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Building Site Injury Claim

22/12/2009

Law firm Irwin Mitchell is warning tradesmen to help reduce the number of site accidents by taking more care with equipment, after a man badly fractured his arm while working on the renovation of a house in Chesterfield.

William Jackson, 43, from Broomhall, Sheffield, was plastering the kitchen ceiling of the house when one of his stilts caught in a section of electric cable which had been left running across the kitchen floor.

The cabling had not been removed, coiled or fastened to the floor, causing Mr Jackson to fall heavily and fracture his left elbow. He was unable to return to his work as a plasterer for almost a year, and has now been left with recurring pain and a permanent weakness in his left arm.

Mr Jackson said: “The fall was very nasty and left me unable to work for three months. The nature of the injury also meant that when I was finally able to go back to work it was only as a general labourer. It was 12 months before I could return to plastering.

“Even now I still suffer from a lack of strength in my elbow, and I’ve never been able to go back to my hobbies of weight training and martial arts.”

Sheffield based law firm Irwin Mitchell brought a claim against the electrician responsible for the cabling on behalf of Mr Jackson, and negotiated a settlement of £18,500 to go towards his rehabilitation and lost earnings.

Louise Morgan, Personal Injury specialist at Irwin Mitchell, said: “Tradesmen have a responsibility to make sure their equipment is safe and does not present a danger to others working on site. In this case it was the electrician’s responsibility to bind or coil the cabling so it was securely fastened to the ground.

“With so many people working on sites concurrently they can be dangerous places, and it’s important we minimise the risks by following basic health and safety procedures.”

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