Circumstances of accident
We acted on behalf of our client in a claim for personal injury arising from an accident at work.
Our client was employed as a cleaner for a commercial cleaning company. She was working at premises owned by the local authority but leased by a third party. Whilst she was carrying out cleaning duties, a piece of the ceiling came loose and struck our client on the head.
Both our client’s employer and the lease owners denied liability. The employer denied liability on the basis that the lease owners were responsible for maintenance. The lease owners denied liability on the basis that our client’s employer owed had a duty to take reasonable care for our client’s safety whilst at work and this duty could not be discharged by virtue of our client working “off-site”.
Liability was not straightforward as several parties were potentially responsible for the accident. We therefore raised court proceedings against the employer, the local authority and the lease owners.
How we helped our client
As a result of the accident, our client sustained a soft tissue injury to her neck, shock, headaches and dizziness due to the accident.
We recovered a copy of the lease which set out who had responsibility for maintenance. We then obtained a liability report from a health & safety expert who concluded that the room of the premises had been in a state of disrepair for some time. Importantly, the expert considered that had the room been properly maintained, it is highly unlikely that the incident would have occurred.
Settlement
We were able to obtain a settlement of £2,500 which was split between the three responsible parties. Our client was delighted with this result.
