Emma O’Dea was working as a customer service advisor for a gift company in Manchester.  She was working on a temporary contract to cover the Christmas period and had been there about three months, the first month of which had involved training.  Her work involved taking orders and chasing them up, taking payments and dealing with general customer service.

Emma says that despite the fact that staff should have had their own desk, most people would hot desk.

Fall due to trailing wires

On the day of the accident, Emma was working at a desk she had used before.  She had complained to her manager about trailing wires at this desk previously and he had said that maintenance would fix them – but it hadn’t done so.  As Emma stood up and began moving away from her desk, unbeknown to her, her legs were caught in the wires under the desk. She began to fall, putting out her hands to save herself.  She caught a chair to the right of her desk and was hopping to release her foot from what she believed was the telephone wire as the phone had been pulled towards the hole that the wires go through in the desk

Embarrassed, as the floor was full of colleagues, Emma made her way to the ladies’ toilet and knew immediately that she had hurt her neck.  On returning to her desk, she told her manager and colleagues about the incident. She was later asked to sign a document saying that she was happy with her desk when she started working there. She was reluctant to sign this form as she hadn’t been shown where she would be working when she initially started, but she signed it anyway for fear of losing her job.

Pain continues. Visit to A & E

Emma continued to work that day and when she got home she ran a bath, hoping it would relieve the pain, but it didn’t. She went to bed early, but didn’t sleep as the pain, which was on the left side of her neck and running into her shoulder, was so bad.  When she got up the following morning the pain was so bad that her partner had to help her dress.  She went to work as she didn’t want to lose her job.  However, due to the pain, she had to leave work at around 10 am when her father took her to the hospital.  She attended hospital the following day too and visited her GP several times over the next few months with issues relating to the problem.  She was prescribed various painkillers as well as physiotherapy, which she found very painful.  An MRI scan showed that Emma had aggravated an underlying condition in her neck.

No return to work

Emma had to take six weeks off work due to the injury and didn’t return to the job.  She needed help at home from her mum and her partner.  Emma was unable to ride her horse for around 8 weeks and even after this period, she could only walk the horse.  She was unable to drive for around 6 weeks as she couldn’t turn her neck properly.

Emma turned to Graysons for help in pursuing her employer for compensation and Lucy took up her case.  Emma’s employer denied liability for the accident, so Lucy had to issue court proceedings.  Amongst other issues, Lucy claimed that the employer had:

• failed to provide a suitable and safe place of work and devise a proper and safe system of work
• failed to maintain plant and equipment and carry out adequate risk assessments
• allowed an obstruction or tripping hazard on the floor, failed to keep the floor and other traffic routes free from obstructions and allowed such hazards to remain
• failed to provide proper health and safety information and training

Lucy and Emma were all ready to attend court in Manchester, but the employer decided to settle the case the night before it was due to be heard and Lucy was able to negotiate a settlement of £2,450.

If you have had an accident at work and need help in pursuing your employer for compensation, please contact one of our experts now.  You can also find out more about making a claim against your employer on our web pages.