Employee left with permanent scarring after accident at work awarded £13500 compensation

A Derbyshire drainage engineer and tanker driver has been allocated £13500 after being left with scarring and nerve damage following an accident at work.
Matthew Cooper was asked to go to a job as part of his role at a Derby-based liquid waste company, having not been informed of what his specific duties would be until he appeared. Mr Cooper was then informed that he would be responsible for taking apart heavy plastic panels that constituted a temporary road in a field. The road, constructed to allow waste tankers to gain easy access to the sewer that had been installed, was no longer needed and the wast company were in a hurry to return the panels.

Mr Cooper had never undertaken such work before, nor had he ever received the appropriate training to be able to undertake the task adequately. Nevertheless, he was instructed to begin lifting the 35 kilogram panels on to pallets which would then be lifted on to a lorry using a hook mechanism.
As the pallets full of panels were being lifted onto a lorry for their return, one of the pallets split, spilling the panels to the ground in the process, and hitting Mr Cooper in the leg and foot and causing him to bleed and fall to the ground.
Fortunately, one of his colleagues was able to take Mr Cooper to hospital where the wounds were cleaned up and bandaged. Mr Cooper was told not put any pressure on the leg. Aside from scarring, Mr Cooper was left with considerable recurring pain and was unable to work for six weeks.
Following his accident, Mr Cooper contacted Express Solicitors who argued successfully that his injuries were caused largely by the negligence of his employers.

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