Accident, Compensation & my employer, advice please!

ChrisGTI

Hi guys,

I hope I'm posting this in the correct section. I'm a Sales Manager for an Electrical wholesaler and I love my job. 18 months ago, I bought an angle grinder that we had for sale, that was made by a German manufacturer.

Unfortunately I had an accident at home whilst using it on the 25th April and the safety switch in the grinder did not work - without going into too much detail it caused the grinder to impact on my left inner thigh causing the disc to shatter, it then cut down to the bone, cut through all the muscles / nerves, missed my femoral artery by 3mm and has caused some major scarring. I currently cannot walk or do anything without assistance and it has been suggested by my consultant that it will take 6 months + to be back to normal strength and involve a lot of Physiotherapy.

I was suggested to contact one of these 'no win, no fee' people, who have happily taken my case onboard. I personally, want to claim against the Manufacturer as I believe it is a Manufacturer fault - however I received a letter from my solicitor today saying that they will be claiming against the company I bought the grinder from - this being my employer (Under the sales of goods act for being a defective product).

I love my job and I'm worried that if I claim against them then it will cause me more problems when I return to work. What should I do? Has anybody been in this position?

Please help!

Thanks

Chris

specialboy

Claim, your company will have insurance for such events and will liaise with the manufacturer too,

stevemLS

Ouch, that sounds painful! Hope you are well on the road to recovery.

I have never known anyone suffer a detriment for making a well founded claim against their employer although your circumstances are a bit different as you are claiming against them as a supplier of defective goods rather than any failure in their duty as an employer.

As an aside, if you have received occupational sick pay, you need to check your contract as many employers have a clause which provides that where damages are recovered in respect of an incident which has caused absence, the employee is liable to repay the OSP.

Takeaway_Addict

Ouch!

Your contract was with the retailer (your employer) so they hold the liability, however the retailer's also has a contract with the manufacturer so if you claim against them they will most likley claim against the manufacturer.

If you are going to claim and you feel your employer is reasonable then I would pre-empt it personally by phoning them and explaining the situation, rather than the letter just hitting the mat.

loskie

Did any of the instructions that came with the grinder suggest you wear PPE, should you have operated it without training or instruction?
If so it may be your negligence if not then claim. If your company is half decent they will realise it is the insurer not them that is sued.
You may be able to get legal advice via your home insurance or union.

Only claim if you honestly feel it is justified and you are not just after free money.

Undervalued

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

Ouch!

Your contract was with the retailer (your employer) so they hold the liability, however the retailer's also has a contract with the manufacturer so if you claim against them they will most likley claim against the manufacturer.

Indeed. In fact you have no claim against the manufacturer. Any warranty they offered would be in addition to your statutory rights with the retailer and certainly wouldn't have included personal injury.

If you are going to claim and you feel your employer is reasonable then I would pre-empt it personally by phoning them and explaining the situation, rather than the letter just hitting the mat.

Be careful doing this. Whilst I understand the sentiment it would almost certainly breach the agreement you will have signed with the no win no fee solicitor.

Depending on how long you are off sick your employer may well look to terminate your employment. Obviously if this does happen and if you win your claim then any award should take into account your loss of earnings. Like any claim you have a duty to mitigate your losses. For example, that would include making serious efforts to find alternative employment that could be managed with your injuries.

Babbawah

I love my power tools & own a vast collection that any man would be proud of.

I'm not familiar with exactly what sort of mechanism constitutes a safety switch on an angle grinder !

Could you please enlighten me?

Undervalued

Babbawah wrote: »

I love my power tools & own a vast collection that any man would be proud of.

I'm not familiar with exactly what sort of mechanism constitutes a safety switch on an angle grinder !

Could you please enlighten me?

Yes, I wondered that too!

ChrisGTI

Thanks for your replies so far.

A safety switch (or also known as a 'Dead man' switch) is a way of cutting power to the tool in an emergency situation.

There are 2 types, the first one is like you have on a lawn mower - you have to push a button in and hold a lever in the 'On' position. As soon as pressure is removed from the lever / button then the power cuts.

The second type and the type that I have on my grinder is 'push' type switch. I'll quote from the instructions to make it clear: "The angle grinder comes with a safety switch which is designed to prevent accidents. To switch on, push the On/Off switch to the right and then forwards. To switch off the angle grinder, depress the On/Off switch at the back. The On/Off switch will jump back to its starting position".

From what I have researched, grinders can have either type of safety switch.

Now, despite the accident happening in a flash, I pressed the switch in the correct manor but it did not 'jump' back and turn off. The grinder continued into my leg, getting wrapped in my trousers and thus blocking my access to the switch to try again. Luckily, the plug was within arms reach so I manage to rip it out of the socket.

As far as PPE is concerned, I was wearing goggles & ear defenders (as per the manuals instructions too).

Thanks

Chris

Babbawah

ChrisGTI wrote: »

Thanks for your replies so far.

A safety switch (or also known as a 'Dead man' switch) is a way of cutting power to the tool in an emergency situation.

There are 2 types, the first one is like you have on a lawn mower - you have to push a button in and hold a lever in the 'On' position. As soon as pressure is removed from the lever / button then the power cuts.

The second type and the type that I have on my grinder is 'push' type switch. I'll quote from the instructions to make it clear: "The angle grinder comes with a safety switch which is designed to prevent accidents. To switch on, push the On/Off switch to the right and then forwards. To switch off the angle grinder, depress the On/Off switch at the back. The On/Off switch will jump back to its starting position".

From what I have researched, grinders can have either type of safety switch.

Now, despite the accident happening in a flash, I pressed the switch in the correct manor but it did not 'jump' back and turn off. The grinder continued into my leg, getting wrapped in my trousers and thus blocking my access to the switch to try again. Luckily, the plug was within arms reach so I manage to rip it out of the socket.

As far as PPE is concerned, I was wearing goggles & ear defenders (as per the manuals instructions too).

Thanks

Chris

Thanks.

A link to the specific tool & its switch might be better.

Please consider this as an educational service to all us power tool freaks who don't wish to suffer mangled body parts

Babbawah

Incidentally . . .

"The angle grinder comes with a safety switch which is designed to prevent accidents. To switch on, push the On/Off switch to the right and then forwards. To switch off the angle grinder, depress the On/Off switch at the back. The On/Off switch will jump back to its starting position"

Comes up with zero examples on Google, so I doubt that it is an actual quote.

Your link to the actual tool might help.