A personal injury claim arising from an incident which took place in a Lossiemouth pizza takeaway has provided a good example of how a criminal conviction can be used in a personal injury claim to pave the way for the claim to succeed. This is a procedural decision from the All-Scotland Personal Injury Court in Edinburgh. In this article we will consider three aspects of how a criminal conviction helps with a personal injury claim. Firstly, we will look at the law in relation to the use of criminal convictions in civil proceedings such as personal injury claims. Secondly, we will see how the reference to a criminal conviction in the Lossiemouth case helped the claimant establish that compensation should be payable to him. Finally, we will look at the question of whether it is ever possible for a person who is blamed for an accident/injury to argue their way out of it even if there is a criminal conviction against them. Continue Reading
Why Walking on National Speed Limit Roads during the Hours of Darkness is such a Bad Idea
Most of us did this experiment in school Science class. Using a 30cm ruler, one person holds it at the “30” mark and lets it hang down vertically. Their partner (person 2) puts the thumb and first finger of one hand at either side of the “0cm” mark on the ruler. Person 2’s fingers should almost touch the ruler, but not quite. Without warning, person 1 lets go of the ruler. Person 2 tries to stop the ruler’s descent as quickly as they can, by closing their finger and thumb together. You record the level (in cm), just above person 2’s finger, where the ruler was caught. You repeat the test five times and work out the average “catch distance” for the person. A conversion table allows you to translate the distance along the ruler into a reaction time, in milliseconds (thousandths of a second – i.e. one second is a thousand milliseconds). According to one such table, the first centimetre (“0cm – 1cm”) equates to 50 milliseconds. It then increases by 10 milliseconds per Continue Reading
How Speed Affects the Outcome of Pedestrian Road Accident Collisions
Escape velocity is the speed an object must reach to break the bonds of a planet’s gravitational force and get into orbit. To enter orbit around the Earth, for example, a spacecraft needs to be going at a staggering 7 miles per second (25,000 miles per hour). This creates a difficult series of connected problems. The vehicle requires a lot of fuel. Fuel adds weight. More weight means more thrust is required. Greater thrust demands more fuel. And so it goes on … Another situation where speed has a crucial effect on the outcome is in relation to pedestrian road traffic accidents. In this article, we will consider the significance of vehicle speed in pedestrian collisions. Secondly, we will consider the effect of some other factors apart from impact speed. Finally, we will look at some of the implications for measures which can be taken to improve road safety. Frontal impact collision research has considered the effect of speed. Research into road accidents involving Continue Reading
Test Your Knowledge of Ladder and Stepladder Safety
In the period 2004/05, according to HSE statistics, a third of all reported incidents involving a fall from height also involved ladders or stepladders. This equated to an average of 14 deaths from ladder accidents per year and 1,200 major injuries in the workplace. Many injuries were caused by incorrect use of the equipment. HSE’s theory was that misuse of ladders at work could be partly explained by the way they were used in the home. They did not elaborate on that observation but they probably meant that we all tend to learn about the use of ladders and stepladders by trial and error and from other people (e.g. relatives) who are not necessarily trained in their use. This results in us having an unjustified level of confidence in the use of ladders and stepladders. It can lead to dangers in the home but it is likely to be much more dangerous in the workplace. HSE’s figures for 2014/15 show that falls from height accounted for nearly three in ten fatal injuries to workers (41 Continue Reading
Wrist Injury Claims
Elgin’s Dr Gray’s Hospital takes its name from Alexander Gray. He was born in Elgin but died in India in 1807, having spent over 20 years working as a surgeon for the East India Company. He had amassed quite a fortune and he bequeathed the bulk of his estate to his native town. The sum of £20,000 (probably equivalent to more than £1 million today) was allocated “for the establishment of a hospital … for the sick and the poor”. Gray’s next of kin contested the will and it was not until 1814 that a court declared the money to be free for use to buy a plot of ground on the west side of the town. Building went ahead from the following year and the (then, 30-bed) hospital opened on 01 January 1819. 1814 was an important year for the future practice of medicine in Moray but it was also an important year in the wider medical world. 1814 was also a significant year in relation to the diagnosis and treatment of wrist injuries. In 1814, Abraham Colles (1773–1843), an Irish surgeon who Continue Reading
The Influence of European Law on Personal Injury Claims in Scotland
'What have the Romans ever done for us?' is one of the most quoted scenes from Monty Python's iconic film, Life of Brian. John Cleese as Reg, leader of The People's Front of Judea, poses the question at a secret meeting of the group, expecting no or few positive responses from his colleagues. This, he hopes, will reinforce the group's resolve to overthrow their 'pointless' and unwelcome rulers. Instead, their brainstormed list of the benefits of Roman occupation grows and grows, with great comic effect. Exasperated, in an effort to bring the discussion to an end, Reg snarls: 'Alright - but apart from sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the freshwater system and public health ... what have the Romans ever done for us?' (The next and final answer, before the meeting is suddenly interrupted by a threatening knock on the door, is: 'Brought peace'). The serious point, well made by this film scene, is that the influence of the Roman Empire in the Continue Reading
Lifting Operations Accident In Moray Firth Harbour Caused By Confusion In Communication
Confusion in communication is a common cause of accidents. It seems to have played a central role in a serious incident on the coast of the Moray Firth, recently reported on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website. A worker suffered facial and hand injuries as a result of an accident in Wick Harbour in January 2013 Brian Reid (‘R’), who was employed by a subcontractor, was lowered into the hold of a ship in a man riding basket lifted by a crane. Wind turbine components were to be unloaded from the ship. R was removing sea fastenings to enable the unloading to take place. Hugh Simpson (Contractors) Limited (‘HSCL’) was in charge of the lifting operation. Neither the basket nor R could be seen by the crane operator whilst R was in the hold of the ship The employee of HSCL who was in charge of lifting operations on the day was on the deck of the ship to provide a communication link between R and the crane operator by means of hand signals. After R had removed one of the sea Continue Reading
Manual Handling Accidents
In rural California in the mid-1980s, Mike Yurosek had a problem which was common to all carrot farmers. More than half his crop was going to waste because it was considered too ‘ugly’ for retail. Carrots which were malformed, crooked or too large were written off as unsaleable and consigned to the bin. After some experimentation and some false-starts with different cutting implements, Yurosek settled on an industrial green-bean cutter, which cut the second-class carrots into regular 2-inch pieces. Unsure as to the reaction he would get, he sent a free bag of the alternative carrots with the usual delivery to one of his local retail clients. Next day, they called him to say that from then on they only wanted the new design of carrots. Yurosek had invented the ‘baby carrot’. In so doing, he lifted the carrot industry out of a rut. By 1987 – the year after his discovery – carrot consumption in the U.S. had risen by 30%. In the decade to 1997, carrot consumption doubled. Continue Reading
Supermarket Slipping Accidents
Growing up in the U.S. in the middle of last century, Irving Naxon’s mother told him stories of her own childhood in a small village in Lithuania. Every Friday afternoon, she took a pot of uncooked stew to the local bakery, where it was placed in the oven. While everyone observed the Jewish Sabbath on the Saturday, the dish simmered in the slowly cooling oven. By evening, it was cooked to perfection and ready to be collected and eaten by the family. Naxon was inspired by this story and, throughout the 1950s and 1960s, sought to develop a way of cooking which was both economical and environmentally friendly. His invention was the Naxon Beanery – a pot surrounded by a heating element which mimicked the cooking method from the Eastern European bakery. The ‘slow cooker’ was born. When Naxon retired in 1971, he sold his business. The new owners refined the cooker’s design and renamed it the Crock Pot. Today, crock pots are integral to American cooking: they’re low-effort, efficient and Continue Reading
Removing Right To Claim For Whiplash Injury Is Thin End Of The Wedge
As a bus passenger most days between Lossiemouth and Elgin, the recent unreliability of the Stagecoach service has been a regular topic of conversation. It has made me wonder how you can give an incentive to provide on-time servicing to a company with a virtual monopoly of the local bus service. How about we all get the automatic right to claim compensation from Stagecoach for our hassle and inconvenience every time a bus is more than 15 minutes late? An end to compensation for minor whiplash In his Autumn Statement for 2015, the Chancellor announced that the Westminster government intends to introduce measures to end the right to compensation for minor whiplash injuries. (We don't know yet how 'minor' is to be defined). Scotland not included Our understanding is that these proposed reforms would apply only to England and Wales (and not Scotland or Northern Ireland). However, we’re highlighting these proposals because we consider the principle to be so important. The Continue Reading
Road Traffic Accident Questions Your Solicitor Needs Answered
If you are making a personal injury claim as a result of an accident, your solicitor needs a lot of information from you at the outset. So much information, in fact, that it can be easy to overlook something important. This post contains a list of questions relevant to personal injury claims arising from road traffic accidents. A checklist like this can help to make sure your solicitor gets as much of the crucial information as possible. At the foot of the article is a link to a downloadable pdf document, which contains all the questions as a handy reference. In this type of case, it will be necessary to show that the accident was caused by fault or negligence (that is, some blameworthy or careless act or omission) on the part of the other driver. Your solicitor will want to have the following information from you, as far as possible. Road traffic accident questions to answer for your personal injury solicitor 1 Your full name, date of birth, address and telephone number, Continue Reading
Slip On Ice At Work Case Clarifies Law On Workplace Personal Injury Claims
Imagine you're employed as a home carer in Scotland. Your work requires you to go out at all times of day and in all kinds of weather to provide personal care to the elderly, vulnerable and terminally-ill. One night in winter, with snow and ice lying on the ground, you slip and fall as you make your way to one of your client's homes. You break your wrist. The flat boots you were wearing had ridged soles but their grip was not enough to keep you upright. It turns out that crampon-like shoe attachments were available at reasonable cost and they would probably have prevented your fall if your employer had given you them to use. In other words, you can argue that your employer failed to take proper care for your safety, by failing to provide adequate personal protective equipment, so you have a right to claim compensation from them for your injuries and other losses. On the other hand, periodic sub-zero temperatures are a fact of life in northern Europe, aren't they? Anyone Continue Reading
