Lawford Kidd's Blog

One form of devastating and life-changing workplace injury experienced by too many workers in the UK is the loss of a body part, such as a limb, fingers or hands.

In some cases, the body part can become severed during the workplace accident itself, and in others the loss can occur when doctors have no choice but to carry out an amputation because of the serious nature of the injuries the worker has sustained.

Worker loses right leg

An example of this horrific type of injury was recently reported by the Health and Safety Executive. The case involved a worker at a lorry trailer manufacturer, who lost one of his legs when he was crushed by a huge fish tank that fell off the forklift truck transporting it.

Brake, the road safety charity, is calling on Scotland's drivers to commit to staying stone cold sober if driving home from Christmas festivities, to avoid causing devastating casualties.

The call comes as Police Scotland's annual drink and drug driving enforcement campaign kicks off. The month long campaign sees forces across Scotland stepping up checks to catch drink and drug drivers putting lives in danger.

In 2011 (most recent figures available), drivers over the drink drive limit were responsible for 680 road casualties in Scotland; 90 people sustained serious injuries and 20 were killed. While casualties have dropped by 43% since 2001, Brake argues more must be done to reduce these entirely preventable deaths and serious injuries to zero.

A new support scheme has been launched by the UK Government to help newly diagnosed victims of mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining of internal organs, such as the lungs, and is almost always the result of exposure to asbestos. It is always fatal, and sufferers can only expect to live around eight or nine months on average after diagnosis.

Claiming compensation for mesothelioma has often been a problem for sufferers because typically symptoms do not appear until 40 or 50 years after the exposure to asbestos has taken place. As a result, by the time a sufferer realises he or she has the condition, their employer may no longer be around to make a claim against.

Friday is the most dangerous day of the week for road accidents that result in personal injury claims and November has the highest award frequency, according to an analysis of 2012 motor liability awards released by the Irish Injuries Board.

The Injuries Board delivered compensation of €157.2m for motor liability awards in 2012 which represents a 2.2% increase on the €153.7m awarded in 2011. The volume of awards for motor accidents last year increased by 1.3% to 7,622, compared to 7,521 the previous year.

Motor liability awards account for three in four of all personal injury awards processed by the Injuries Board.

A number of Scottish employers have come under the spotlight recently after their health and safety failings led to workers suffering serious and in some cases life changing injuries simply as a result of trying to do their job.

Janitor loses toe in chainsaw incident

In one such incident, Fife Council was fined £20,000 after a janitor lost a toe while working with a chainsaw.

The 39-year-old had been sent to a primary school in Dunfermline to remove a tree that had blown down in the school grounds. He and a colleague had removed most of the branches and were eventually left with just the trunk and a single limb attached at above-shoulder height. He climbed onto the trunk and started cutting through the limb, but it sheared away and landed on his foot, trapping it against the trunk.