Irwin Mitchell assisted a man who was injured in an industrial accident which resulted in his right hand finger being crushed.
Our client was involved in an accident in December 2009 whilst working as a Shot Blaster Charge Hand. Shot blasting is the process of cleaning or preparing a surface by forcibly propelling a stream of abrasive material against it.
The client was shot blasting a large semi circular piece of casting when the incident happened. He had placed the casting onto a semi circular table which was swivelled into the casting bay to be shot blasted. Once the table and casting were inside the bay, the client closed the doors to initiate the shot blasting process.
Upon completion, he opened the doors to move the finished product out of the bay, in order to dispatch it with a forklift truck. One of the large steel doors to the casting bay was faulty and had to be propped open with a bar to access the table and the casting product. The plates which allow sufficient space for the fork lift truck to lift the product from the table from underneath had become loosened over time. This meant that the product needed a bar to raise it sufficiently to allow the forklift truck to pick it up.
Our client was forced to lower the casting plate and product to allow the forklift truck to get underneath and lift it up. As the Claimant was lifting the casting plate, the door, which had been propped open, suddenly and without warning banged into the table, dislodging the casting plate. As a result, the casting plate, which weighted approximately 70kgs, fell onto his right hand, crushing his ring finger.
Our client attended hospital and was seen by a Plastic Surgeon who advised no bones were broken. The wound was cleaned, butterfly stitches were applied and the finger was then bandaged. The bandage remained on for approximately one month and our client was prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs. Our client lost part of the finger tip of his ring finger in the accident and now experiences sensitivity, particularly in cold weather.
The employers in this case initially denied liability for the injury but the client was awarded
£4,200 in an out of Court settlement in July 2012.
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