Accident at work

jeff_chandler

I work as a plasterer for a large company and was asigned to plaster patch a house on a contracted site. In the house were two decorators who needed the plastering doing quickly. When I had finished I came out of the room and could not see the floor, the decorators had removed the paper from the hall stairs and landing, I made my way to the stairs but fell to the bottom damaging my cartilage. I had an operation but the cartilage was badly damaged and they removed a large chunk. Im left with bad athritis and can hardly walk proper. I have been absent from work for six months on full basic pay which is without any bonuses or addidtions. The basic is £400 per week. Im now on half basic pay. I got a solicitor to sue the decorating company but they were employed by my company as sub contractors. The solicitor told me I may have difficulty claiming.
I aint heard anything else from them so I decided to go to the DSS to see if I could claim for prescriptions etc as this is costing a fortune. Apparently, I cannot claim a penny because they say I earning more than the limit for benefits.
The injuries I sustained in the accident has prevented me from doing normal duties which will eventualy cost me my employment at my company. I have been told by both surgeon and Dr not to return to plastering. What angers me is some people I know also work but claim free prescriptions and are earning more than me? how come.

Kind regards Jeff chandler

rosered1963

Hi - If you were an employee and not a self-employed sub contractor, have you loooked into Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit? - you have to be a certain percentage disabled before they pay you anything these days, but its worth getting it registered as an industrial accident at least - see this link for more info http://www.dwp.gov.uk/advisers/db1/industrial_accidents.asp Don't be put off by the word "disabled". When I was involved in this field, miners used to get a percentage for pit scars (blue scars). Percentages all add up for different industrial accidents/industrial diseases in your life if you were to have another incident in the future, God forbid. I hope this helps you.

Mummy_to_Lily

Sorry to hear about your situation....

With the info you have supplied it sounds to me like you should seek advice from another solicitor as you should be able to make a claim for personal injury from your employer (with your employer's insurance looking to make a possible subsequent claim from the decorators).

There is however a time limit of 3 years from the date of accident to make a claim (which i'm guessing you are within this timeframe?).

HTH

jeff_chandler

Thank you for the replies.
I am in the process of hiring a solicitor who just after six months has got in touch telling me the decorating company are not admitting liability as they were employed by my company as sub contractors. The solicitor asked me if I wanted to make a claim against my own company, I was reluctant as I will probably have to rely on them to find me a lighter dutied job. Considering the pain and suffering I have gone through I decided to make a claim. As it stands, I probably will have to wait another six months of hardship waiting to see if I can claim. I have lost all my pleasures, I cannot attend to see my favorite team as this involves walking, I cannot play golf anymore which hurts me so bad, plus my lifestyle as I knew it has virtualy dissapeared as a result. My wife has been very tolerant but is getting more annoyed because I cannot do the things we used to, like walking, going on holidays, driving, only recently we had to sell the caravan because the site fees for 2009 were due and would have been pointless as getting there involves a long drive.
As a result of this accident I have become very depressed and will become more as we are used to having money available. Do I change solicitor or do I wait, or am I becoming more anxious as time goes by.

Jeff Chandler

Mummy_to_Lily

Hi Jeff

It sounds to me as if your current solicitor isn't interested - you could approach a 'no win no fee' solicitor who specialises in personal injury claims.

You are legally entitled to make a claim from your employer and it's sounds as though your injury is pretty serious and your employer would be in a very difficult position if they let you go because of your injury and claim.

You have to think of the 'here and now'. Change solicitor if you are not happy with the service they are providing you. However, from what you say the solicitor doesn't seem very proactive.

If the area you were working in was not a construction site, regulation 12 of the workplace (health, safety and welfare) regulations places an obligation on your employer to ensure as far as reasonably practicable that every floor in the workplace and the surface of every traffic route must be suitable for the purpose it is being used and in particular it must have no hole or slope or be uneven or slippery and it must be kept free from obstructions or articles which may cause a person to slip, trip or fall. Traffic routes include (amoungst other things) stairs.

Once you submit a claim to your employer, your employer has 3 months in which to either admit liability or provide reasons why they believe they are not liable.

In the meantime your solicitor (depending on the strength of your case) may get you to go to an independent medical expert to compile a report on your injury.

If you are suffering significant financial losses and liability is not in dispute, then you can request an interim payment.

Hope this helps ease your mind a little.

Daddy_to_Lily (M_T_L's better half!) :-)

jeff_chandler

Your information is a big help, thank you.

Jeff chandler

digii_dave

Are you in a union? Have you contaced Healt & Safety Exec http://www.hse.gov.uk/

Try another solicitor. The employer has a duty of care do they not? I dont see how anyone in 2009 can be expected to work in a dangerous job as a contatcer or sub?

Mummy to lily is spot on take the advice and good luck. I am H & S rep at Royal Snail so go for it Jeff

fredsnail

You mentioned the cost of prescriptions - you can buy a 3 month or 12 month prescription certificate which would then mean that all your prescriptions would be free for that period of time.

It generally works out cheaper if you buy more than 4 prescriptions over 4 months or 14 prescriptions over 12 months.

You can find more information here

jeff_chandler

Thanks digi dave.
I have taken good advice and fillied in the form for disablement benefit.

I am 53 years of age and was in a realy good job, the work was not that physical and would have lasted me until retirement age. I was always a fit bloke who played regular golf and tennis and was a regular in the gym. Since this accident I am left with a severe disability where any of the above activities are out of my life. I feel so angry towards the people responsible for my fall because they did not care one bit when I confronted them. Hours after I had left the site a collegue of mine collected my tools from the room where I was working and the mess was still on the stairs. My company aint even contacted me to ask how I am, nor have they offered any sort of rehabilitation to help me with the pain. Neither the Health and safety officer has come forward to even ask me about the accident. I have contacted my company to let them know my situation. I shall take your advice and contact the hse via the web site provided.

Regards
Jeff Chandler

Emzagem

jeff_chandler wrote: »

Thanks digi dave.
I have taken good advice and fillied in the form for disablement benefit.

I am 53 years of age and was in a realy good job, the work was not that physical and would have lasted me until retirement age. I was always a fit bloke who played regular golf and tennis and was a regular in the gym. Since this accident I am left with a severe disability where any of the above activities are out of my life. I feel so angry towards the people responsible for my fall because they did not care one bit when I confronted them. Hours after I had left the site a collegue of mine collected my tools from the room where I was working and the mess was still on the stairs. My company aint even contacted me to ask how I am, nor have they offered any sort of rehabilitation to help me with the pain. Neither the Health and safety officer has come forward to even ask me about the accident. I have contacted my company to let them know my situation. I shall take your advice and contact the hse via the web site provided.

Regards
Jeff Chandler

Hi Jeff,

As a generalist adviser for Citizen's Advice Bureau, I think perhaps they may be your best bet initially? CAB offer free, impartial advice as to where you stand legally & what to seek in a new solicitor/questions to ask, etc. (If you go in prepared to the sols, it will cost you less in time & thus £.) Have you tried to access a solicitor's free half hour at all? If not, check out www.lawsociety.org.uk & pick the "find a solicitor" tab, then enter your postcode & a list of sols will appear. If you click into one you like, it will tell you on the top right-hand side what they offer, eg., legal aid, free half hour, disabled access etc. Paging down will also show you what law areas they cover.

Best of luck x
Em

rosered1963

Hi again Jeff.
I did post earlier, but just wanted to say - Please don't hesitate to sue your employer- they will be insured against such claims - it won't come out of the bosses pocket. They will probably be expecting to sue them which is why they are keeping their distance and not wanting to do anything that will damage themselves further. As for you worrying that sueing them may affect chances of future work with them, they cannot punish you in this way. I agree with the other posters that you could look into getting another solicitor on a no-win no fee basis - there are loads of companies that specialise in industrial accidents. As well as Industrial Injuries disablement benefit, I would suggest you look into claiming Disability Living Allowance. If your local council has a Welfare Rights department (ring them and find out) I would suggest you go in and see them and they will help you aith everything as that's their job. If your council doesn't, see if your local Citizens' Advice can go through everything and see what you can claim. As you have probably realised, the system is coomplicated. I am sorry to hear that it is all getting you down and hope you feel better. Maybe you could consider some retraining for a new line of work - its never too late. Best wishes