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Lincolnshire man, Mr W, worked for LF Logistics.  He delivered, and sometimes installed, appliances such as cookers and washing machines etc.   He worked as part of a 2 man crew and would make around 30 deliveries a day – sometimes including installations.

Arm injury caused by delivering to third floor flat

On the day of the accident, Mr W started work at 7am as usual.  His third delivery, at about 8.30am, was a washing machine to a third floor flat:  it had been described on the delivery sheet as 20 – 30 access steps.  The washing machine weighed about 75kg.

No specialist equipment had been provided to take the appliance up the stairs (sometimes they were provided with shoulder dollies or sack barrows but these circumstances weren’t deemed suitable), and there were no handles on the packaging to assist with lifting it.

Mr W and his mate started to carry the washing machine up the stairs, with Mr W walking backwards.  He felt a pull in his arm, waited a moment, thought it wasn’t too bad and carried on.  He finished his day’s work.

Steroid injections due to arm injury

During the evening, Mr W’s arm began to ache and he struggled to sleep.  Despite taking pain relief, he was in agony the following day and went to Grantham & District Hospital. He was referred to a specialist who thought he had tennis elbow and prescribed steroid injections and physiotherapy.

Mr W was aware that he should perhaps not have carried on working for the rest of the day following the accident, but he was also aware of his employer’s attitude to undelivered goods, and says that people often lost their jobs over these issues.

Jonathan successfully pursues employer for compensation

Mr W contacted Graysons to see if he could obtain some redress against his employer as he felt that the company had breached its obligation to provide a safe working environment.  Jonathan pursued the case claiming that LF Logistics had breached the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 in that it had:

• Failed to avoid the need for Mr W to undertake this operation as he had had to.
• Failed to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the operation.
• Failed to take appropriate steps to reduce the risk of injury to lowest level reasonably practicable.

Jonathan West

Also, that LF Logistics had breached the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 in that it had:

• Failed to provide Mr W with suitable loads that were not above 25kg, and equipment to lift them.

Jonathan also claimed that LF Logistics had breached the Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999 as it had failed to undertake a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to Mr W’s health and safety; that the company had not provided adequate manual assistance and had exposed Mr W to unnecessary risk of injury by not taking reasonable care for his safety.

LF Logistics denied liability for the injury and so Jonathan had to issue court proceedings, but was able to settle the case before it went to court, winning £2,500 in compensation.

If you have had an accident at work and want to find out if you can claim compensation, please contact our personal injury experts now.

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