9 in 10 UK schools contain asbestos, new figures show
Russell Worth is backing calls for a Government review into the presence of asbestos in UK schools after the BBC reported on figures suggesting that the material is present in almost nine in ten schools in the UK. The new figures, much higher than official estimates...
Cleaning firm prosecuted after worker falls six metres
A cleaning company in Surrey has been prosecuted for safety failings after one of its employees suffered life-changing injuries when he fell six metres through a fragile roof light. The 36-year-old worker, who has asked not to be named, was one of a team sent by...
Firm ordered to pay £100,000 for Tower Bridge lift incident
A lift company has been told that it must pay £100,000 in fines and costs after petrified tourists suffered broken legs and ankles when a vital mechanism failed on a Tower Bridge lift, causing it to fall into a service pit. The incident at the popular London landmark...
Firm and director prosecuted following excavation collapse
A building firm director was partially buried, a court has heard, when the high sides of an excavation collapsed on him. Paul Connolly, director of PNT Contractors Ltd, based in Bushey needed to be rescued by workers following the excavation collapse at an Essex site...
Two firms prosecuted after worker breaks leg
Two firms have been sentenced after a worker broke his leg when the brakes of his ride-on cleaning machine failed leading him to steer into a balustrade at Stansted airport. 28-year-old Carl Marshall was forced to veer into the balustrade after the brakes on his...
Pontypridd printing company fined for safety failings
A printing company in Pontypridd has been fined after a worker’s hand got caught in a piece of machinery. The incident occurred when 51-year-old Eiron Atkins, from Pontypridd, was starting up a rotary textile printer at firm Treforest Textiles, Pontypridd Magistrates’...
Carmarthen site issued with multiple warnings for dangerous conditions
A Carmarthen waste and recycling site was operating in such dangerous conditions that it was issued with eight notices by health and safety inspectors to immediately halt a number of activities, a court has heard. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors visited...
Trust fined for exposing workers to dermatitis risk
The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust has been prosecuted after it failed to take appropriate measures to prevent at least 23 dermatitis cases amongst staff from 2007 to 2012. Appearing before Torquay Magistrates on 20th February, the Trust pleaded guilty to...
Paignton man died of asbestos-related illness
A man from Paignton died as a result of asbestos exposure during his working life, an inquest has heard. 80-year-old Alan Albert Richens passed away at Torquay’s Rowcroft Hospice in December. In a statement written before his death, the inquest heard that the married...
Engineering firm prosecuted after worker crushed
An engineering firm in Cumbria has been fined £12,000 after one of its employees suffered severe injuries when he was hit by a metal frame, weighing almost two tonnes. The 21 year old worker from Carlisle, who requested not to be named, suffered a number of cuts and...
Flight simulator firm prosecuted for unsafe machinery
A firm in Manchester which manufactures flight simulator equipment for the aviation industry has appeared in court after an investigation found it had been using unsafe machinery. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted EDM Ltd after an inspector discovered...
Hull Council Worker Died of Asbestos-Related Illness
A man who worked for Hull City Council has died of an asbestos-related illness, a court has heard. 74-year-old Kenneth Mann, who lived in Hull, passed away on 3rd December after developing mesothelioma in February last year. Mr Mann had worked on the Hull docks and,...
New drug offers hope to mesothelioma sufferers
A new drug which could help in the fight against mesothelioma has been given “orphan drug status” by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The new stem-cell targeting cancer drug, called “VS-5584”, looks to target the cancer at its source by...
Plymouth builder fined for safety failings
A builder from Plymouth has been fined £10,000 after a worker fell almost six metres through a fragile roof light. 24-year-old Przemyslaw Borkiewicz, also from Plymouth, was working at a garage in Saltash when the incident occurred in December 2012. Plymouth...
Liverpool NHS Trust prosecuted for asbestos safety failures
A Liverpool NHS Trust has been fined £10,000 after it was discovered its workers might have been exposed to potentially-deadly asbestos fibres. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust after the...
Elderly woman dies of carbon monoxide poisoning
An energy company has been fined a record-breaking £500,000 after a woman died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Pensioner Joyce Moore, from Middleton, passed away in October 2012 after the flue of her gas boiler was blocked by HIS Energy Ltd, who were offering free...
Scientists find 34 genes that could help to control asthma
Scientists have reported a major breakthrough which could significantly help in the development of drugs and other allergies. The study, led by scientists at Imperial College London for the last ten years, adopted new ways to analyse genes in the immune system and in...
Former joiner died of asbestos-related illness, coroner rules
A 75-year-old man from Hailsham died from an asbestos-related illness, an inquest has heard. On 10th January, James Spencer was taken in to a hospice, but he died a week later as a result of his illness. Eastbourne Magistrates’ Court heard that Mr Spencer worked as a...
Aberdeenshire firm fined after fatal incident
A firm in Aberdeenshire has been prosecuted for serious safety failings following the death of a man who feel over five metres through a fragile roof. 57-year-old Nikolajs Naumovs, a Latvian national who had only arrived in Scotland two weeks prior to the incident in...
Derbyshire firm fined after building collapses
A company in Derbyshire has appeared in court after an incident which saw a two-storey portable building collapsing whilst 30 children and parents were gathered in the lower room. The incident occurred at Derbyshire’s Ashbourne Elim Pentecostal Church when two...
Tata Steel prosecuted for workers’ burns
Steel giant Tata has been sentenced following an incident in which three of its employees suffered severe burns. Kelvin Watts, a trainee crane driver from Port Talbot, and two of his colleagues escaped over a crane when a giant ladle dislodged at Tata Strip Products...
Increase in cases of dermatitis amongst healthcare workers
A new study has discovered a rise in incidents of dermatitis amongst healthcare workers. Following a campaign to encourage frontline hospital workers to wash their hands more often to reduce the risk of superbugs spreading in hospital wards, there has been an...
Nuneaton firm fined after worker breaks neck in machine
A firm in Nuneaton has appeared in court after one of its employees broken his neck whilst working with an unguarded machine. The 60-year-old machinist was working for Nuneaton Precisions Ltd and machining a piece of nylon when the incident occurred in September 2013,...
Roofing company fined after worker’s fall
A roofing company in Leicestershire has appeared in court after one of its employees fell through a roof light. Stormseal Roofing (Nationwide) Ltd was fined £16,000 for the incident, which happened in April 2013 and saw the 59-year-old falling over three metres...
BBC Reporter speaks out about melanoma diagnosis following sunbed use
A BBC journalist and reporter has spoken out about her skin cancer diagnosis following ten years of sunbed use. Laura McMullan described herself as a “tan addict” and joked with colleagues that her goal was to be a mahogany colour, the Birmingham Mail reported. But...
Glamorgan Company fined for safety failings
A stevedoring company in Glamorgan has been fined after one of its employees suffered serious leg injuries in a fall from a trailer. 58-year-old Nigel Preece from Bridgend fell more than three metres whilst unloading steel coils from a trailer. He sustained two broken...
Lincolnshire firm in court after worker suffers broken back
A recycling firm in Lincolnshire has been prosecuted after one of its workers suffered a broken back following an incident where he was hit by a washing machine. 48-year-old Desmond Adlington was working at Environcom England Ltd in Grantham when the incident occurred...
Hertfordshire brewery in court for safety failings
A brewery in Hertfordshire has appeared in court after an employee broke his foot when it got stuck in a rotating stirrer. The 34-year-old worker, who has asked to remain nameless, was working for Wye Valley Brewery in Hertfordshire when the incident occurred in...
Asbestosis cause of death for grandfather
A founder of the Staffordshire Regimental Association’s Burton branch died from asbestos exposure, a coroner has ruled. 89-year-old Sam Hutchings spent 36 years in the Burton brewing industry and was exposed to asbestos on many occasions. He and his colleagues...
Russell Worth shows its support for ‘Fairness 4 Families’ campaign
Russell Worth is backing a new campaign launched by The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) which is calling for a change in the law for the families of those killed in England and Wales. ‘Fairness 4 Families’ is calling for the Government to review current...
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Latest Compensation News
The dangers of the sun for outdoor workers
At this time of year the risks from exposure to the sun’s rays might seem like a rather distant threat, but for those who spend large periods of their working lives outside, it is very real, and something that must be taken seriously. It has become common knowledge...
Head Injuries – what’s all the fuss about?
In cartoons when someone gets hit on the head they likely develop a lump that looks – depending on the cartoon – a bit like a golf ball. As surprising as it may seem, that is potentially the best outcome from a knock to the head; it shows that any swelling is...
Crumbs – Warburtons fined £2million for worker fall
National bakery company Warburtons has been fined £2million and ordered to pay costs of nearly £20,000 after one of its workers was severely injured in a fall at its premises in Wednesbury. Wolverhampton Crown Court heard how the employee; a father-of-one who had...