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Slips, trips, falls and violence cause the most common workplace injury

The data also reveals that construction is the most dangerous industry to work in, with 38 fatal injuries taking place in this sector last year, closely followed by the agriculture industry, which experienced 29 deaths as a result of workplace accidents.
occupational health

The number of workplace injuries caused by slips, trips and falls in 2017/18* reached 21,730, an average of more than 417 each week and over 7,000 more than the second most common cause of injuries, handling lifting or carrying. Contributor Jane Woodcock, Head of Personal Injury – Hudgell Solicitors.

7,024 injuries occurred when employees were struck by a moving or falling object, and 5,445 were injured when falling from a height. Shockingly, over 5,000 workplace injuries were caused by acts of violence.

The data also reveals that construction is the most dangerous industry to work in, with 38 fatal injuries taking place in this sector last year, closely followed by the agriculture industry, which experienced 29 deaths as a result of workplace accidents.

Worker heard lamppost “snap like a twig”

Malcolm Smart was employed as a street lighting supervisor, an industry he had worked in for over 30 years, when he fell three metres to the floor as a concrete lamppost he was working on snapped.

The grandfather, suffered multiple fractures to his left leg and ankle, with doctors considering at one stage whether it would be better to amputate the limb rather than operate. Neither Mr Smart’s employer nor the council which owned the street lights ever admitted being responsible for causing his injuries.

Speaking about the accident, Mr Smart said: “I had about 15 jobs on this particular day, and we could not get cherry-pickers or scaffolding to this lamppost for logistical reasons. It was work policy that if there is no vehicular access, ladders could be used, which is quite common.

“I was working with my son on this day and he wasn’t very happy with going up ladders, so I said ‘it’s not a problem’ as despite being a supervisor I was allowed to help out when it was needed. I carried out my normal visual checks, and went up.”

After carrying out basic visual checks, Mr Smart went about his job. Although there was no apparent physical evidence of any defects with the lamppost, it snapped internally, with Mr Smart saying he heard a ‘cracking sound like a twig being snapped’.

“It happened very quickly, I heard the crack and I felt it through the ladders. I can remember shouting ‘I’m falling’ and hung on to the ladders and fell, ending up lying flat against them with my face against the lamppost and my foot was sticking out at a funny angle as I landed.”

He says he suffered agonising physiotherapy and attended regular outpatient clinics for three full years, but after seeing no improvement in the pain, he underwent another operation in November 2014 to fuse his left foot and ankle together, leaving him with just 10 per cent movement in his foot.

Top 10 causes of accidents in the workplace

Slips, trips or falls

Handling, lifting or carrying

Struck by a moving object

Falls from height

Acts of violence

Contact with moving machinery

Strike against something fixed or stationary

Struck by moving vehicle

Exposure to or contact with a harmful substance

Injured by an animal

Jane Woodcock, Head of Personal Injury at Hudgell Solicitors said: “As we can see from Malcolm’s story, workplace accident’s can have a devastating impact on people’s lives and even lead to fatalities in extreme cases.

“A lot of the time, these types of accidents are a result of negligence and not following appropriate health and safety measures, and therefore can be completely avoided. We’d always advise employers to make sure their workers are fully up to speed with all health and safety policies, and even regularly test their employees to ensure workplace accidents and injuries are kept to a minimum.”

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