Employers’ Duty to Provide the Right Kind of Safety Gear
22/07/2009 4:54
on: Health Management, Legal Center, Marketing
Fast Track Site Services agreed to compensate and settle the issue of Ian Pearson’s accident that had left him with a permanent damage to his eyes.
Ian Pearson, a steel erector, was working on the Wembley football stadium in December 2005 for the same company, which now stands dissolved, at the time of the accident. He hurt his eye when a galvanized coating of a pin broke off and struck his eye through the goggles. Apparently, the goggles didn’t fit the requirement of the job. The injury led to permanently blurring of his vision apart from other symptoms. Pearson received £6,500 in compensation from the company.
Adrian Axtell, East Midlands Region Unite Regional Secretary was of the view that it was the responsibility of the workers to be fully dressed before entering a site, but it was the employer who had the responsibility to make sure that the safety gear used was appropriate for the kind of work done by the workers. Health and safety training is essential; for managers and supervisors NEBOSH training is designed to provide you with the knowledge to manage safely and effectively in compliance with both your organisation’s policy and best practice in health and safety, click on NEBOSH Distance Learning for info on a tailored course to suit your needs of your team.
Laura Hadfield from Thompsons Solicitors expressed similar thoughts when she said that in Ian’s case the accident could have been avoided had the company shown more responsibility by providing the right goggles to him considering the kind of work he was doing. She put the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of Fast Track Site Services for being careless and failing to provide appropriate security gear to its workers.
