£412,500 damages for workplace death

The family of an engineer who died in a workplace accident has received £412,500. The man died after being crushed by the machine he was trying to fix. He had entered the machine having operated the safety stop devices when, without warning, the machine moved and part of it descended onto his chest. His colleagues and fire fighters worked to free him but he died from his injuries. Investigations by his lawyer from Thompsons found that an engineer at the company had previously attempted to fix the machine in the same way and had himself narrowly avoided being hurt in the same manner. The incident was never reported and staff weren’t warned about the danger. The firm admitted liability and settled the family’s claim out of court.