Our client was an 18-year-old man who enjoyed playing union, dirt bike riding, push bike riding and skateboarding.
Employed at an abattoir, his duties were usually to pick meat off the conveyor belt and split them. He would use a knife and the machines available to take off portions of meat. For protection he wore a chain mesh glove on his left hand and wore a full chain mesh body piece, which went down his left arm, covered his chest and stomach as well as his hips.
On the day of his injury, he was throwing bones down a chute. It was the first day he had ever been instructed to perform this task. He wasn’t informed of any risks in the task or any signs in the area which detailed any of the inherent risks in performing this task.
One of the bones placed in the chute landed under the top conveyor belt and rollers. He reached for the bone when the belt caught his index finger, taking his right hand with it, getting his hand caught under the conveyor and dragged through the roller. The conveyor belt kept running while our client looked for an emergency stop button but was unable to reach it. Our client’s hand was trapped until co-workers were able to take apart the conveyor to release his hand. It was later found that the belt was sagging on the rollers, causing the incident to occur.
Our client’s right hand was severely injured, ligaments and tendons were severed resulting in a loss of range of motion in the wrist as well as severe neurological injuries such as loss of feeling to the hand.
Our client initially sought assistance from other lawyers, however due to complications in getting the necessary documentation together he did not pursue a further claim at that time.
Eventually our client sought advice from one of our expert personal injury lawyers with respect to the possibility of a lump sum claim. We immediately obtained investigator statements and other medical evidence on behalf of our client.
Expert opinion reports on our client’s physical injuries were obtained and our Independent Medical Examiner assessed him with a combined Whole Person Impairment rating of more than 15% for his injuries. These were calculated by combining the assessments for range of movement, motor impairment and sensory loss.
A Medical Assessment Certificate was requested from the Personal Injury Commission and our client was ultimately assessed at 15% whole person impairment. A lump sum claim was lodged, and our client was awarded a sum more than $22,000.
We advised the client about lodging a claim for Work Injury Damages, also known as a common law claim. Reports from suitably qualified experts were obtained regarding our client’s work environment to provide opinions as to whether:
- the employer was negligent for failing to provide Work, Health, and Safety training,
- the employer provided safe system of work, and
- sufficient training was provided to carry out the client’s job adequately.
A mediation was organised with the insurer where we provided the relevant expert opinion reports on liability, investigator’s statements, medical evidence, and income loss documents. Ultimately, we negotiated and obtained an offer from the insurer that our client was happy to accept in order to resolve his claim.