Lawford Kidd's Blog

An Essex firm has been prosecuted after one of its employees suffered life-changing injuries when he fell from a stepladder while spray-painting a lorry.

The 51-year-old man shattered his left shoulder and collar bone, broke several ribs and received a deep cut to his head in the fall.  

The company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found that the same employee had fallen off a stepladder just one month before the incident, but no action had been taken to improve safety at the site.

Reducing health risks in the field of nanotechnology is the aim of a new initiative released by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).

IOSH co-commissioned the UK NanoSafety Partnership Group to produce the first-ever health and safety guidance for working with nanomaterials in research and development.

Nanotechnologies offer potentially huge benefits to society, industry, the environment and health. The guide looks at an array of topics, including risk management, toxicology, exposure control and health surveillance.

Leading claims compensation law firm Lawford Kidd has announced the appointment of Val Roberts as a Consultant with the firm. Val has been practising for 20 years and is one of Scotland’s best known claimant lawyers.

Lawford Kidd specialises in representing accident victims and was the first Scottish firm to receive corporate accreditation from APIL, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.

Val has a wealth of experience in dealing with high value complex claims including fatal accident and catastrophic injuries. She has acted in a number of serious off-shore cases and has experience in foreign jurisdictions with settlements of accident claims in Europe, Africa and America.

The Department of Transport has published detailed statistics on traffic related personal injury accidents in 2011.

Key findings from the report include:

• In 2011, there were a total of 203,950 casualties of all severities in road accidents reported to the police, 2% lower than in 2010. There were 1,901 people killed, a 3% increase over 2010 and 23,122 were seriously injured, up 2%. Motor vehicle traffic increased slightly (0.2%) over the same period.
• The number of fatalities fell for three types of road user, with a fall of 22% for bus and coach occupants, 10% for motor cyclists and 4% for pedal cyclists. Pedestrian and car occupants rose by 12% and 6% respectively.
• In 2011, it is estimated 9,990 reported casualties (5% of all road casualties) occurred when someone was driving whilst over the legal alcohol limit. The provisional number of people estimated to have been killed in drink drive accidents was 280 (15% of all road fatalities).
• Failed to look properly was again the most frequently reported contributory factor and was reported in 42% of all accidents reported to the police in 2011.
• In 2011, the economic welfare cost of reported road accidents was estimated to be around £15.6 billion.

An American court has awarded substantial damages to a man who claimed he became ill after years of breathing in the fumes of microwave popcorn, reports Yahoo!

The 59-year-old from Colorado was diagnosed with a respiratory condition known as 'popcorn lung' in 2007, after eating the microwave popcorn on an almost daily basis for a number of years. A few previous cases, brought by popcorn factory workers, have linked the condition to diacetyl, which is contained in the butter flavouring added to some popcorn.

The court found that the liability for the man's injury was shared between the manufacturer of the popcorn (80%) and the supermarket where he bought it (20%) for failing to warn of the alleged dangers of diacetyl, and awarded him compensation amounting to $7.2 million. According to Yahoo! both organisations intend to appeal against the ruling.