Brother got parts of 2 fingers cut off at work accident

Warper

Last week my brother, who works in a joinery, was involved in a work accident. He was cutting wood through a spinning blade, the wood got stuck and his hand was pushed into the blade resulting in him losing parts of his fingers. The wedding ring finger is gone just below the nail and his middle finger is missing the top of his finger, around half the nail down. Im not sure as it has been bandaged up since it happened. He is unsure whether he wants to file a claim or not. If he did, he is worried he might lose his job for misdemeanours in the future as its a tough environment out there and also he doesnt know what sort of compensation he would be entitled to. Anyone any info on this? I presume the company would be insured for this thing anyways.

Profiler

There are main two aspects to this. There is the liability (who is at fault) and there is the quantum (how much is it worth)

Quantum is easier to answer: You and your brother should refer to the injuries board.ie estimator for a rough idea of what the claim may be worth

On liability, well that is a different story altogether. I don't think anyone could say for 100% sure if a claim would succeed unless we knew more and in fact an engineers report on the machine in question would be required as would an idea of how much training your brother had on the machine in question.

The best thing to do is discuss with a solicitor but not before your brother discusses with his employer.

Finally, I would not assume for one minute that all employers have insurance. The vast majority of them will, but there is always the irresponsible few who will go without.

Warper

Profiler wrote: »

There are main two aspects to this. There is the liability (who is at fault) and there is the quantum (how much is it worth)

Quantum is easier to answer: You and your brother should refer to the injuries board.ie estimator for a rough idea of what the claim may be worth

On liability, well that is a different story altogether. I don't think anyone could say for 100% sure if a claim would succeed unless we knew more and in fact an engineers report on the machine in question would be required as would an idea of how much training your brother had on the machine in question.

The best thing to do is discuss with a solicitor but not before your brother discusses with his employer.

Finally, I would not assume for one minute that all employers have insurance. The vast majority of them will, but there is always the irresponsible few who will go without.

Thanks for the advice.

From what he has told me it seems as if it was one of those bad freakish accidents. By that i assume the machine was ok and i presume he would have been trained on it as he has worked there for years though maybe not i dont know. He doesnt want to land his employer in it if you know what i mean for dodgy work conditions but obviously, if he is entitled to some compensation, he should go for it as he will missing part of his fingers for life. I say they are insured too as they seem legit guys but again i am just assuming but I would be pretty certain of this. So basically the best of action would be to speak to the employer before going to a solicitor. I presume they would nearly be expecting a claim anyways.

Tom Young

We don't do legal advice and users shouldn't give it! Have your brother see a solicitor.