Gardening Accident

AndyD_OHD

Hi,

I wondered whether anyone could offer advice that I could pass on to my brother? He borrowed garden from my dad yesterday to do a little gardening. The fork had not been used before, but during its use the wooden shaft snapped resulting in laceration of a facial artery and subsequent stitches and glueing of his face around his mouth. An appauling mess. Can he made any type of claim for injury to the retailer or manufacturer? I'm not exactly sure how this would be worded but wondered hether anyone could offer any advice. This was a frightening accident, and could easily have resulted in loss of an eye, and as it stande he will be left with a prominent facial scar.

MamaMoo_2

Not sure if you're taking the pee/trolling or not, but if not, my gosh your brother is unlucky and I wish him a speedy recovery!
(Mostly, I'm hoping you're trolling because that sounds horrific and it'll be fantastic if it hasn't really happened!)

If he can prove that the accident happened due to an inherent fault with the garden fork, and was not due to misuse or user error in any way, then he *may* have a case. However your case would be against the retailer.

I have to ask though... How on earth did the handle snapping end up resulting in a severe facial injury.

Blackjack_Davy

Good lord, he's not a drummer for Spinal Tap by any chance?

AndyD_OHD

Definitely not trolling. He does have a fairly nasty "cut" to his face. It seems the wooden shaft of fork split along its length, collapsing under him, although I don't have the specific details as I only got back from my holidays last night and learned of it. His wife rushed him to A&E. I had suggested he investigate the option of contacting the manufacturer to both report the issue and also to enquire into some form of compensation. When he asked how exacty to pursue that I suggested that I'd post on here for advice.
On account of the location only part of the injury could be "glued" whilst the rest had to be stitched.

OlliesDad

When it comes to claiming for an injury you can claim from the retailer or the manufacturer. I would suggest a taking photos of the injury and the fork and send them to each party and see what they say.

Orrin

He could try contacting one of those "InjuryLawyersRus" type outfits. Parasites they may be but if there's a whiff of a claim they will surely sniff it out.

arcon5

Avoid the parasite injury claim management companies - a local, independent solicitor should be able to offer te same services and the same payment arrangement.

How did he manage to injure his face on it though ?

George_Michael

I wondered about that at first, but then thought about how I use a fork when gardening.

It could be that when the person concerned was pushing down on the fork, the handle broke causing them to fall onto the wood.
YOu generally use you foot for pressing a fork down, but if the soil isn't too hard, I often just use my arms and back to do it.

wealdroam

Maybe the injured party has a claim against the owner of the faulty fork?

I.e. your father.

ILW

How old is this fork?

lincroft1710

!!!!!! are they making fork handles out of these days, or is OP's brother morbidly obese. I have a couple of garden forks, still going strong after 50 years or more and there have been no replacement parts and I'm no featherweight!

Did the OP's brother misuse the fork?