Boat builder awarded £40k in damages after accident
Yachting & Boating World: A man has been awarded £40,000 in damages after an accident with boat-building equipment left him with a permanent deformity and loss of function in his right hand.
Robert Gibbons , a 30-year-old from Howdon near Newcastle, was not long into a new job as a plater at boat company Alnmaritec Ltd when the accident occurred.
He was awarded the compensation four years after the accident happened in September 2010. While using a flat bar pyramid rolls machine, Mr Gibbons took his foot off the pedal, which should have stopped the machine, and reached to adjust the aluminium sheet he was working on.
Due to a fault, the machine failed to stop when he released the foot pedal and his right hand was subsequently dragged inside the machine. Mr Gibbons was taken to hospital having fractured both his index and little finger, leaving him with a permanent deformity, one finger bent at a 90 degree angle and a 20% loss of overall function in his right hand.
He was unable to work for several months following the accident and contacted a personal injury lawyer firm the following week. Mr Gibbons has now accepted £40,000 from Alnmaritec Ltd in way of damages, after turning down three previous offers from the company.
Speaking to Chronicle Live, Mr Gibbons sad: “I have effectively been left with three working fingers and one thumb on my right hand. “My little finger is just skin and bone with no tissue. It was a really horrible accident, but Thompsons did a very good job to secure me a fair level of compensation.”
Thompsons Solicitors’ Trevor Hall said: “This traumatic accident sends a message out to all employers and their workforces: faulty work equipment can cause serious injuries, basic maintenance is a must not an option. “Mr Gibbons has been left with limited hand function and a permanent deformity because his employer failed to keep to simple workplace safety standards.”
