HMP Wolds in East Yorkshire.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 399
Hazards news, 28 March 2009

Britain: School stress cost head her job
A teacher who left her job because of stress and allegations of racism has been awarded six figure damages. NUT member Erica Connor, 57, a former teacher at New Monument Primary School in Woking, was awarded £407,781 for psychiatric injury suffered and loss of income.
BBC News Online • The Telegraph • Personnel Today • The Independent • Risks 399
Hazards news, 28 March 2009

Britain: Pupil attack ends teacher’s career
A teacher who was attacked by a 12-year-old pupil has had to take ill-health retirement as a result. NASUWT member Colin Adams, 51, who taught ICT at Kingswood Community School for eight years, was left with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and received a £275,000 payout.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 399
Hazards news, 28 March 2009

Australia: Execs get bonuses to deny payouts
Executives of Australia’s national postal firm are being paid bonuses for reducing worker compensation costs, a union has alleged. Australia Post has denied that doctors are being pressured to dismiss injury claims, but the Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) maintains Australia Post pressured doctors into writing medical reports dismissive of injury claims, while executives are receiving bonuses for cutting compensation costs.
Herald Sun • ABC News • Risks 398
Hazards news, 21 March 2009

Britain: Insurer fails to evade asbestos payout
Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance plc has failed in a courtroom bid to deny responsibility for an asbestos cancer payout. Colin Gardner, 66, was awarded £145,000 damages at London's High Court.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Yorkshire Evening Post • Huddersfield Daily Examiner • Risks 397
Hazards news, 14 March 2009

Britain: Scots asbestos payout law passed 
Legislation to allow people in Scotland to claim for past exposure to asbestos has been passed by MSPs. The new law overturns a House of Lords ruling that said damages could not be claimed for pleural plaques, a benign scarring of the lungs.
Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Bill [pdf] • ABI news release • BBC News Online • Daily Record • The Scotsman • Sunday Herald • Risks 397
Hazards news, 14 March 2009

Britain: Union safety warnings not heeded
A union rep who had pressed for workplace safety improvements suffered an injury at work – using equipment the union had warned repeatedly was dangerous and should be made safe. GMB shop steward John Kitching, 48, jarred his shoulder as he disposed of clinical waste while working as an operating theatre orderly at Barnsley Hospital.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Wakefield Express • Risks 397
Hazards news, 14 March 2009

Britain: Injured nurse will not work again
A nurse from County Durham has been told she will never work again after damaging her back while trying to move a faulty hospital bed. UNISON member Jacqueline Crowe, 46, was forced to leave her job after the accident at South Moor Hospital, in Stanley.
UNISON news release • Newcastle Journal • Risks 396
Hazards news, 7 March 2009

Britain: Ladder fall forces baker to retire
A bakery worker who was forced to give up his job after falling from a ladder has received £80,000 in compensation. BFAWU member Jeffery Phillips, 59, from Clowne in Chesterfield needed a hip replacement after falling 14ft onto a concrete floor after the ladder slipped as he was cleaning machinery.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Sheffield Star • Risks 396
Hazards news, 7 March 2009

Britain: Bullying boss blamed for breakdown
An NHS hospital trust has been found liable for the nervous breakdown suffered by a hospital admin worker. UNISON member Nanette Bowen, 55, who has been unable to return to work after being bullied and harassed over a three-year-period, can now expect a six-figure settlement from Carmarthenshire NHS Trust.
UNISON news release • Morning Star • South Wales Evening Post • Risks 396
Hazards news, 7 March 2009

Britain: Nurse gets wrist injury payout
Health service union UNISON has helped a nurse claim damages after he seriously injured his wrist while attempting to open an old ward window. The union member from Sutton in Surrey was opening the window for a patient in the ladies toilets at St Helier Hospital, in Carshalton in 2002, when the injury occurred.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Sutton Guardian • Risks 395
Hazards news, 28 February 2009

Britain: Union sorts out van smash cash
A GMB member who was advised to accept just £800 in damages after being injured when her company van was involved in a road smash has received more than four times this amount thanks to help from her trade union.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 395
Hazards news, 28 February 2009

Britain: Foot injury leads to six digit payout
A Unite member who was off work for more than two years after breaking his heel has received £120,000 compensation. The 60-year-old from Gateshead, who does not wish to be named, suffered the injury when he slipped on a ladder attached to his van while he was working in February 2007.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 395
Hazards news, 28 February 2009

Britain: Faulty stair trip caused disability
A woman who was left disabled after she tripped on a faulty step at work has received £20,000 in compensation. Jobcentre worker Alain Sargent, 50, received the compensation after she contacted her union the PCS following the fall.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 395
Hazards news, 28 February 2009

Britain: Sick sacked RMT activist wins round one
A train driver who is also a prominent activist in his union has won the first round of his battle to reverse his dismissal. RMT union rep Derrick Marr was fired by train-operating company National Express East Anglia, ostensibly on health grounds but the union argued he had been victimised for his union activities.
RMT news release • Risks 394
Hazards news, 21 February 2009

Britain: Employers must prove they did enough
The Court of Appeal has said employers must not only undertake risk assessments, they must make sure they take the necessary action to reduce risks. Overturning a county court ruling, it said that when hospital employee Donna Egan was injured using a mechanical hoist to move a patient, the burden was on the employer to prove that it had taken appropriate steps to reduce any risk to the lowest reasonably practicable level.
Egan v Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s University Hospitals NHS Trust before Lord Justice Sedley, Lord Justice Keene and Lady Justice Smith, Judgment December 15, 2008 • The Times • WLR Daily • Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 • Risks 393
Hazards news, 14 February 2009

Britain: Driver injured unloading his lorry
A Yorkshire delivery driver who was never given training in lifting heavy loads has received £3,300 in compensation after suffering a groin strain. Karl Liversidge, 42, from Castleford, was off work for six weeks after suffering the lifting related injury.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 393
Hazards news, 14 February 2009

Britain: Electric shock for council worker
A council worker who was seriously injured after a faulty machine failed to spot buried cables has been awarded a £6,000 payout at Manchester County Court. UNISON member Anthony Briars, 36, lost his sight for several days and suffered burns to his face and arm as a result of an electric shock.
UNISON news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 393
Hazards news, 14 February 2009

Britain: Six figure payout for assaulted teacher
A teacher who was assaulted by a pupil has been awarded £280,000 after suffering physical and mental injuries that will stop her ever returning to teaching. NASUWT member Sharon Lewis, 31, was attacked by a 13-year-old pupil in 2004 while working as a special needs teacher at Woodlands School, Aspley, Nottingham.
NASUWT news release • BBC News Online • The Times • Risks 393
Hazards news, 14 February 2009

Britain: Machine fitter loses hearing, wins payout
A Unite member who was exposed to dangerous levels of noise in the workplace has received a £5,500 payout. The 50-year-old from Worksop, whose name has not been released, had worked for Dormer Tools as a machine fitter for over 20 years.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 392
Hazards news, 7 February 2009

Britain: Firefighter gets criminal injury cash 
A firefighter who was attacked by a group of youths while attending a blaze has been awarded compensation. Peter Woodhead, 41, was awarded the money by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Association (CICA) after his elbow was broken in the attack.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 392
Hazards news, 7 February 2009

Britain: Broken knee victory for rail worker
A Wolverhampton railway worker who broke his knee when trying to undertake emergency track repairs has received £20,000 in compensation – but only after turning to union solicitors for help. RMT member Edlin Linton, 54, had previously been advised by another law firm that he didn’t have a case for compensation.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 392
Hazards news, 7 February 2009

Britain: Tube driver gets bomb trauma payout
A London Underground driver has been awarded more than £4,000 compensation for the psychological trauma he suffered following the July 2005 attack on the tube network. Stuart Bell, 57, was driving a Piccadilly line train on 7 July when four bombs exploded on three trains and a bus, killing 52 people and all four suicide bombers.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • BBC News Online • The Independent • Risks 392
Hazards news, 7 February 2009

Britain: Union wins whiplash case
An insurer has been forced to pay up after a Unite member suffered whiplash in a road traffic accident. Edward Haddock, 31, suffered the injury in March 2007 when a vehicle pulled out in front of his car, causing a collision.
Beecham Peacock Solicitors news release [pdf] • Risks 390
Hazards news, 24 January 2009

Britain: Six figure settlement for attack trauma
A security guard who was severely traumatised in an assault has received £180,000 in compensation. GMB member James Maher, 56, was attacked while working as a security guard for the London Borough of Waltham Forest at the Low Hall Depot in Walthamstow.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 390
Hazards news, 24 January 2009

Britain: Payout after slip by a hole in the wall
A cash machine maintenance worker has received £10,500 in compensation after slipping outside a Tesco supermarket.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 390
Hazards news, 24 January 2009

Britain: Boots workers get back pain
Poor health and safety practices have left two GMB members with severe back problems. Nigel Williamson, 52, and Robert Cole, 56, were employed as depot workers for Boots.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 390
Hazards news, 24 January 2009

Britain: Double trouble leads back to compo
The union Unite is warning employers to make sure their manual handling procedures are safe after a member was forced to give up work after suffering a series of serious back injuries. Sean Wilson, 43, is in severe pain as a result of the injuries sustained while working for Sealed Air Limited based in Royston, Hertfordshire.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 389
Hazards news, 17 January 2009

Britain: Workers wary of compensation claims
Many workers avoid making compensation claims for workplace injuries, new research suggests. Reasons for this wariness include a fear of losing their job, according to the study for personal injury solicitors Hubbard Pegman & Whitney (HPW).
HPW news release [pdf] • Risks 388
Hazards news, 10 January 2009

Britain: Dockworkers win asbestos test case
Two former Liverpool dockworkers have won compensation from the government for asbestos-related diseases contracted under the auspices of the then National Dock Labour Board (NDLB).
John Pickering and Partners news release and full judgment • BBC News Online • Risks 388
Hazards news, 10 January 2009

Britain: Four ton weight leaves mark on head
A Unite member has been left with a deep 7cm scar on his forehead after machinery weighing four and a half tonnes fell on him. The 46-year-old from Pontnewydd in Wales, was trapped under a huge coal cyclone, a piece of machinery used to remove fine particles of coal, after it fell as he helped load it on a lorry.
Thompson Solicitors news release • Risks 388
Hazards news, 10 January 2009

Britain: Hospital fall leads to retirement
Health service union UNISON is calling for a crackdown on workplace hazards after a carpenter was forced to retire after a workplace fall. Michael Perrin received a five-figure payout at Swansea County Court after he lost the full use of his ankle as a result of a trip at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, in 2003.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 388
Hazards news, 10 January 2009

Britain: Work injury ends football career
A printer who also played semi-professional football has been forced to retire from the game after he was injured at work. Unite Neil Yapp, 27, seriously hurt his knee when he fell after a faulty stair gave way at Trinity Mirror Printing in Watford.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 388
Hazards news, 10 January 2009

Britain: Christmas cancelled due to slippery platform
A GMB member who was forced to cancel Christmas when she broke her leg on a slippery train station platform has received compensation, thanks to her union’s legal support. Margot Keats, 61, broke her leg when she slipped on a wet platform at Nottingham train station on November 2006.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 387
Hazards news, 20 December 2008

Britain: HGV worker driven to claim compensation
Employers are being urged by UNISON to clean up their acts after a worker was awarded thousands of pounds for injuries sustained in a fall. Gary Harper, 41, who worked for Quadron Services in Leicester, was forced to take a year off work after tearing cartilage in his knee as a result of tripping over a piece of timber that had not been cleared away.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 387
Hazards news, 20 December 2008

Britain: Small worker suffers serious strain injury
A petite shopworker has successfully sued her employer after developing a strain injury caused by reaching for the till and the shop's chip and pin device. Usdaw member Jill Hyndman, 51, who is only four feet nine inches tall, claimed her employer, the Co-op in Cinderford, did not take her small stature into account when they redesigned their till areas a few years ago.
The Sun • The Citizen • The Telegraph • Personnel Today • Usdaw healthy checkouts guide • Risks 387
Hazards news, 20 December 2008

Britain: Diver’s widow loses compensation battle
A Scottish widow whose husband was killed in a horrific North Sea oil rig incident 25 years ago has failed in a bid to win compensation from the Norwegian government. The decision is the latest blow to Ruth Crammond, who for many years wrongly believed her husband Bill, a diver, was responsible for the Byford Dolphin explosion in Norwegian waters in 1983.
Dunfermline Press • NSDA website • Risks 386
Hazards news, 13 December 2008

Britain: Rolls Royce to blame for vibration injury
A Unite member has received compensation after his hands were left permanently damaged by the vibrating tools he used while working for Rolls Royce. John Smith, 62, from Derby was diagnosed with Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) following years of using hand held air powered tools while working for the famous jet engine manufacturer.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Evening Telegraph • Risks 386
Hazards news, 13 December 2008

Britain: National Grid pays out for hearing loss
A retired GMB member who was exposed to dangerous levels of noise in the workplace for over three decades has been compensated, with support from his union. Stanley Owston from Hull now requires a hearing aid. The 67-year-old received £4,000 in damages after suffering occupational deafness caused by his job as an assistant distribution fitter for National Grid.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 386
Hazards news, 13 December 2008

Britain: Union protection for injured rep
A mechanical fitter and union branch secretary from Cumbria has received a £10,000 payout after suffered a slipped disc whilst attempting to lift a half tonne metal cover. GMB rep Gerard Mayne, 55, was manually moving the cover from lifting gear when he injured his back.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Times and Star • Risks 386
Hazards news, 13 December 2008

Britain: High price for ligament damage
A Unite member has received compensation after he tore his ankle ligaments in an unsafe workplace – but has seen his earnings limited and has had to ditch his hobby. 
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 386
Hazards news, 13 December 2008

Britain: UNISON calls for safer needles
Hospitals should be required to use safer needles to protect their staff, health service union UNISON has said. The call follows the case of a care assistant compensated after she was stuck in the leg by a needle at Kettering General Hospital.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Safer Needles Now • Risks 385
Hazards news, 6 December 2008

USA: Hateful tactics to deny death payout
The 11-year-old son of a US woman who was stabbed to death at her retail clerk's job is being denied his mother’s workers’ compensation death benefits by the store's insurance company. The insurer claims Taneka Talley was killed because of her race, not her job, so her dependants should receive nothing.
Contra Costa Times • Risks 384
Hazards news, 29 December 2008

Britain: Firm fined £3,000 for severed finger
A Yorkshire firm has been fined £3,000 after a worker’s finger was sheared off by an unsafe machine. Napier Brown & Company Ltd was also ordered to pay costs of £2446 at Wakefield Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to breaching the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations.
HSE news release • Building • HSE work equipment and risk assessment pages • Risks 384
Hazards news, 29 December 2008

Britain: Insurers check Facebook in compo claims
A personal injury law firm is warning injured workers that insurers are now trawling social networking sites in a bid to discredit compensation claims. Insurers have previously been caught using video surveillance and private eyes to monitor claimants, but probing personal webpages is through to be a new strategy.
Camps Solicitors news release • Risks 384
Hazards news, 29 December 2008

Britain: Plater shocked by faulty equipment
A plater who received a massive electric shock at work has received a “substantial” sum in compensation. GMB member William Vaughan, 55, recovered from his injuries he was left with post traumatic stress disorder.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 384 •
Hazards news, 29 December 2008

Britain: Injury costs harbour master his job
A harbour master had to take early retirement after seriously injuring his back when he slipped on dangerous stairs that staff had complained about for years. UNISON member Michael Leggett, 58, said: “My colleagues and I had reported our concerns about the stairs to Waveney District Council several times over about four or five years but they did nothing to make them safer.”
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 384 •
Hazards news, 29 December 2008

Britain: Fight over grenade injuries goes on
Journalists’ union NUJ has released video and photographs that show a British photojournalist being blown up by a stun grenade thrown by a Geneva police officer. The images will form part of an appeal by photographer Guy Smallman against a Swiss court ruling that police were not to blame for the injuries he suffered while covering protests outside a G8 summit in June 2003.
NUJ video clip and news release • Photographs – NUJ warns the content is “extremely graphic” and shows Guy Smallman’s “horrific” injuries [pdf] • Risks 384 •
Hazards news, 29 December 2008

Britain: Vibration disease leads to payout
A GMB member has received £10,000 in an out-of-court settlement after his hands were left permanently damaged as a result of using vibrating tools at work. Frederick Roebuck, 61, was left with debilitating condition Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) - also known as vibration white finger (VWF) - after using a vibrating poker for up to five hours a day in his job at manufacturing firm Charcon Tunnels.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 382
15 November 2008

Britain: Meat inspector injured by escaped cow
A meat inspector trampled by an escaped cow has received a £6,000 compensation payout for his injuries. UNISON member Melvyn Treen, 62, who was working at Chitty Wholesale abattoir in Guildford, suffered injuries to his right shoulder, neck and back.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 382 •
15 November 2008

Britain: Blame admitted in road worker death
A family’s fight for justice has come to a close after the insurer of the driver of a car that hit a road worker accepted the driver was partly responsibility for his death. GMB member Tony Gate from Hartlepool suffered a severe traumatic brain injury after he was hit by a car in 2003 as he put out signs for road works, never coming out of a coma and dying three years later.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Hartlepool Mail • Risks 383
Hazards news 22 November 2008

Britain: Print payout leads to safety review
A major print company has reviewed its safety procedures after paying out £140,000 in compensation to an injured worker. Unite member Kenneth Blair suffered a broken wrist requiring three operations, including a bone graft from his hip and the insertion of a metal plate after a fall on a machine with which he was unfamiliar.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 383
Hazards news 22 November 2008

Britain: Plasterer paid out for loss of eye
A plasterer who lost the sight in one eye in a workplace incident has secured £32,000 damages from Cardiff County Council. GMB member David Perry, 52, was working in the council’s maintenance services department, when he caught his right eye on the handle of a cement mixer.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 379
Hazards news, 25 October 2008

Britain: Payout after work-related heart attack
A social worker who suffered a heart attack after becoming stressed at work has received £175,000 in compensation. Unite member David Walker, 63, was employed as a team manager by Northumberland Care Trust between 1995 and November 2004, working long hours on an under-staffed project for young people with disabilities.
Beecham Peacock news release [pdf] • The Journal • More on work and heart attacks • Risks 378
Hazards news, 18 October 2009

Britain: Wrong step led to elevator injury
A 45-year-old PCS member from Birkenhead has been awarded compensation of £3,250 after injuring her back, hip and knee when entering a lift at work. The social security worker’s claimed successfully against her employer and sub-contractors.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 377
Hazards news, 11 October 2009

Britain: Gloves off in vibrating tools campaign
Urgent action to protect workers from Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) is needed, with dozens of workers affected at one council alone, public sector union UNISON has said. The union was speaking out after securing £3,000 compensation for Joseph Beale, a council worker from Bridgend; a Freedom of Information request to Bridgend County Borough Council found that more than 40 staff had developed the condition working at the council.
Risks 376
Hazards news, 4 October 2008

Britain: Bonus scheme fingered in vibration case
A council roadworker who was forced out of his job aged 25 after developing two related occupational diseases has received a £262,000 compensation payout. UNISON member Adrian Bideau, now aged 28, developed Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS – also known as vibration white finger) and carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful repetitive strain injury, as a result of using vibrating tools such as breaker packs, whacker plates and saws.
Risks 376
Hazards news, 4 October 2008

Britain: Payout plans for injured officers
Proposals that would dramatically increase payouts to ‘totally disabled’ police officers but that could see many injured officers lose out have been announced by the government.
Review of Police Injury Benefits • Risks 371
Hazards news, 30 August 2008

Britain: Injury costs care assistant her job
A care assistant who was hurt whilst lifting a resident at a residential care home in Darlington has been awarded £8,000 compensation from her former employer after losing her job as a result of the injury.
Risks 371
Hazards news, 30 August 2008

Britain: Electrician gets £250,000 for back injuries
A Unite member working as a contract electrician has been awarded £250,000 for the back injuries he sustained when he fell at a Tarmac site in 2003. Union law firm Rowley Ashworth rejected the insurer’s offer of contributory negligence to agree liability on a 75:25 split in favour of the member and issued court proceedings; instead, a final settlement of £250,000 was achieved three weeks before the scheduled trial.
Risks 370
Hazards news, 23 August 2008

Britain: Nursery nurse gets back payout
A nursery nurse from Newcastle has secured £75,000 damages following a serious back injury at work. Gillian Scott, 42, a member of UNISON, was working at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary when the contents of a box slipped as she was placing it in a cupboard, causing her to fall against the door which sprung back on her.
Risks 370
Hazards news, 23 August 2008

Britain: Work asthma caused mental problems
Electrical engineer Mark Lawrence has been awarded £100,000 – more than six times the original offer - after he developed occupational asthma which led to a psychiatric disorder. The Unite member was working for Lydmet Limited, now Federal Mogul Camshafts Limited, when he experienced shortness of breath at work in April 2001.
Risks 370
Hazards news, 23 August 2008

Britain: £12,000 compensation for shoulder injury
Kitchen appliance manufacturer Indesit, has paid £12,000 compensation to a factory Unite member injured at the firm's factory in Denbighshire, North Wales. Richard Williams, 60, was attempting to manually pull down a metal panel to secure it in place on a washing machine but the panel didn't move because it hadn't been positioned correctly; as a result he badly injured his left shoulder and his thumb.
Risks 369
Hazards news, 16 August 2008

Britain: Wembley horror witness denied payout
A worker who suffered a serious psychiatric injury after he saw a workmate die during the construction of the new Wembley Stadium has lost his claim for damages. The judge concluded that 43-year-old Stephen Monk was not a “primary victim” of the negligent conduct of the crane operator for which PCH had admitted liability, because he did not satisfy the conditions necessary to be regarded either as a rescuer or as an “unwilling participant” in the accident.
Risks 368
Hazards news, 9 August 2008

Britain: Six figure payout for drill injury
A production worker from Ashford has been awarded £220,000 compensation after being injured by a defective drill. Unite member Caroline May, 47, was working for Cohline (UK) Limited when she suffered serious arm injuries in May 2003. She did not know the drill she was using was defective. When she operated it, it kicked back striking her right arm.
Risks 366
Hazards news, 26 July 2008

Britain: £1 million payout for travel-to-work injuries
The value of union legal services inside and outside the workplace has been starkly illustrated by a £1 million payout to a union member seriously injured while cycling to work. The Unite member, whose identity has not been revealed, has been awarded £1,123,676.98.
Risks 366
Hazards news, 26 July 2008

Britain: Motor firm pays for wrecked knee
A Unite member from Maidstone has been paid £517,500 compensation after suffering a serious workplace knee injury when using faulty equipment. Glyn Davies, aged 62, was dismantling and re-erecting large industrial racking systems at automotive manufacturer Intier when he sustained the injury in November 2002.
Risks 366
Hazards news, 26 July 2008

Britain: Port worker gets payout at last
A Felixstowe port worker has received a compensation payout nine years after being seriously injured at a container terminal. Doctors said Alan Thorne, 49, from Felixstowe, would never be able to work again because of the back injuries he suffered.
Risks 364
Hazards news, 12 July 2008

Britain: Government extends meso benefits
The government has closed a loophole in the disease benefits system that meant that people developing mesothelioma but not exposed at work missed out. On 7 July, the House of Lords approved The Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) Regulations 2008 that mean from 1 October those with non-occupational mesothelioma – for example, through exposure to contamination on a relative’s work clothing – will be entitled to a lump sum compensation payout, in the region of £10,000 per case.
House of Lords report for 7 July 2008, Hansard • Risks 364
Hazards news, 12 July 2008

Britain: Government u-turn hits disease sufferers
Workers developing occupational diseases could lose out as a result of a government u-turn on retention of insurance records by employers. The government is pressing ahead with a move to drop the requirement on firms to keep their employers’ liability insurance records for 40 years – despite opposition from workplace health groups, lawyers, unions and insurers.
Asbestos Forum news release [pdf] and briefing [pdf] •
Employers’ Liability Compulsory Insurance, EDM 2010 • Has your MP signed the EDM? If not, ask why not: you can find out how to contact your MP here – all you need is your postcode • Risks 364
Hazards news, 12 July 2008

Britain: Six figure settlement for crushed hand
A factory worker whose hand was crushed at work and had to be rebuilt by surgeons has received a £130,000 settlement. A pallet had jammed in the machine Michael Pattison was operating at Carlisle firm Crown Bevcan.
Risks 364
Hazards news, 12 July 2008

Britain: Freelance gets injury payout
A freelance screen engineer from Bradford who was injured by a crane at Chester Race Course has secured £35,000 damages. Paul Bowling, a member of the entertainment union BECTU, was dismantling large video screens at the end of a race meeting when he was hit by a Crane Hire Direct Limited crane being used to move the equipment.
Risks 364
Hazards news, 12 July 2008

Britain: Payout from Boots for thigh injuries
Unite member Fred Stedham, 53, a Boots the Chemist warehouse worker who was forced to do a job despite raising safety concerns has received £8,000 compensation after it resulted in him being injured.
Risks 363
Hazards news, 5 July 2008

Britain: BP neglect caused asbestos cancer
BP Oil UK has been told it must pay compensation to the family of a former worker who died from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma. Unite member Wilf Human worked at the firm’s refinery on the Isle of Grain from 1957 until 1979.
Risks 363
Hazards news, 5 July 2008

Britain: Injured bus driver gets payout
A Newcastle bus driver who was medically retired following a vehicle smash while working has secured significant damages with the support of the GMB union’s Friends and Family scheme. Kenneth Lansley suffered debilitating injuries when a BMW drove into the side of his vehicle.
Risks 363
Hazards news, 5 July 2008

Britain: Dangerous plan to ditch insurance records
Workers who develop ‘long-tail’ diseases could miss out on compensation as a result of government plans to axe the requirement on firms to hold onto their insurance records for 40 years. The draft regulations also seek to remove the requirement on businesses to display a current employers’ liability insurance certificate.
DWP employers’ liability insurance proposals [pdf] • Employers’ liability insurance, EDM 1839, David Taylor MP • Retention of workplace insurance policies, EDM 1829, Andrew Dismore MP • Risks 362
Hazards news, 28 June 2008

Britain: Union cover protects injured cyclist
A former British Energy employee from Selby, who was knocked off his bike on his journey home from work and suffered a stroke, has secured over £200,000 in compensation.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 359
Hazards news, 7 June 2008

Britain: Paramedic gets vehicle crash payout
A paramedic who was injured after a van driver overshot a red light and collided with his ambulance has received a £62,856 payout. North East Ambulance Service paramedic David Fenwick, 55, suffered a serious shoulder injury that required two operations.
Thompson Solicitors news release • Risks 358
Hazards news, 31 May 2008

Britain: Payouts for stone dust disease
Two foundry workers who developed silicosis, one of the longest recognised occupational lung diseases, have received compensation. The Unite members, who both worked in the melting department of Federal Mogul’s Southwick factory on Wearside, have received “substantial” payouts in an out of court settlement.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Sunderland Echo • Risks 358
Hazards news, 31 May 2008

Britain: Rubbish slip leads to rail payout
A train driver has secured nearly £6,000 compensation from Northern Rail following a serious back injury caused as he stepped onto discarded rubbish. As ASLEF member Peter Kelly, from Selby, North Yorkshire, boarded a train, he stepped on rubbish that had been thrown onto the train but not cleaned up; the 49-year-old fell backwards onto the platform and badly injured his lower back.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 356
Hazards news, 17 May 2008

Britain: Widow gets six figure asbestos payout
The widow of a Unite member has secured £120,000 in an out of court compensation settlement after her husband died from the asbestos related cancer, mesothelioma. The unnamed 71-year-old from Mold in Wales was exposed to asbestos while working for the Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company in Trafford Park, Manchester, now known as AEI.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 354
Hazards news, 3 May 2008

Britain: Payout deal for stressed teacher
A teacher who said his job ruined his health has been paid a “substantial” sum as compensation for his ordeal. NUT member Andrew Massey, 54, has been unable to work since going sick with stress from New College in Leicester.
BBC News Online • Leicester Mercury • Hazards suicide report • Risks 353
Hazards news, 26 April 2008

Britain: Six figure settlement for explosion stresses
A gas worker whose career was wrecked when he was traumatised by an explosion has received a £230,000 payout. GMB member Danny McLoed, 50, a Transco employee, received the payout from Schememade Limited, which admitted liability for cutting through the gas pipe when laying cable.
GMB news release • Risks 352
Hazards news, 19 April 2008

Britain: Lung cancer survivor gets payout
A man who developed lung cancer after being exposed to asbestos in the workplace has been compensated by his former employers. Widower, Joseph Douglas, 66, from Ellesmere Port has received £65,000 in damages after he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2004.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 351
Hazards news, 12 April 2008

Britain: MoD ignored work injury warnings
A Ministry of Defence (MoD) stores assistant who suffered a serious back injury due to continuous heavy lifting and whose employer then failed to shift her to lighter work has received £60,000 in compensation.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 351
Hazards news, 12 April 2008

Britain: Hit-and-run firefighter gets £280k damages
A firefighter knocked from his bike on his journey home from work has received over £280,000 in damages. David Frith, a member of the firefighters’ union FBU from Leicester, received the award via the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) untraced drivers scheme after the hit-and-run incident.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 350
Hazards news, 5 April 2008

Britain: Six figure payout for asbestos death
A Yorkshire widow has received a six-figure compensation payout after her husband died of an asbestos cancer. Sylvia Worth, 54, was awarded £122,000 in damages.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Find your local asbestos group on the Asbestos Forum website • Risks 349
Hazards news, 29 March 2008

Britain: Death threat kitchen assistant gets payout
A kitchen assistant who was eventually forced to leave her job following a violent incident has been awarded £40,000 compensation. Diana Gruber, 60, received the payout from Leicestershire County Council after a verbal attack at Coalville Resource Centre.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 349
Hazards news, 29 March 2008

Britain: Latex payout but no job for young nurse
A young nurse who had to give up the profession after developing a potentially deadly latex allergy has received a six figure payout. UNISON member Tanya Dodd, 25, was a trainee nurse at Scarborough General Hospital when she developed type 1 latex allergy from gloves she wore routinely as part of her job.
UNISON news release • BBC News Online • Risks 348
Hazards news, 22 March 2008

Britain: Injury destroys young worker’s dream
A construction site injury has crushed the dreams of a Barnsley man who has lost the opportunity to play semi-professional football. James Smith was 20 and working as a steel fixer for Century Reinforcement Services when he was injured in 2004.
Irwin Mitchell news release • Risks 347
Hazards news, 15 March 2008

Britain: Union pushes for slipped disc payout
A support worker who slipped a disc while pushing a client in a wheelchair, and subsequently had his employment terminated, has secured damages from his former employer. UNISON member Malcolm Herbert from Croydon secured a one off settlement of £15,500 from Choice Support, which provides services for adults with learning disabilities.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 347
Hazards news, 15 March 2008

Britain: Firm pays £25,000 for broken arm
A Telford confectionery company has been fined after a Polish worker's arm was broken when it became trapped in a conveyor system. Magna Specialist Confectioners Ltd (MSC) was fined a total of £25,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,928 at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
HSE news release • Risks 346
Hazards news, 8 March 2008

Britain: Attacked journalist wins police payout
Photojournalist and NUJ member Marc Vallée has accepted an apology and out-of-court settlement from the Metropolitan Police. The union had issued proceedings against commissioner of police Sir Ian Blair for “battery” (assault) and breaches of the Human Rights Act, relating to freedom of expression and assembly.
NUJ news release • Risks 346
Hazards news, 8 March 2008

Britain: Labourer gets payout after face injury
A Sheffield labourer has been awarded compensation of £19,000 after being injured at work when a piece of scaffolding fell three storeys, hitting him in the face. Neil Ringrose, 42, was working for Rowland Scaffold Company Ltd at a Woolworths Store in Redcar when the incident occurred.
Risks 345
Hazards news, 1 March 2008

Britain: Hot oil burns firm to pay £8,750
A teenager was left badly scarred after slipping into a pan of extremely hot oil left on the floor of a busy restaurant. A year later Claire Swainger can still not stand for prolonged periods because of injuries sustained in the accident at Hull restaurant The Omelette.
Risks 345
Hazards news, 1 March 2008

Britain: Bus driver attacked and sacked
Bus driver Robert Latimer, 63, attacked by a drunken passenger then sacked for taking time off while injured has been awarded £75,000 in compensation. Tommy Brennan, GMB Northern secretary, said: “He was a victim of a serious crime and yet not only did they try to paint him as the aggressor, they refused to talk to the GMB or to give our member the right of a grievance hearing and to appeal against his sacking.”
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 345
Hazards news, 1 March 2008

Britain: Payout after oven cleaner attack
A residential social worker who was sprayed in the face with oven cleaner has received thousands of pounds in compensation from Newport City Council. Miss Rudi Meszaros, 33, suffered long term chemical damage to her eyes after being attacked by a young person in her care.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 344
Hazards news, 23 February 2008

Britain: Insurers press for low payouts
The conduct of insurers who deal directly with accident victims will be investigated following accusations they put pressure on victims to waive their right to compensation or to settle claims for less than the proper rate. Trade unions and claimant lawyers have handed a dossier of evidence against the insurers to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for investigation.
Risks 344
Hazards news, 23 February 2008

Britain: Dock leap wore out man’s knee
A boatman whose right knee was wrecked by jumping on and off boats for two decades has received undisclosed damages in an out-of-court settlement. GMB member William Lively, 55, worked as a boatman on the Norman Forster passenger boat in Tyne Dock.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 344
Hazards news, 23 February 2008

Britain: Tube driver gets RSI compo go-ahead
A Tube driver has been granted permission to sue London Underground (LUL) after developing a debilitating wrist injury. RMT member Latona Allison developed the repetitive strain injury tenosynovitis in her right wrist and now cannot work as a driver.
Ms Latona Allison (Appellant) and London Underground Ltd, [2008] EWCA Civ 71, Case No: B3/2007/0536, 13 February 2008 • Risks 343
Hazards news, 16 February 2008

Britain: Man loses fingers and wins compensation
A Coventry man whose hand was crushed in an inadequately guarded machine has been awarded more than £40,000 in damages. Parlvin Moyo, 37, who had to have two fingers amputated as a result of his injuries, was employed as a machine operative for Hydro Aluminium Extrusion Ltd in Warwick.
Risks 341
Hazards news, 2 February 2008

Britain: Engineer ousted after rupturing bicep
An engineer from Cumbria who rupturing the bicep in his right arm at work has received compensation, but has lost the job he loved. Unite member Geoffrey Loftus, 63, secured £95,000 compensation after being forced to retire on medical grounds as a result of the injury, sustained as the blow moulding engineer tightened a bolt.
Risks 341
Hazards news, 2 February 2008

Britain: Six figure miner payout but no job
Negligence at a Welsh mine has led to a £105,000 pay out for a collier who had to be medically retired after a falling stone broke a vertebrae in his neck. NUM member Alun Finney, 55, worked as a collier for Energybuild Limited at their
Risks 341
Hazards news, 2 February 2008

Britain: Strain injury leads to forced retirement
A factory worker from Port Talbot who was medically retired after suffering a repetitive strain injury (RSI) has received almost £17,000 in compensation. Unite member Barbara Newall’s job was to bag the accessories that accompanied a DVD player; this included a remote control, a battery pack, an RF cable and, in some cases, an additional RF lead - she would pack approximately 4,500 bags per day.
Thompsons Solicitors new release
RSI Action Day, Friday 29 February: Unions can order a special 'Repeat after me' RSI day poster from the Hazards Campaign • 'Repeat after me' poster • Email the Hazards Campaign for poster order details • Risks 341
Hazards news, 2 February 2008

Britain: Vibration ruling fails injured miners
A High Court ruling has shattered hopes of compensation for many miners with the debilitating occupational disease vibration white finger (VWF). Roger Maddocks of law firm Irwin Mitchell said the way the government handles some claims under the British Coal VWF Claims Handling Arrangement (CHA) has meant miners are routinely missing out on compensation, and criticised claim processing company Capita, “who have assumed the role of judge and jury on the claims.”
Risks 340
Hazards news, 26 January 2008

Britain: Shoulder injury forces retirement
A GMB union member from Gloucestershire has secured “substantial” damages after he fractured his shoulder, forcing his medical retirement from his maintenance job. Former Transco employee Kevin Meek from Cinderford, Gloucestershire was employed as a maintenance worker by Wales & West Utilities Limited, (WWU) - formerly part of National Grid Transco.
Risks 340
Hazards news, 26 January 2008

Britain: Welder gets lung cancer payout
A former welder diagnosed with lung cancer after being exposed to asbestos has been paid provisional compensation. The unnamed former welder, 73, received the £20,000 payout after being diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2006.
Global unions zero work cancer campaign • Risks 340
Hazards news, 26 January 2008

Britain: UNISON wins asbestosis payout
A retired member of the union UNISON has been awarded a £25,000 payout after contracting the lung scarring disease asbestos. Albert Flood, a 79-year-old former joiner, worked for a number of different firms during the 1950s and early 1960s and was regularly exposed to asbestos without warning or breathing protection.
Risks 340
Hazards news, 26 January 2008

Britain: Miners hit by compensation failures
Sick miners and their families have lost out on compensation because of administrative failures, according to an official report. Legal Services Complaints Commissioner Zahida Manzoor said different awards were being made depending on a “bewildering array” of circumstances, such as support from a local MP and conduct of solicitors involved in taking claims under the government scheme for miners’ respiratory diseases and vibration white finger.
OLSCC news release [pdf] and special report [pdf] • Risks 339
Hazards news, 19 January 2008

Britain: Collapsing chair cost train driver his job
A train driver who was forced to give up work after falling off a chair at a station has been awarded nearly £80,000 compensation. ASLEF member Martin Syms, 51, from Porth, Rhondda, was sitting in a plastic chair in the mess room at Cardiff Central Station when it collapsed and he fell.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 339
Hazards news, 19 January 2008

Britain: Slip up costs bus firm £14,000
A bus driver from St Albans has been awarded £14,000 compensation after suffering a back injury in a workplace slip. Unite member Douglas Peacock was leaving the office at Metroline’s Potters Bar bus garage when he slipped on a spillage on the garage floor.
Pattinson & Brewer news release • Risks 339
Hazards news, 19 January 2008

Britain: Hand injury caused mental injuries
A Preston man who suffered severe physical and psychological injuries after his hand was trapped in a machine at work has secured a six figure payout from his former employer. The unnamed Unite member, aged 47, trapped his hand in an unguarded slitting machine and sustained a serious ‘degloving’ injury, where the skin is stripped from the hand.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 339
Hazards news, 19 January 2008

Britain: Five years to deafen a worker
A 40-year-old Lancashire man has been deafened by just five years of periodic exposure to excessive workplace noise. Mark Bulcock received £5,000 in damages after he lost his hearing because of the noisy machines at the sock manufacturer where he worked.
Irwin Mitchell news release • Risks 338
Hazards news,12 January 2008

Britain: More vibration, more payouts
A boilermaker from Port Talbot whose hands have been permanently damaged from regular use of vibrating tools has been paid compensation from four employers with the support of his trade union GMB. The man, aged 50, whose name has not been released, has been employed by four different companies during his working life and has been regularly exposed to excessive vibration from tools such as grinders, pistol drills, large drills, needle guns and impact wrenches.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 338
Hazards news,12 January 2008

Britain: Rise in Scottish teacher compo payouts
Scotland's schools and colleges spent more than £250,000 on compensation payments to teachers last year, figures from the union EIS have revealed. Claims ranged from £38,000 for distress caused by a wrongful prosecution based on false allegations to £750 for a teacher who slipped on a stairwell.
EIS news release • BBC News Online • Risks 338
Hazards news,12 January 2008

Britain: Another Corus worker gets deafness payout
A factory foreman who was exposed to excessive noise at work which left him with severe hearing difficulties has been awarded undisclosed compensation by his former employer, Corus. GMB member Martin Bourne, 70, was employed as a mechanical foreman at the Corus UK Llanwern Works in Newport, Gwent.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Britain: More time plea for compensation cases
The Scottish Law Commission is calling for people who are injured in accidents to be given more time to claim compensation. The commission recommended a five-year window of opportunity instead of the current three-year limit in place throughout the UK.
Scottish Law Commission news release [pdf] and report 207 [pdf] • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: Dawson’s driver develops diesel dermatitis
A delivery driver who developed irritant contact dermatitis when diesel splashed on his hand is to receive £1,800 compensation. Dawson Holdings plc employee William Smith, 54, was filling his work van with diesel using a hand held nozzle, when diesel blew back from the tank of the van and went directly onto his hands.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: Vibration permanently harms man’s hands
A 24-year-old crack tester from Doncaster who says he was forced out of his job after vibrating tools permanently damaged his hands has received a £30,000 compensation settlement. Unite member Dean Grice was employed by MSI Forks Ltd, a firm making forks for forklift trucks, and developed vibration white finger and carpal tunnel syndrome.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: Hub floors cement mill worker
A Unite member received compensation of £50,000 when he was struck on the leg by a coupling hub. The 53-year-old member, identified as Mr Earney, was employed as a mechanical craft worker for Blue Circle Industries plc at their factory premises in Westbury, Wiltshire.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: Payout for security officer injured in burglary
A University of Manchester security guard who suffered a broken collar bone and finger during a burglary in a campus launderette, has received a compensation payout of over £13,000. UNISON member Gerard Darlington, 48, was working the night shift when a report came in that there were noises heard in the launderette.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: Unions make unsafe employers pay
Trade union legal services continues to provide crucial support for injured workers.
Pattinson and Brewer news releases on lorry driver, home carer and panel beater settlements Thompsons Solicitors news releases on tomato slip and hernia settlements
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Britain: Six figure payout for job ending injury
A Merseyside man whose life has been seriously impaired as a result of a serious back injury at work has received a 250,000 payout from Glen Dimplex Cooking. The 61-year-old Unite member from Prescot, worked as a facilities engineer for the firm and sustained a serious back injury when he fell down a damp sloping grass verge whilst reading meters at one of the firm’s factory buildings.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Drivers get slip up payouts
A bus driver and a lorry driver, both members of the union Unite, have received compensation after slipping at work. London bus driver Stephen Jacobs received £6,000 compensation after falling on a wet floor after leaving a toilet at a terminus and Simon Omer, an HGV driver with supermarket chain Sainsbury’s received £5,250 after slipping and injuring his left knee.
Pattinson & Brewer news releases on the Jacobs and the Omer cases
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Port worker receives asbestos settlement
A retired Port of London Authority (PLA) worker has received £23,500 compensation after being diagnosed with asbestos-related pleural thickening. Unite secured the compensation for Terence O’Connell, 84, who worked for the PLA from 1937 until 1975, save for the wartime years when he served in the RAF.
Pattinson & Brewer news release
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: UK gripped by ‘no compensation’ culture
The number of workplace personal injury claims are low and falling fast, new research for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has found. The study by researchers from the University of Warwick’s School of Law has undermined the popular view that UK citizens are engaging in a spiralling ‘compensation culture’ with ever increasing claims against allegedly negligent companies and organisations.
University of Warwick news release • A survey of changes in the volume and composition of claims for damages for occupational injury or ill health resulting from the Management of Health and Safety at Work and Fire Precautions (Workplace) (Amendment) Regulations 2003, RR593, HSE, 2007 [pdf]
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Britain: Settlement For severed finger
A Kent warehouse worker has received over £4,000 compensation after losing the tip of his finger in an incident at work. Unite member Keith Deehy was working for MBL Thamesmead when as he attempted to close the roller shutter door of a vehicle it moved forward, trapping his fingers and slicing off the top of his left middle finger.
Pattinson & Brewer Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 10 November 2007

Britain: Rigger gets broken wrist payout
A ship’s rigger from Plymouth has been awarded £12,000 damages after breaking his wrist helping HMS Somerset to dock. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Devonport Royal Dockyard Ltd agreed the payment to Unite member Kevin Renyard, 44.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 10 November 2007

Britain: Union delivers knock out service
A worker knocked out by a flying crate has been awarded £9,500 compensation. Unite member Roger Loughran, 37, was employed as a sweeper/driver by Onyx. He was loading bread crates, which were left on a pavement, on to an open caged lorry when he was hit in the face by a crate thrown by his work colleague.
Pattinson & Brewer Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 10 November 2007

Britain: Six figure payout for devastating injuries
A painter and decorator has received a settlement worth up to £5m after safety failings led to an incident that left him with brain damage. The High Court in London heard how Alan Miah, 45, from Luton, was left seriously injured after he fell through scaffolding in October 2003.
BBC News Online
Hazards news, 3 November 2007

Britain: Metal firm pays for deafness
A worker who suffered serious hearing loss as a result of exposure to noise in a metal extrusion firm has received a compensation payout. GMB member Stuart Capell, aged 61, brought his claim after realising that his hearing had become impaired after working at Alcoa Extruded Products (UK) Ltd, of Banbury and received a £3,500 settlement.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 3 November 2007

Britain: Workplace visit leads to costly slip up
A Birmingham woman who injured her back and knee after slipping on vomit on the floor of a college nursery has received damages of £8,500. The woman was on maternity leave from Birmingham’s City College and was visiting her manager to finalise her return to work.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 27 October 2007

Britain: Grass cutting caused vibration injury
A council gardener has developed debilitating vibration white finger (VWF) as a result of cutting grass with strimmers and mowers. GMB member Robert Llewellyn received £3,000 compensation from Cardiff County Council.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 27 October 2007

Britain: Health workers may be due extra payouts
The British Medical Association (BMA) says an NHS work-related injury and ill-health compensation scheme has been under-paying some claimants. It is advising any member who has received compensation for an injury at work since 1972 to check they are receiving their full entitlement.
BMA news release • Guide to the NHS Industry Benefits Scheme [pdf]
Hazards news, 20 October 2007

Britain: Pleural plaques ruling “a disgrace”
Thousands of workers with an asbestos-related condition will not be able to claim compensation following a ruling by Law Lords. Union leaders and lawyers attacked the decision to end claims for pleural plaques, usually caused by exposure to asbestos.
Unite news release • Prospect news release • Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum news release • House of Lords appeal judgment, 17 October 2007
Hazards news, 20 October 2007

Britain: Payouts only ease financial misery
Construction union UCATT has secured six figure payouts on behalf of the families of two workers killed at work, but says cash is no real recompense and can only ease the financial misery. In May 2002 the two steeplejacks, Paul Wakefield and Craig Whelan, were killed in a chimney fireball at the Metal Box plant in Bolton.
UCATT news release
Hazards news, 20 October 2007

Britain: Attacked healthcare assistant gets payout
A healthcare assistant injured trying to assist a colleague who was being attacked by a patient, has received almost £5,000 in compensation. The unnamed UNISON member, aged 53, received the payout from Dorset Healthcare NHS Trust as a result of the thumb injury sustained in the incident at Kings Park Community Hospital.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 13 October 2007

Britain: Golf clubbed worker get crime payout
A council driver has received an £8,575 criminal injuries payout after being attacked with a golf club. The award made to Calderdale council worker William Roberts, a member of the union Unite, was almost seven times the amount originally offered by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA).
John Pickering and Partners news release
Hazards news, 13 October 2007

Britain: Mum wants action not compensation
The daughter and girlfriend of a steeplejack killed by a fireball as he worked demolishing a 60-metre high chimney have received £335,000 compensation in a UCATT-backed case. Father-of-one Craig Whelan – whose mother, Linda, is a founder member of Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) - was just 23 when he died while working on the chimney at Carnaud Metal Box Plc's Bolton factory in May 2002.
FACK news release
Hazards news, 13 October 2007

Britain: Worker floored by rubber door
A hospital clerical officer who was injured when a large, heavy door fell on top of her has been awarded damages of £5,350. UNISON member Amy Whitcombe, 26, was working at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend when the incident occurred.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 6 October 2007

Britain: Collapsing cab seat compo payout
London Underground is to pay damages to a train driver who was injured when his cab seat collapsed. Train drivers’ union ASLEF secured the compensation for the unnamed member.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 29 September 2007

Britain: Six figure payout for dental nurse allergy
A dental nurse who had to pack in work after developing occupational dermatitis has received a £200,000 payout. The 50-year-old UNISON member, who has not been named, worked for the Central Manchester Primary Care Trust and developed the debilitating skin condition as a result of using latex gloves between 1980 and 2004.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 29 September 2007

Australia: Work rights attack is hurting safety
There has been an alarming growth in the number of workers whose health and safety rights are at risk as a result of reforms introduced by the Australian federal government, unions have warned. National union federation ACTU says the Howard government’s poorly resourced workers’ compensation and inspection scheme, Comcare, it being pushed as a cut price, second class alternative to much more comprehensive state-based systems.
ACTU news release
Hazards news, 22 September 2007

Britain: Finger injury leads to payout
A poorly training packaging worker who suffered a serious finger injury has been awarded a £5,500 payout in a union backed case. Unite member Ian Brown, 25, suffered the injury when his finger became trapped in a machine that had no protective guard in place.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 22 September 2007

Britain: Injured jockey gets £85k compensation
Jockey Andrew Ball has won an £85,000 payout for an injury sustained when he was kicked y a horse and that put an end to his career.
Wiltshire Gazette and Herald • Hazards compensation webpages
Hazards news, 15 September 2007

Britain: Tesco pays out to injured employees
Supermarket giant Tesco has had its safety approach called into question after two workers were compensated for workplace injury. The Unite members worked at a Tesco Distribution Centre in Purfleet, Essex.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 18 August 2007

Britain: Attacked nurse gets £21,500 compensation
A staff nurse at Broadmoor Hospital has received a £21,500 payout following two assaults by a patient. Trade union UNISON secured the compensation for Lucia Johnson, after she was assaulted in December 2002 and July 2003.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 18 August 2007

Britain: Upped work rate caused clerk's strain injury
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has paid out almost £500,000 after an RAF computer clerk developed a chronic repetitive strain injury caused by an increased work rate. A total of £484,000 in compensation and legal costs was awarded following the onset of the condition in the hand of the unnamed employee.
Birmingham Post
Hazards news, 4 August 2007

Britain: Nestlé pays out for tennis elbow cases
Nestlé UK Ltd has paid compensation to four workers at the coffee making giant's site at Burton on Trent after each of them developed tennis elbow – mirroring the experiences of workers at another of the company’s plants in Brazil. Steven Davis, received £11,000, a colleague £4,000 and two other workers undisclosed sums after developing the occupational strain injury.
IUF news release
Hazards news, 28 July 2007

Britain: Miner compensation delays criticised
A Government department has been accused of delaying compensation to ex-miners whose health suffered as a result of working down pits because of “significant weaknesses” in planning the payouts. A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) also identified additional costs to the two schemes, which have so far paid out £3.6 billion to 575,000 claimants for an occupational lung disease (430,000 cases of Chronic Obstructive Airways Disease settled by 31 March) and for vibration white finger (145,000 VWF claims settled).
NAO news release • Coal Health Compensation Schemes: Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, HC 608 2006-2007, 18 July 2007, executive summary and full report [pdf]
Hazards news, 21 July 2007

Britain: Retired driver gets skin rash payout
A retired machine driver has successfully claimed compensation for an uncomfortable work-related skin rash that could easily have been prevented. James Quinn, 68, from Leeds, was employed with Mone Brothers Civil Engineering Limited from 1985 to 2004 and was required to fill up machines and this meant he came into contact with diesel, hydraulic and engine oils, along with lubricant grease on a daily basis.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 14 July 2007

Britain: Groundsman gets payout for lost limb
A Kent groundsman has secured an undisclosed compensation payout after losing a limb in an accident at work. UNISON member Roger Adams, from Dartford, Kent, who works as a groundsman for North West Kent College, was using a tractor mower to cut grass in October 2003 when the mower became blocked.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 14 July 2007

Britain: Rail firm pays for safety slip up
Chiltern Railways has been ordered to pay compensation of £10,000 to PCS member Richard Wilmot after he broke his right shoulder on the station concourse as he approached the ticket barrier at Marylebone station. He slipped on a wet floor – the company had not repaired a leaking roof.
Thompsons Solicitors news releases on the Wilmot case
Hazards news, 7 July 2007

Britain: Firm fails in bid to block injury payout
The firm operating the Newcastle metro system has failed in a bid to block an injury payout to metro train driver. An appeal by transport executive organisation NEXUS at Newcastle Upon Tyne Law Courts was rejected, and the company must now pay the £7,300 damages it owes the metro train driver, who was injured following the failure of an overhead line.
Thompsons Solicitors news releases on the Richardson case
Hazards news, 7 July 2007

Britain: Modern miner gets deafness payout
A miner and GMB member whose hearing was severely damaged working for just 11 years in modern coal mines has received a £4,500 payout. UK Coal Ltd is to pay the damages to former employee David Burns, 49.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 23 June 2007

Britain: Harassed worker secures settlement
A building attendant who suffered from bullying and harassment at work has been awarded damages. Shaun Kernon, 38, will receive the undisclosed out-of-court settlement from his employer, Gateshead Council.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 23 June 2007

Britain: Poor training led to disfiguring injuries
A Rotherham man has been awarded £15,000 in an out-of-court settlement after suffering a serious workplace injury to his face which has resulted in permanent disfigurement. Sean Blanchard, 35, a married father of two wo had been employed by Avery Berkel based in Sheffield for 16 years, had not been properly trained for the job.
Irwin Mitchell solicitors news release • Hazards compensation news and resources
Hazards news , 16 June 2007

Britain: Jarvis pays for knee injury
Construction firm Jarvis is to pay £8,000 damages to a rail worker injured as a result of safety breaches. RMT member Eric Barker tripped over a brake handle at a York depot in October 2004, sustaining knee injuries that required several weeks off work.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news , 16 June 2007

Britain: Powertrain workers in legal victory
More than 20 former Powertrain workers struck down by work-related breathing difficulties have won the fight to lodge industrial disease benefit claims. The workers, members of the TGWU section of Unite, triumphed in a long-running battle to allow sufferers of extrinsic allergic alveolitis - EAA, also known as hypersensitivity pneumonitis - to lodge disability claims.
Birmingham Mail • Hazards compensation webpage
Hazards news, 9 June 2007

Britain: Scarred worker gets compensation payout
A Royal Mail worker who suffered multiple injuries and scarring in a loading bay fall has received a £15,000 compensation payout. Michael Cleary, 48, a member of Unite’s Amicus section, was standing on a scissor lift at Cardiff Mail Centre when he slipped into a gap between the bridge flap and a TNT lorry, sustaining injuries to his knee, back, chest and groin.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Hazards compensation webpage
Hazards news, 9 June 2007

Britain: Redundant worker receives ligament support
A GMB member has secured substantial compensation in a case settled on the court steps. The damages were agreed following an incident at work which left Mark Stewart with a ruptured knee ligament; the injury affected his future working capacity and he was made redundant by the firm on 27 May.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 2 June 2007

Britain: Union wins hearing damage payout
A worker from Goole, Humberside, who is suffering two debilitating health problems caused by exposure to excessive noise at work has received a £4,000 compensation settlement. Malcolm Goddard, 60, a member of Unite’s Amicus section and former Corus employee, suffers from severe occupational deafness and tinnitus, a ringing in the ears.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 12 May 2007

Britain: Payout for artist after slip in pigeon poop
A London artist has secured £20,000 compensation following injuries sustained when she fell on wet pigeon excrement whilst walking under a railway bridge in Battersea in May 2003. Lois Matcham, aged 64, secured the damages with the support of her union UNISON, despite the injury not being work-related and her being a retired member.
Risks 301, 7 April 2007

Canada: Firefighter won final cancer battle
A Toronto fire captain who died of work-related colon cancer this month was laid to rest last week with full honours. Gary Allen Wilson, 48, was found to have died in the line of duty after the Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) declared his cancer to be related to the chemicals and smoke he was exposed to on the job.
Risks 300, 31 March 2007 • Hazards work cancer webpages

Australia: ABC breast cancer victims in compo bid
Eight of the 13 women who developed breast cancer in the last 11 years while working at the ABC's Toowong studios, in Brisbane, Australia, have filed workers' compensation claims.
Risks 300, 31 March 2007 • Hazards work cancer webpages

Britain: Union legal protection pays off
Unions continue to offer the best free legal support around, representing thousands of members suffering as a result of poor workplace health and safety standards.
Risks 300, 31 March 2007

Britain: Family’s payout fight after shredder death
The family of a recycling plant foreman who died when he was pulled through a paper shredder in front of his teenage son have launched a High Court battle for more than £400,000 compensation. Father-of-three Kevin Arnup, 36, was working alongside his son Jason at the MW White Ltd recycling plant in Station Road, Ketteringham, near Norwich.
Risks 299, 24 March 2007

Britain: Payouts for workers injured in work falls
Two workers injured in workplace falls have received substantial compensation payouts.
Risks 299, 24 March 2007

Britain: Car mechanic gets asbestos payout
A car mechanic has been awarded £300,000 compensation from former employers after he contracted the asbestos cancer mesothelioma as a result of working on cars with asbestos brake and clutch pads. Jonathan Hutchinson, 50, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2003, after working as a garage mechanic for a range of firms in the 1970s and 1980s and stripped out brake pads which contained asbestos dust.
Risks 298, 17 March 2007 • Action Mesothelioma • Hazards asbestos webpages

Britain: Soap firm settles for scaly skin
Toiletries giant PZ Cussons has paid out £10,000 to a former employee who developed occupational dermatitis. The 35-year-old TGWU member from Nottingham was required to wear latex gloves to protect his hands from workplace chemicals and went on to develop latex allergy.
Risks 298, 17 March 2007 • Hazards work and health webpages

Britain: Health service slip leads to payout
A nursing auxiliary who suffered injury to her back after falling down a steep and slippery slope at work has been awarded compensation by her employer, the Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Trust. UNISON member Jennifer Allso, 55, of Cowes on the Isle of Wight, sustained the injury in April 2005.
Risks 298, 17 March 2007

Britain: Vibrating injury victim secures compensation
A production worker has secured £7,000 compensation after developing debilitating hand and arm conditions caused by exposure to vibrating tools. The union GMB has secured the payout from two former employers of John Coggon, 52, who was diagnosed with vibration white finger (VWF) and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in September 2005 following his employment with National Power from 1977 to 1992 and then Newells from 1992 to 2002.
Risks 298, 17 March 2007 • Hazards work and health webpages

Britain: Widow gets £355,000 asbestos payout
The widow of a former Vickers employee who died from mesothelioma has received a £355,000 payout. Jean Allen, 69, secured the compensation following the death of her husband Keith from the asbestos-related cancer in 2004.
Risks 297, 10 March 2007

Britain: Most reportable work accidents not reported
New research for the Health and Safety Executive suggests most legally-reportable workplace accidents, including major injuries, are not being reported. Researchers from the University of Liverpool interviewed 581 patients at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital who had suffered reportable work-related injuries and found only 30 per cent of reportable accidents to employees were in fact reported.
Risks 296, 3 March 2007 • work and health webpages

Britain: Payout for road work vibration injuries
A road worker from Derby has secured £42,000 compensation for injuries caused by exposure to vibrating tools. The UNISON member secured the compensation from Derbyshire County Council after developing vibration white finger (VWF) and carpal tunnel syndrome, both potentially disabling occupational diseases.
Risks 294, 17 February 2007

Britain: Six figure payout for man infected by sick parrot
A man left debilitated after catching a disease from a parrot at work has received a £700,000 out-of-court settlement. Glyn Atherton, 35, was working at Focus Do It All in Nottingham in March 2000 when he caught psittacosis, an occupational lung disease similar to pneumonia, from a parrot belonging to Petworld, a pet store renting space on the premises.
Risks 293, 10 February 2007

Britain: Huge payout for Corus blast survivor
An Amicus member who suffered 43 per cent burns in a steel blast furnace explosion which killed three other workers has received a “huge” six-figure payout. Peter Clement, 54, was one of 12 workers injured in the blast at the Port Talbot steelworks in November 2001.
Risks 293, 10 February 2007 • More from Hazards on Corus safety

Britain: Six figure payout in disability discrimination case
A council worker who was sacked by fax while on sick leave has received a reported £130,000 in compensation in an out-of-court settlement. Elizabeth McDonald had claimed disability discrimination and unfair dismissal against Walsall Council, but settled her case when the offer was made during tribunal proceedings.
Risks 292, 3 February 2007

Britain: NHS to get work accident payback
The NHS could claim back over £150m a year for treating employees injured at work, the government has said. The money would be recovered from insurance companies in cases where personal injury compensation has been paid to workers.
Risks 292, 3 February 2007

Britain: Work injury and disease benefits to be reviewed
The TUC has said an official review of the occupational injury and disease benefits system must improve and extend its scope. The review of the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) scheme “is part of the government’s commitment to help more people move off benefits and back into work,” says DWP.
Risks 292, 3 February 2007

Britain: Real concern over school safety, union warns
Scotland’s schools and colleges are not doing enough to make schools safer, teaching union the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) has warned. The union’s figures show that last year, injuries to teachers and lecturers resulting from accidents or assaults during working hours led to a compensation and legal bill of around a quarter of a million pounds.
Risks 289, 13 January 2007

Britain: Kitchen assistant awarded £60,000 after fall
A kitchen assistant who fell after being distracted by a faulty hot drinks machine has been awarded more than £60,000 in compensation. Helen Given, 61, broke her hip and right wrist in the fall, spent 10 weeks in hospital and was bed-ridden for six months.
Risks 288, 23 December 2006

Britain: Six figure payout after injury travelling home
An electrical worker who suffered career-ending injuries on a ferry when travelling home after working away has been awarded £140,000. Amicus member George Shimmans, an electrical craftsman from Denbighshire, received the payout after being medically retired as a result of back injuries sustained on the Condor Ferries’ craft.
Risks 288, 23 December 2006

Australia: Self-insurance for firms to hurt workers
A new Australian government move encouraging big businesses to self-insure for workers’ compensation could mean substantially reduced payouts for injured workers and could significantly lower the national standard of workplace health and safety, union federation ACTU has warned. It said the federal government is supporting moves by large businesses to withdraw from state-based schemes linked to enforcement, and instead sign up as self-insurers under the national Comcare scheme.
Risks 287, 16 December 2006

Britain: Insurance firms aim to add insult to injury
New research has shown that four out of five personal injury victims don't trust insurers to compensate them fairly without legal representation and over three quarters are not confident of bringing a claim themselves. The Law Society says it research shows an insurance industry proposal to increase the current limit of £1,000 for personal injury cases on the small claims track, where people are expected to represent themselves, will effectively leave thousands of victims unable to pursue justified claims, making insurance companies the big winners.
Risks 287, 16 December 2006

Britain: New warning on insurers
Injured people should not be pursued and pressured by third party insurers who offer them upfront cash to “deal direct,” the president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has warned. Unions have also raised concerns about their members, who are entitled to union legal cover for workplace and frequently out of work accidents, getting poor treatment at the hand of no-win/no fee outfits.
Risks 285, 2 December 2006

Britain: Firefighter sees off compensation threat
An injured Surrey firefighter has defeated a Court of Appeal challenge which could have overturned his compensation payout. Surrey Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), which had argued John Pennington “should not have attempted to save a driver’s life”, lost its appeal which would have stripped the firefighter of £3,115.
Risks 284, 25 November 2006

Britain: Uninsured boss fined £11,500 after teen injury
A company owner who did not have the legally required injury insurance has been told to pay up £11,500 in fines, costs and compensation after a teenage mechanic was injured. Andrew Richardson was found guilty of not having Employers Liability Compulsory Insurance after 17-year-old mechanic Yana Jones, who he paid £3 an hour, suffered injuries to her left leg resulting in a hospital stay and permanent scarring.
Risks 284, 25 November 2006

Britain: Work injury forces octagenarian’s retirement
A Sheffield octogenarian has had to give up work after sustaining a serious workplace injury. John Moffatt, 80, received a £5,000 out-of-court settlement from his former employer after suffering the shoulder injury at work in January 2005.
Risks 283, 18 November 2006

Britain: Union cuts traffic accident deal for teenage butcher
A teenage TGWU member from Devon has secured £4,000 in compensation after being hit by a car as he used a zebra crossing. Butcher James Broom, 19, was injured in August 2004 when a driver failed to give way at the crossing.
Risks 283, 18 November 2006

Britain: Poisonous package leads to payout
A TGWU member who was taken ill after being exposed to toxic fumes at work is to receive £1,200 compensation. Tony Green from Solihull was employed as a stock controller by Yuasa of Birmingham, one of the world’s largest manufacturers and suppliers of valve regulated lead-acid batteries.
Risks 283, 18 November 2006

Britain: Paralysed refuse worker, 21, gets £3.75m payout
A 21-year-old refuse collection worker has been awarded £3.75m compensation after an accident which left him paralysed. Birmingham High Court heard Richard Taylor was in a refuse lorry which overturned last year.
Risks 282, 11 November 2006

Britain: Granddaughter gets asbestos cancer
A 45-year-old woman dying as a result of exposure to asbestos from her grandfather’s work clothing has been awarded a £145,000 payout. Michelle Campbell said she loved sitting on granddad Charles Frost’s knee and enjoying a chat when he popped in to visit on his way home from his job at Portsmouth dockyards.
Risks 282, 11 November 2006

Britain: Welder receives £100,000 in injured hand case
A welder who suffered an horrific hand injury leading to the amputation of a finger has received a £100,000 payout. Amicus member Donald Ford received the out-of-court settlement from Langley Holdings plc after suffering a serious injury to his left hand in December 2003.
Risks 282, 11 November 2006

Britain: Ladder fall victim lands £90,000 payout
A GMB member who suffered a serious wrist injury in a workplace fall has received £90,000 compensation. Ian Mitchell suffered “terrible injuries” in a fall from a ladder caused by dangerously uneven flooring.
Risks 282, 11 November 2006

Britain: Vibration plus repetition equals compensation minus job
A worker who suffered career-ending ill-health caused by exposure to vibration and repetitive work has received a £20,000 compensation payout. Amicus member Michael Jones, 63, developed vibration white finger (VWF) then carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) while working at a GE Engine Aircraft Services plant near Caerphilly, and received compensation for both.
Risks 281, 4 November 2006

Britain: Student job leads to flattened thumbs
A Sheffield student has had both his thumbs crushed during a part-time construction job. Neil Goodchild, 22, received an out-of-court settlement of £6,250 after sustaining severe crushing injuries to both his thumbs leaving him with residual numbness.
Risks, 271, 26 August 2006

Britain: Six figure settlement after rail worker’s death
The family of a rail worker killed by a train near Purley Oaks station have received £160,000 compensation. Nurani Kassim, 36, was part of a maintenance team checking rails for defects just months after the Hatfield rail disaster in October 2000.
Risks 264, 8 July 2006

Britain: White finger sufferer gets four digit payout
A Leeds man has been awarded a £7,500 compensation payout after he contracted the industrial disease vibration white finger (VWF). Barry Wallis, 47, was awarded the sum following a claim against Insituform Technologies Ltd, based in Wakefield.
Risks 261, 17 June 2006

Britain: £600,000 for man crushed by truck
An adventure guide left paraplegic after a trucked toppled on him is to receive £600,000 compensation. Brian Thomson, 38, from East Lothian, sued his former employer, Exodus Travel, for failing to provide adequate equipment.
Risks 261, 17 June 2006

Britain: Broken leg payout after 8 foot fall
An Amicus member has been awarded an £77,178 payout after suffering a broken leg in a fall from a ladder. Alan Arthur, a moulding machine operator, fractured his shin bone when he fell from an 8ft ladder at Lectroheat Industrial Heating Limited's plant in Bedwas in March, 2004.
Risks 261, 17 June 2006

Britain: Lords slash asbestos payouts
Thousands of widows will not receive full compensation for their husbands' deaths from asbestos-related cancer, Law Lords have ruled. The 3 May majority decision will mean there will be a compensation limit in cases involving several employers, none of whom can be blamed categorically for the onset of the fatal illness.
Risks 255, 6 May 2006 • Barker (Respondent) v. Corus (UK) plc (Appellants) (formerly Barker (Respondent) v. Saint Gobain Pipelines plc (Appellants)) Murray (widow and executrix of the estate of John Lawrence Murray (deceased)) (Respondent) v. British Shipbuilders (Hydrodynamics) Limited (Appellants) and others and others (Appellants) Patterson (son and executor of the estate of J Patterson (deceased)) (Respondent) v. Smiths Dock Limited (Appellants) and others (Conjoined Appeals. Full House of Lords judgment

Britain: High pice paid for poor school conditions
Figures released at teaching union NASUWT’s conference show the union won a record £7.6m compensation last year in personal injury payouts and employment tribunal awards. Over £1.8m was awarded to members in personal injury claims last year.
Risks 253, 22 April 2006

Britain: Gruesome jail death inquiry call
A solicitor has called for a public inquiry into events surrounding a Hannibal Lecter-style killing of a prisoner by his cellmate. The call came after six warders, members of the prison officers’ union POA, were awarded over £1m in compensation for witnessing the aftermath of the attack.
Risks 249, 25 March 2006

Britain: TUC warning on compensation reforms
The TUC is urging the government not to undermine the existing personal injury compensation scheme. A new TUC report, 'Personal injury claims: Proposals for change', says that the current system is working well by and large and says that recent criticisms have been from those attempting to reduce the ability of injured or ill workers to claim against negligent employers.
Risks 249, 25 March 2006

Britain: Worker gets £33,750 for bouncy castle injury
A youth centre worker accused by his employer of faking a back injury has been awarded £33,000 in compensation in a union-backed case. UNISON member Dean Gibbon, 51, received the payout from Durham County Council after being injured putting away a deflated bouncy castle.
Risks 246, 4 March 2006

Britain: No compensation for lost leg
A Swansea man who lost a leg in a forklift accident when still in his teens has lost his battle for compensation. John Paul Jones was just 19 when in July 2000 his leg was crushed in an accident after he collected pallets in the factory yard.
Risks 245, 25 February 2006

Britain: £1m payout after 11-storey fall
A lift engineer who fell 150ft down a lift shaft at London's Canary Wharf has been awarded almost £1m in compensation. Solicitors for Gary Smith, 40, said he had undergone more than 20 operations since the accident in 2001 yet he was still videoed by Zurich, insurer for lift firm Kone, and was accused of being a “malingerer”.
Risks 244, 18 February 2006

Britain: Payout after faulty seat causes permanent injury
A Sheffield man has been awarded £47,000 in an out-of-court settlement with his former employer after injuring his back at work and sustaining a permanent disability. Robert Hopkinson, 45, damaged his spine in January 2002 whilst working as a driver for waste disposal company Onyx UK.
Risks 244, 18 February 2006

Britain: Injured yes, compensated no
A labourer engulfed by an explosion during slum clearance work in Liverpool has left the Appeal Court empty-handed after failing for the second time to secure a damages payout from his former employers. James William Brown, 41, was part of a gang clearing derelict council houses on 6 November 2003, when an exploding object in a small fire lit on the site left him with horrific injuries to his face and eyes.
Risks 244, 18 February 2006

Britain: Six figure payout for teacher after death threat
A teacher who quit her job at a Birmingham special school after being threatened by a thug has won a £330,000 payout from Birmingham city council. Anna Mongey, who was 43 at the time of the attack in 2001, received the out-of-court settlement after the intruder confronted her at Lindsworth Special School.
Risks 243, 11 February 2006

Britain: Northern Electric pays for ladder fall
A company that failed to provide a safety aid or required safety training has agreed to a compensation settlement after a worker was injured. Amicus member Kevin Noble, 52, received the undisclosed sum from Northern Electric Plc.
Risks 243, 11 February 2006

Britain: Injured TV freelance gets injury payout
A freelance location manager who broke a knee cap and elbow after safety warnings were ignored on the set of a TV drama has been awarded compensation. Chris Hordley, a member of the TV and theatre union BECTU, was working on David Jason's directing debut, ‘The Quest’.
Risks 243, 11 February 2006

Britain: Amicus wins compensation for sacked print worker
A print worker targeted for redundancy after winning compensation for a disabling strain injury has received a £45,000 payout for unfair dismissal.
Risks 242, 4 February 2006

Britain: Company pays out £75,000 for work asthma
A former factory worker struck down by asthma caused by exposure to workplace chemicals has been awarded £75,000 in damages. David Simms began working for Wolverhampton-based Schenectady Europe Ltd as a teenager and remained with them for 15 years until 2003, when the company relocated to France.
Risks 240, 21 January 2006

USA: Court upholds welder’s $1m Parkinson’s award
A US court as upheld a US$1m (£580,000) compensation award to a welder who developed Parkinson’s disease he believes was caused by exposure to manganese in welding fumes. Defendants in the case included UK company BOC Group, which described the verdict as “an aberration”.
Risks 238, 7 January 2006

Britain: Firm gets five digit fine for thumb injury
SmithKline Beecham plc has been fined £15,000 at East Berkshire Magistrates Court after a worker's thumb was partially severed by machinery. Parent company GlaxoSmithKline reported a before tax profit of £6.1 billion in 2004.
Risks 238, 7 January 2006

Britain: Union tots up schools compensation
More than £180,000 has been paid out to education workers in Scotland who have been victims of attacks or industrial accidents, Scottish teaching union EIS has revealed. Legal costs took the total bill for local authorities and educational establishments to almost £250,000 in 2005.
Risks 238, 7 January 2006

Britain: Amicus secures huge payouts for injured workers
A foundry worker who lost his right arm at work in 1985 is now facing amputation of his left arm as a result of a second industrial injury at the same firm. His union Amicus has secured a £1,450,000 compensation settlement. In a second case settled by the union, a Nissan employee, 46-year-old Mike Gregg, was awarded an out-of-court settlement of £85,000 as a result of a neck injury sustained at work.
Risks 238, 7 January 2006

Britain: Lawyers and insurers clash on compensation
Insurance industry proposals to speed up and reform the personal injury system could result in more profits for insurers and lower payouts for claimants, lawyers have warned.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Britain: Compensation for minor injuries nurse
A nurse at Newquay's minor injuries unit has been awarded compensation after slipping on a wet floor and breaking her knee. Alison Romback, who was working at the unit in June 2005 when the accident happened, received an undisclosed sum.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Britain: Committee recommendations would hurt claimants
The TUC is warning that the recommendations of a top Commons committee would have a damaging impact on workplace compensation claimants and on prevention.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Britain: TUC Compensation Bill briefing
The TUC has published an online briefing on the government’s planned Compensation Bill, which seeks to restrict the activities and claims farmers and proposes weakening rules on negligence.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Britain: Seven figure payouts for injured workers
Two workers who sustained devastating injuries in workplace incidents have been awarded seven figure payouts at the High Court.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Britain: Teachers secure payouts after violent attacks
A teacher who was hit on the head when a child from another school hurled a brick has been awarded a £130,000 payout after a five year fight by her union NASUWT. The unnamed former head of religious education was left unable to work and still has blackouts.
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

Britain: Safety call after teacher payouts
Teachers' union NASUWT is calling for a review of health and safety rules in schools after winning hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation for members injured or made ill at work.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

Britain: Airport masseuse with RSI awarded £109,000
A masseuse who worked in Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class lounge at Heathrow has been awarded £109,000 in damages after developing repetitive strain injury. Elizabeth King, 28, first developed problems in the lead-up to Christmas 2000 during an increase in passengers and staff shortages.
Risks 230, 29 October 2005

Britain: Injured shipyard worker in payout battle
A welder who has been left brain-damaged after an accident at a Clyde shipyard is still awaiting compensation 10 years after receiving the horrific injuries at work. Arthur Thomson and wife Jean are angry they have received no compensation, despite the once fit and active man's life being ruined.
Risks 223, 10 September 2005

Britain: Six figure payout for wood dust disease
An arts and crafts teacher has been awarded nearly £150,000 compensation after being forced into early retirement by a chronic wood dust related occupational disease. The 52-year-old teacher suffered nasal obstruction, headaches, nasal discharge and the eventual diagnosis of rhinosinusitis.
Risks 219, 13 August 2005

Britain: Injured worker is awarded £250,000
A factory worker whose arm was mangled in an accident plans to use his damages of £250,000 to escape his boring job. A court heard injuries to plastic injection moulding engineer Adrian Stewart's hand and wrist left him unable to do manual work.
Risks 218, 6 August 2005

Britain: Compensation for nurse after brutal attack
A nurse who was brutally attacked three years before her colleague was killed in a similar assault on the same ward, has been awarded compensation from her bosses. Corinne Clarke was working alone in 2000 on Springfield Hospital's John Meyer ward - notorious as the scene of fellow nurse Eshan Chattun's violent death in 2003 - when she was attacked from behind.
Risks 218, 6 August 2005

Britain: Drivers get laptop injury payouts
Transco drivers who suffered back injuries as a result of using the ill-positioned laptops fitted in their vans have received compensation payouts. The GMB members took claims against the company, which had refused to admit it was responsible.
Risks 218, 6 August 2005

USA: Worker gets $3 million for “popcorn lung”
A former popcorn plant worker in the US has been awarded nearly $3 million (£1.7m) after claiming he suffered severe lung damage from a harmful chemical used to make butter flavouring. Current and former workers at the Jasper Popcorn Co. are suffering from bronchiolitis obliterans, a rare lung disease which can require a lung transplant.
Risks 217, 30 July 2005

Britain: Road accident victim gets £390,000 payout
A UNISON member who was seriously injured in a car smash on his journey home from work has received a £390,000 payout.
Risks 217, 30 July 2005

Britain: TUC demolishes 'compensation culture' myths
The UK is not in the grips of a US-style compensation culture, nine out of every 10 workers injured or made ill by their jobs never receive a penny, and the best way for employers to ensure they stay out of court and keep costs down is to make their workplaces safer, according to a new TUC report.
Risks 217, 30 July 2005

Britain: Sick miners are dying before receiving payouts
Miners are dying before receiving compensation for serious industrial health problems, an MP has said.
Risks * Number 216 * 23 July 2005

Britain: £450,000 asthma payouts for Jus-Rol workers
A union asthma compensation case has led to a series of large settlements for workers at a Tweedmouth factory whose health suffered because of exposure to flour dust.
Risks * Number 216 * 23 July 2005

Britain: Tesco fined after worker loses finger
Supermarket chain Tesco has been ordered to pay £50,000 after a court heard of a “culture of carelessness” led to a worker losing a finger at its Norwich store.
Risks 213, 2 July 2005

Britain: £1m damages for injured window cleaner
A window cleaner who suffered devastating injuries when he fell from an unguarded flat roof, has been awarded more than £1 million compensation at London's High Court.
Risks 212, 25 June 2005

Britain: Campaigners fight for medical exam centres
A massive cutback in the number of medical examination centres where people are assessed for industrial injuries benefits is being opposed by union and welfare rights campaigners. The closures, which are the result of government outsourcing of the centres to a private company, are scheduled to take place by 31 August 2005.
Risks 211, 18 June 2005

Britain: Steel firm pays £3,300 for a finger
A Sittingbourne steel company has been fined £3,300 after a worker lost a finger in a machine that had been faulty for six years. Milton Pipes Ltd pleaded guilty at Sittingbourne Magistrates' Court, Kent to breaches of health and safety legislation.
Risks 207, 21 May 2005

Britain: TUC shatters compensation culture myth
Fewer than one in 10 people made ill or injured by their work ever receive any compensation from the state or from their employers, reveals a new report from the TUC.
Risks 207, 21 May 2005

New Zealand: Company doc censured for denying health problem
A doctor involved in an employer “partnership programme” that assesses New Zealand occupational disease victims for compensation has been found guilty of professional misconduct for refusing to accept a hospital diagnosis of a “classic” work-related disease.
Risks 206, 14 May 2005

Britain: Cabin crew call on airlines to clear the air
Cabin crew union TGWU has called on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to end the airline industry’s silence about contaminated aircraft air. The union is calling on the HSE to require British registered aircraft are fitted with “bleed air filtration systems” so that crews and passengers can be protected from contaminated air.
Risks 203, 7 May 2005

Britain: Asbestos cancer kills 32-year-old
A man thought to be one of the youngest person in the UK to contract asbestos-related cancer has died. Barry Welch, a 32-year-old father of three from Leicester who has never worked with asbestos, was diagnosed with mesothelioma last year – thought to be caused by childhood exposure to the fibre on his stepfather’s overalls.
Risks 203, 7 May 2005

Britain: Palace widow gets asbestos payout
The widow of a man who died after exposure to asbestos at Buckingham Palace has been awarded nearly £180,000 in compensation by the High Court. Mary Costello's husband John died aged 58 in September 2001 of mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer.
Risks 203, 7 May 2005

Britain: No compensation for work-related suicide
The wife of a worker who killed himself because he couldn’t bear the health effects of a workplace accident has failed in a bid to get compensation for his death. Thomas Corr was aged 31 when he severed most of his right ear at the Luton IBC car factory while working on the production line, an injury which lead to stress and depression and his eventual suicide.
Risks 203, 7 May 2005 • Hazards “worked to death” webpages

USA: $15 million payout for popcorn lung
A US jury has awarded a $15 million (£8m) settlement to a former Jasper Popcorn Co. plant maintenance worker and his wife in their lawsuit against the makers of a butter flavouring used at the plant. It follows a $20 million payout to another worker from the plant a year ago.
Risks 200, 2 April 2005

Britain: TGWU membership pays off
The Transport and General Workers' Union secured over £72 million in accident and injury compensation last year for individual members. It says this takes the total compensation settlements won since the union was founded to over £1.65 billion.
Risks 200, 2 April 2005

Britain: Insurers want insurance from work disease cost
Britain's biggest insurers are in talks with the government over plans to establish a state-backed fund to pick up the bill for claims from the next generation of industrial diseases.
Risks 200, 2 April 2005

Britain: Insurers in "shameless" appeal in asbestos case
Aviva and Zurich Insurance are to appeal against a legal decision which found insurance firms are liable to pay compensation for pleural plaques caused by exposure to asbestos. Colin Ettinger, the president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, called the legal challenge "nothing but a shameless and greedy attempt by insurers to save yet more money at the expense of injured people."
Risks 199, 19 March 2005

Britain: Six figure payout for life-ruining fall
Teesside dad Robert Cowley, who suffered years of agony and depression after falling from a work ladder, has won a six-figure settlement for his injuries after refusing an original offer of just £18,000. His employer Irvine Whitlock originally offered a compensation payment of £18,000, although this was increased to £125,000 in January, with a final, higher but undisclosed settlement reached last month.
Risks 198, 12 March 2005

Britain: Worker loses finger, wins £45,000
A Sheffield man has been paid £45,000 compensation by his High Speed and Carbide Ltd after an accident at work chopped his index finger from his dominant left hand.
Risks 198, 12 March 2005

USA/Australia: Hardie's compensation dealings span continents
Australian asbestos exporter James Hardie is lobbying the US Congress for cut-price "no fault" legislation in a bid to limit its US compensation liabilities. The building products company has hired Washington influence peddling firm Shea and Gardner to push its powerful Republican contacts to back legislation establishing a capped $140 billion (£73bn) scheme to eliminate asbestos lawsuits.
Risks 197, 5 March 2005

Britain: Nurse gets £144,000 latex allergy payout
A nurse at Bolton Royal Hospital has received £144,000 in compensation after her allergy to latex gloves went untreated for years. Despite the allergy developing over nearly 10 years and regular visits to Bolton Royal Hospital's occupational health service, at no time did Bernadette Chouchene's employer provide her with alternative gloves.
Risks 197, 5 March 2005

Britain: Asbestos dust kills daughter
A widower whose wife died of asbestos disease caused by her exposure as a little girl has received a £107,500 compensation payout. When Sylvie Tapley was a child she used to sit on her father's knee when he returned from the asbestos factory where he worked.
Risks 197, 5 March 2005

Australia: Compensation body profits should benefit workers
The body providing workers' compensation payouts in the Australian state of Victoria has made a massive profit this year - and this money should be ploughed back into improving working conditions, say unions. Trades Hall secretary Leigh Hubbard said the news "proved that an injured workers' compensation system that delivers access to common law and decent permanent injury benefits and provides employers with the second lowest premiums in Australia can be sustainable."
Risks 197, 5 March 2005

USA: It's an asbestos disease crisis, stupid
The US government is trying to redfine America's asbestos disease crisis as a litigation crisis, a top US commentator has charged. Paul Brodeur, a staff writer at the New Yorker for many years, says: "Suffice it to say that Bush's attempt to convince us that this public health crisis should be viewed as a litigation crisis is a cruel hoax."
Risks 196, 26 February 2005

Britain: Asbestos ruling supports pleural plaques payouts
A move by insurers to stop paying out to people diagnosed with a condition showing asbestos exposure has failed. A High Court judge ruled thousands of people with pleural plaques - scarring on the lung lining - were still entitled to compensation.
Risks 195, 19 February 2005

Britain: Cautious welcome for incapacity benefit proposals
The TUC has given a cautious welcome to the government's "sensible" incapacity benefit proposals, announced this week in the Department of Work and Pensions' five year plan.
Risks 193, 5 February 2005

Global: Hardie's world of asbestos victims
James Hardie Industries is under pressure to extend its $1.5 billion (£0.62bn) Australian compensation deal to thousands of asbestos victims in Asia and the Pacific.
Risks 193, 5 February 2005

Britain: Firing on health grounds an expensive mistake
Employers who fire workers on health grounds are being hit by large penalties at employment tribunals.
Risks 192, 29 January 2005

Britain: Widower loses damages for wife's asbestos death
A former shipyard worker whose wife died from an asbestos cancer has been stripped of his £82,000 compensation payout. James Maguire's wife Teresa, 67, contracted mesothelioma through secondary exposure to asbestos dust on his work clothes.
Risks 192, 29 January 2005 • Hazards asbestos webpages

Britain: Worker gets £50,000 for lost thumb
A Sheffield steelworker has been awarded £50,000 compensation after his thumb was sliced off in a razor-blade making machine.
Risks 191, 22 January 2005