Accident at work, should I claim?

DullGreyGuy

melissa1082 said:

The duty of care comes down to leaving him onsite by himself, several people we have spoken to said he should have shut the site. 

If there are hazardous conditions then there often is a two person rule but I would be surprised doing a first fix on a new build property is likely to trigger the general requirement, in construction sites its more working at height, demolition or operating heavy machinery (which a circular saw isnt typically). 

As an apprentice there may be further rules about having their work supervised however you say he's in his 4th year of being with them, presumably as an apprentice and so should be nearly qualified by now. As such the requirements or policy may be less stringent - many look to ween people off in preparation for being qualified rather than go cold turkey from every move watched to working solo the next day when you pass. 

lincroft1710

Unless there is something the OP failed to mention it reads that the son had been  working unsupervised on the site for some time and the site is not owned by his employer. So was he supposed to be using a circular saw or did he just decide using it would make the job he was doing easier/quicker.


If there is an entity to be sued (more info is needed) would it be the site owner or employer?

EnPointe

HampshireH said:

Your son would need to prove his employer was negligent under the Health and Safety at work act.

Failing to carry out a site induction, issues Risk Assessments and Method Statement or failing to supervise an apprentice (if their policy states 100% supervision) could all be evidence of negligence. As could failing to provide correct PPE for the task in hand (if he hadn't been that is).

He called you instead of the appointed first aider in the construction phase plan. Does that mean he didn't have sight of that either?

He'd probably need legal advice on whether the facts of his case would be strong enough.

The employer has to have logged this as a RIDDOR to the HSE as mentioned above as finger amputation is a specified injury.

He needs to make sure it has been reported. He should ask his employer for confirmation and he should engage with their internal H&S investigation. I expect the employer wasn't happy as the spot light is now on them and they have a fair bit of work to do.

valid popints however this 21  year old Apppretnice who has been working for the same firm for 4 years  is probably not ina position hwere  he;s  required to be supervised 100% of the time  as i suspect that even if  he;ls  done level 2 then level 3  he;s probably fairly close to the end of level 3  and  being a journeyman as such ... 

happyc84

Firstly let me say how horrific this must be for your Son. Please made sure this reported to HSE.
This link is to the HSE press releases (court cases) HSE Media Centre
For more background on what to report Reportable incidents - HSE Your son's injury is listed there.


Please don't rush your Son back to work, and hope the truth comes out to prevent another incident.

StevenB12

There would be a lot to check here.

First of all there will, or should be a lone working policy for the site, which I'm assuming he was not made aware of or signed up to. Most lone working on sites is outlawed now, and there is a specific contact system set up should the need arise for any. 

Was he signed up to his companies RAMS/Method statement? If he was, was he doing the task as dictated to how it should be done in the method statement? Was he wearing correct PPE? Regardless if it would have saved his finger, not wearing the correct gloves will go against his claim. Not being signed up to the RAMS etc, again, will go against him. There's been incidents where hands/fingers have been injured with Grinders etc, and even down to the person not wearing ear defenders, this has gone against them as the noise can cause a distraction etc. 

Was he inducted correctly to the site and had he signed up to say he had been inducted? 

All of this will have to be checked. He is still able to claim as its a substantial injury which could effect his work going forward, and there will be a claim. However how much he gets will massively vary based on the above. 

There will be an investigation at site level, and it's reportable under RIDDOR so there is a likely chance that the HSE will be involved also. As well as H&S from the housting contractor being involved.


Unfortunately as well, and not saying jt in a negative way, there has to be a level of common sense also. Saying that he was told to not stop work etc when being asked to do something he hasn't done before and probably knew was wrong (locking up site on his own) he's accountable for that, as the first thing you are told on almost any reputable site now is that everyone is responsible for their own and each others health and safety on site. I very much appreciate when you're young etc you just get get your head down and get on with it, regardless. But unfortunately that's not the way it's viewed. 

Bear777

We live in a world where people are reluctant to take personal responsibility for their actions. 

That goes both ways here - the site foreman (possibly) shouldn’t have asked someone to close the site and left an individual on site by themselves. 

But likewise I’m not sure that it sounds like even if the site foreman had been there that the outcome would have been different, other than not allowing the individual to use the saw. 

No doubt as we live in a claim based society there will be a case to answer and money to be made, doesn’t make it wholly justified though. 

Uriziel

I keep seeing lawyer adverts for no claim no fee. Instead of asking here it might make sense to ask an actual lawyer who specializes in this and can tell you easily whether there is money to be had or not.

lincroft1710

Uriziel said:

I keep seeing lawyer adverts for no claim no fee. Instead of asking here it might make sense to ask an actual lawyer who specializes in this and can tell you easily whether there is money to be had or not.

If the OP's son consults an NWNF solicitor, he has to give them far more info than we have been given here. NWNF isn't as straightforward as the name implies