£200,000 for eye and hand injury at work

Mr F suffered a significant injury whilst trying to install a new roller shutter door at work. Although he worked as a general handyman, he had no particular experience or training in roller shutter doors and as such was unaware of the dangers posed by tension in the springs. Whilst he and a colleague were fitting the door a spring ejected from the door, striking him in the eye and hand. Unfortunately, the incident left him with ongoing hand and visual issues.

He contacted Aston Knight Solicitors who submitted a claim to the company’s insurers. Whilst the insurers initially denied liability, on the basis he was not an employee and had brought the accident upon himself, we resisted this following which the Defendant insurers agreed to admit partial liability, but continued to suggest Mr F was partially responsible.

Expert evidence from an eye surgeon, hand surgeon, a maxillofacial surgeon and a psychological expert and court proceedings were issued following which negotiations took place and a final settlement of £200,000 was recovered, with which Mr F was delighted.

Senior Solicitor James Winterbottom, who dealt with the case, comments:

“This case touched upon an interesting point being to what extent the client was an employee of the Defendant and, linked to that, how much health and safety protection he was owed by the Defendant. Traditionally, much of our health and safety at work laws apply to employees only with self-employed people being responsible for most aspects of their own health and safety, though the exception would be things they cannot control such as hazards in the work environment.

In this instance Mr F was provided with a contract which stated he was self-employed but the reality of the contract was that the Defendant controlled his work such as when he worked, what he did etc – factors that point towards someone being an employee rather than self-employed. Courts do not simply follow contracts – if someone is in reality an employee then the fact their contract states they are self-employed does not change that.

Even if someone is self-employed, they are still owed health and safety obligations by those persons in control of work premises and/or how work is done. Many of the statutory health and safety regulations refer not only to employees but also to “workers” under the control of a certain company.

Injured workers who are told they would not have a claim because they were self-employed should therefore not be too quick to give up – they might actually be employees and even if they are not they may still have viable claims.”

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