Printing caused a Dislocated Knee

Our client was working as a printer in an area with ten printers, some of which had mats in front of them.  The floor underneath the mats was grey-painted concrete and it’s understood that the mats were to protect the paint from wear, tear and spillages.  Our client had turned to put some printed paper on a table behind him.  As he was turning back to the machine to reload it, he caught his foot in the matting causing his foot and knee to remain still while he continued to turn.  As a consequence our client dislocated his knee.

 

Lawson West began a personal injury claim against our client’s employer.  The employer was at fault because they had:-

 

·         placed the mat on the floor so creating a hazard

·         failed to keep the floor free from obstructions in breach of Regulation 12(1) of the Workplace (Health and Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992

·         left a torn mat on the floor so failing to ensure that the floor surface was even, exposing our client to the risk of a trip or fall

·         failed to remove the mat when it created a hazard

·         failed to take any adequate care for the safety of our client

·         failed to respond to previous complaints about the mats.

 

The accident was witnessed by colleagues.  Prior to the accident, there had been complaints about the state of the mats, which had caused people to trip over them.   After the accident, the mat our client caught his foot in was discovered to have been torn.

 

As a result of the accident our client dislocated his knee.  Initially his knee was put in a half cast and then a full cast for a total of 6 weeks.  As well as a knee operation, our client had physiotherapy and follow-up scans to check his knee was not going to have any long term damage.  He was unable to work for six weeks and had to return to lighter duties while undergoing treatment for his knee injury.

 

The employer accepted liability and our client was awarded £3000 general damages for his knee injury.  Lawson-West also recovered costs of medical treatment, scans and physiotherapy.