Thompsons NI successful in case for USDAW member injured at work

The expert Thompsons NI personal injury team was approached by an USDAW member who works at a distribution centre for one of the UK’s largest supermarket retail chains.

The union member was working a night shift between 8pm to 8am when a delivery lorry arrived. He was tasked with working with a colleague to unload trolleys from the delivery lorry - this was a two-person job which required communication and co-operation between both colleagues to ensure a safe place and system of work.

Our client’s role was to push the trolley to the tail lift on the lorry before then lowering the tail lift onto the floor of the warehouse. The role of his colleague was to wait for the tail lift to raise back to the lorry level and carry out the same task which our client successfully did. Unfortunately, his colleague became impatient and tried to rush the task by pulling more than one cage, and our client injured his left ankle and back.

We argued that our client’s employer was liable for the actions of his colleague on the basis that they failed to take due care and attention when carrying out the task which ultimately resulted in an injury.

After some brief discussions, the employer admitted fault and we arranged for our client to be medically examined by an A&E consultant to prepare a medical-legal report. Upon receipt of this report, we served this on the defendant’s employer before entering into settlement discussions.

We were delighted to resolve this matter from beginning to end in a timeframe of less than six months.

The USDAW member said: “Thanks to all at Thompsons NI for great service, help and support."