Thompsons work injury solicitors in Scotland were contacted by James Shields, a 61-year-old bag plant operator, via his union Unite, in relation to two injuries he suffered as a result of health and safety failings in his workplace.

The background

On 1 May 2019, Mr Shields had been fulfilling his usual role at Hyspec Engineering Limited. This involved spraying moulds with fibreglass resin. As part of the process, our client was required to sit the moulds on top of a cardboard disk in order to prevent the base of the mould from becoming stuck to the floor. However, the cardboard disk regularly became stuck to the mould and this required the bag plant operators to kick the cardboard disk so that it could be broken free from the mould.

On the day of Mr Shield's workplace injury, he had been kicking the cardboard free from a mould when he felt a sudden and acute pain in his foot. He immediately informed his line manager of the incident and the pain prevented him from working any further. Mr Shields left the plant to have his foot x-rayed.

The consequences

Mr Shields was diagnosed with an acute non-chronic plantar fasciitis tear which meant he could not work for several weeks. He was unable to walk or drive for two weeks and the injury took 10 weeks in total to heal.

In the course of his employment at the plant, Mr Shields had also developed cervical spondylosis as a result of the heavy lifting he carried out during his nine years at Hyspec Engineering Limited. This has resulted in periods of significant back and neck pain.

The settlement

After contacting Thompsons work injury solicitors, a claim was intimated to Mr Shields’ employer, who admitted liability.

After receiving notice from us, the firm’s legal representative made a work injury settlement offer of £6,116.29. This was rejected on our client’s instructions. We made a counter offer of £6,500 which was accepted by the employer’s insurer. Settlement was arranged on 7 July 2020.