Broken foot at work

A Sheffield man has been awarded £2,500 in an out-of-court settlement by his employers after breaking his foot in an accident caused by a steel beam.

Lee Ahmed, of Wincobank, a labourer and steel fitter for Sheffield steel company Dearnside Fabrication, based at Wallace Road, Parkwood Springs suffered the injury when a steel beam fell on him at work.

Workplace accident solicitors

His payout was secured with help from solicitor Laura Scotford, of the workplace accident personal injury team in the Sheffield office of national law firm Irwin Mitchell.

At the time of the accident Mr Ahmed was working at Brewery Wharf, Leeds with a building contractor, moving a 20 foot-long, piece of heavy structural steel, weighing approximately 200 to 300 kilograms.

He said: With the help of three other colleagues, I was moving the steel beam on a barrow and down a ramp when it hit a brick and became unbalanced, falling on my left foot. I was wearing steel t boots at the time but immediately felt a great deal of pain.

Broken bone at work

Mr Ahmed was taken home by a colleague and then went by taxi to Northern General Hospital, where x-rays showed he had broken the second metatarsal bone in his left foot and suffered extensive bruising.

A plaster cast was applied and he was given crutches. After two weeks the plaster was removed but, unable to bear weight, Mr Ahmed was signed off work for a total of six weeks. It took a further three months for him to be able to move his little t properly.

Commenting on the payout, Laura Scotford said: Its every employers duty to ensure their staff are given adequate health and safety training, which Mr Ahmed did not feel he had. The size and weight of the steel beam required a safer method of transportation and a crane should have been used for the job.

Mr Ahmeds accident could have been far worse. If businesses ignore health and safety requirements, they risk putting their staff in danger and leaving themselves open to legal action.