Is anyone else irritated by the current advert for the personal injuries claim solicitors?
The one that features a man injured in the tyre fitters when a jack collapsed on him.
Everyone knows you should never work under a vehicle supported only on a jack. So why did he manage to get compensation for flouting health and safety rules?
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So why did he manage to get compensation for flouting health and safety rules?
For the management not providing a safe system of work and allowing him to work in a dangerous manner and allowing those rules to be broken.
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So why did he manage to get compensation for flouting health and safety rules? For the management not providing a safe system of work and allowing him to work in a dangerous manner and allowing those rules to be broken.
It's as much the employee's responsibility as the employer's. If safety equipment is provided, staff are instructed in its use, and they ignore it it is their responsibility.
That's my point. It's his tone of voice as he displays his lack of personal responsibility that makes me reach for the Attenuate button.
Similarly annoying is "Gary, 25, technician with Autoglass".
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It takes more than an advert to irritate me.
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Sensible man.
But if you look at what the NHS now pays out in compensation (and I'm not suggesting that none of it is due) you can't help wondering about the growth in the "let's sue everybody" culture.
It came here from the US where they call the lawyers "ambulance chasers", I believe.
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Real examples in the US include the woman who successfully sued a burger chain because she burned herself when the cup of hot coffee she had bought spilled on her. He was driving with it grasped between her legs at the time.
And not ambulance chasing, but the woman who used to dry her dog in the oven after bathing it, and then got a microwave and used that because it would be quicker.... poor dog died but she successfully sued because the instruction did not say you shouldn't put live animals in the microwave! End result, all the obvious disclaimers etc. on products today.
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"He was driving with it grasped between her legs". Interesting typo! Sounds like fun but might be illegal when driving! :)
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Real examples in the US include the woman who successfully sued a burger chain because she burned herself when the cup of hot coffee she had bought spilled on her. He was driving with it grasped between her legs at the time. And not ambulance chasing but the woman who used to dry her dog in the oven after bathing it and then got a microwave and used that because it would be quicker.... poor dog died but she successfully sued because the instruction did not say you shouldn't put live animals in the microwave! End result all the obvious disclaimers etc. on products today.
I'm sure I read something like this on an urban myths page.
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>>I'm sure I read something like this on an urban myths page.
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like this
www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/microwavedpet.asp
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The microwave pet story was told to us by an ex barrister at University. So I assume not an urban myth. The woman who sued for a coffee burn is also true.
The woman's case was: Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants, P.T.S., Inc., No. D-202 CV-93-02419, 1995 WL 360309 (Bernalillo County, N.M. Dist. Ct. Aug. 18, 1994) and she got $2.86m originally but was reduced by the judge.
Edited by rtj70 on 04/09/2009 at 17:01
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>>The microwave pet story was told to us by an ex barrister at University. So I assume not an urban myth.
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Oh dear :-(
Perhaps pass him my Stopes link?
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It was in 1991... where might he be now ;-)
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It came here from the US where they call the lawyers "ambulance chasers" I believe.
One less to chase.
It happened outside the dept where my daughter works but fortunately she was not on shift.
The LFB report :-
"Carshalton ? ambulance fire 02 September 2009
Four fire engines and around 20 firefighters were called to vehicle fire at a hospital site on Wrythe Lane, Carshalton, yesterday afternoon. An ambulance was badly damaged by the blaze and another adjacent vehicle was partly damaged by fire.
The Brigade was called at 1650 and the fire was under control by 1841. Fire crews from Clapham, Wallington, Sutton and Mitcham stations were at the scene.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
I like the bland report especially as the amulance exploded. Two out of six on board cylinders appear to have exploded and one lucky fireman escaped serious injury.
As expected,Youtube has some video.
tinyurl.com/nl5x46
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Never heard this advert but I know of one case (did a short law course at Uni) where someone in a warehouse climbed on the shelving to reach something instead of using a ladder. He slipped, reached out and his ring on his ring finger got caught and ripped off his finger.
He tried suing his employer but instead he was prosecuted by health and safety himself.
So with the example in the advert, I'd be surprised if he was entitled to anything.
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Unfortunatley in the UK it is not enough to give people the right tools and prtective equipment.
You have to ensure that they use them.
Hence the prolifertion of signs on building sites saying "no boots, no hat, no vest etc - No job"
And they mean it!
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Some folks don't want to take responsibility for their actions, if the guy crawls under a car without supporting it properly the n he has no one but himself to blame. I think this compensation culture has gone too far, not that emplyers are not to provide safe working environments but there has to be some common sense.
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