Circumstances of accident
We acted on behalf of a client who was working in the course of her employment as a care assistant in a home. Whilst providing a resident with care, the resident became agitated and declined care. Our client attempted to remove herself from the environment as she had been trained to do. Our client’s colleague, who was attempting to calm the resident, accidentally wrenched our client’s finger. This was partly due to the limited space within the room.
Our client’s employer denied liability for the accident.
How we helped our client
We raised a Court action to ensure that our client was appropriately compensated.
We obtained a report from a health & safety expert who considered that the risk assessment for the specific resident, who was known to be aggressive, was inadequate. There were insufficient measures put in place by our client’s employer to mitigate against the risk of injury to its staff. Further, the risk assessment did not consider the layout of the room to ensure there was an escape protocol for staff in certain situations.
We also obtained medical evidence from a consultant orthopaedic surgeon to comment upon the wrenching injury to our client’s finger. This concluded that our client had sustained an exacerbation of a pre-existing injury which did require surgery. We also obtained a report from a consultant psychiatrist to comment upon the significant psychological symptoms suffered because of her physical injury and inability to continue working.
Settlement
Whilst liability was denied by our client’s employer, we robustly investigated and presented a case to them on their breaches of duty of care. As a result, we were able to achieve settlement of our client’s claim in the sum of £10,000.
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