Our client was a very keen sportsman, playing soccer at least three times a week and also attending his gym on other days. Working as a boilermaker, he was required to carry out an installation at a high rise buildings air conditioning plant room. Whilst carrying sheets of galvernised steel, he steeped into a penetration which had not been properly guarded or covered. The result has been devastating. Suffering a severe injury to his back, he has required several bouts of hospitalisation culminating in disc replacement and spinal fusion. His marriage has suffered greatly as he felt he should not have children if he couldn’t fully participate with his wife in their upbringing. After rehabilitating himself as best he could, he has been left with permanent ongoing pain in his lower back. He is unable to run, lift weights, maintain his home and even to wash his car. His life has become a real struggle, but our client is determined to make the most of his lot and has at least managed to get back to work, albeit in a very light duty job. His sporting days are well and truly over. Simon Meigan and his litigation team commenced a work injury damages claim against the employer alleging a failure to maintain safe access, failure to maintain a safe place of work and a failure on the part of the employer to carry out a proper risk assessment of the work site prior to instructing our client to perform his duties. After a three day hearing, Simon was able to negotiate a very favourable settlement for our client. Commenting on the case Simon stated that: “Employers need to carry out proper risk assessments before sending employees in to carry out maintenance work. If this employer had done a proper assessment, action would have been taken to secure the penetration, thus preventing the serious injury to our client which has obviously had devastating consequences.”
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