Knee injury at work

A Sheffield man has received an Out of Court Settlement of £4,635 after a fall at work tore the cartilage in his knee and left him in agony and unable to work.

Jeffrey Rundle, 37 from Woodhouse in Sheffield was working as a Labourer for construction specialists Carillion on the Forge Building Site just off London Road when he fell.

On the day of the accident Mr Rundle was asked to clear scaffolding away but as he walked down one of the allocated walkways his left foot fell through a gap in the planks.

On further inspection it was found that one of the planks of wood that makes up the walkway was missing and that it had simply been covered up with black plastic sheeting.

Knee injury at work claim

Mr Rundle said: "I didn’t realise that the board was missing as the plastic sheeting covered it up.

"When I fell I became wedged between the planks that made up the rest of the walkway and a colleague had to come and help. I thought I would be ok but the pain got progressively worse so I had to go home.

"I had a bath in the hope that it would help but the following morning I went to the Northern General Hospital in agony. After the doctor examined me I was given an MRI scan which revealed that I had torn the cartilage in my left knee."

Following the accident Mr Rundle had to return to hospital several times to receive treatment and eventually had to have a knee operation to mend the damage that had been caused.

David Carder, who represented Mr Rundle from Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, commented: "The injuries sustained by Mr Rundle came as a direct result of his employers failing to make sure the walkway on the scaffolding was safe and in turn make sure that Mr Rundle had a safe place of work.

"Employers’ have a duty to provide workers’ with a safe place and safe system of work. Sadly in this case Carillion failed to meet the standards expected."