Twenty one passengers have been seriously injured and two are in a critical condition after the train on which they were travelling collided with a sewage tanker at a railway crossing.
The accident happened at approximately 5.30pm on Tuesday, 17th August 2010, near the small village of Little Cornard, Sudbury in Suffolk when the two-carriage train hit a large sewage tanker lorry which was stationary on a ‘user-worked’ railway crossing. A total of 21 people suffered injuries in the accident and two of these have been taken to Colchester General Hospital with serious injuries, one of which, a 58 year old man is in intensive care and it is not yet clear whether he will survive his injuries. The other 19 injured passengers suffered less serious injuries in the form of cuts, bruises, back and neck pain and broken ribs.
It is understood that the sewage tanker split open upon impact causing sewage to spill over a wide area and the train was then de-railed however, it did not tip over. Witnesses described how they heard a loud bang when the collision occurred and then saw a number of distressed passengers wandering around the area in a daze covered in blood. One witness, a 65 year old man said “There was a very, very loud bang. I’ve never heard anything like it. I thought it was an aeroplane crash or a bomb going off.”
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British double Olympic champion rower, James Cracknell OBE, has been seriously injured after a bicycle accident in Arizona, USA.
The accident happened whilst 38 year old Cracknell, who won gold medals for rowing in the Olympics in Sydney 200 and Athens 2004, was filming a new TV series for the Discovery Channel and the BBC called ‘Cracknell’s Race Across America’ which involves him running, cycling and rowing across the United States when . Cracknell was cycling along a 2,500-mile stretch of Route 66 at around 5.30am on 20th July when he was hit from behind by a truck causing him to be flung off his bicycle. He was rushed to a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona where he was treated for a fractured skull and bruising to his brain in the neuro-trauma ward and he is now out of intensive care and believed to be making a good recovery.
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The BBC News Website has recently featured a story involving a 45 year old man being injured after he was crushed on a passenger ferry.
The 45 year old man from Poland has not yet been named, however it is understood that he was a crew member on the ‘Julia’ Swansea to Cork passenger ferry and that he was crushed by a water tight hydraulic door during his hours of work at approximately 11:45pm on Monday 12th July.
When the accident happened the ferry was approximately 10 miles south of St Anne’s Head, Milford Haven. The man was given first aid and medical treatment by on board nurses and members of the Milford Haven Coastguard who were called by other crew members and he was then airlifted to hospital by a helicopter from RMB Chivenor at around 2:40am the next morning. He is now being treated in North Devon District Hospital for a suspected broken pelvis.
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A report has recently been released in the media about an incident in which a man was accidentally shot in the groin with a Taser by a Police Officer.
This painful incident occurred on Tuesday 13th July 2010 when 49 year old Peter Cox from Somerset was stopped by police whilst driving his BMW motor car on suspicion of driving without insurance, a suspicion which later proved to be unfounded. Mr. Cox saw the Police car approaching in his rear view mirror and promptly pulled over outside of his friend’s house. Upon exiting the vehicle he was immediately confronted by a Police officer pointing a Taser stun weapon at him and although the officer promptly lowered the weapon, it discharged as he did so and it hit Mr. Cox in the groin and ankle, shocking him with 50,000 volts in the process.
The Taser narrowly missed the man’s genitals, knocked Mr. Cox to the ground and he had to be treated by paramedics. Mr. Cox suffers from Guillain Barre Syndrome which attacks the nervous system but he said that the pain he experienced from the Taser was worse than anything he had experienced before. He said “as soon as it was done the officer came running up to me apologizing and said it was an accidental discharge. It was dreadful. The pain was unbelievable. It was the worst pain I’d ever felt.”
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Reports have recently emerged in the media about the death of a stage hand who fell to his death on Thursday 15th July 2010 whilst working at a Will Young concert at Rochester Castle in Kent.
The as yet unnamed 40 year old ‘roadie’ was helping to prepare for the stars open-air show when he plunged off the stage to his death. It is understood that the man, who reportedly suffered severe facial and head injuries, was rushed to Medway Maritime Hospital by South East Coast Ambulance Service but they were unable to save his life and he was pronounced dead on arrival after going into cardiac arrest. A spokesperson for the ambulance service gave the following statement:
“We got called to Rochester Castle to a report of a man in his 40s who had apparently fallen off the stage and had severe facial and head injuries and severe bleeding. We were on the scene within six minutes. The patient was going into cardiac arrest and he was conveyed to the Medway Maritime Hospital. We pre-alerted the hospital of his arrival, which suggests he was in quite a bad way.”
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Summer is finally here and we are all enjoying the recent hot weather and hoping that this is going to last throughout July, August and beyond. With the 6 weeks school holidays fast approaching I’m sure many people will be looking at ways to entertain their children and one popular way in which to do this would be to hire a bouncy castle, particularly for summer birthday parties. However due to the nature of bouncy castles there is always risk of injury and it is important that parents and guardians who are thinking of hiring these assess the risks and be aware of the required level of care and supervision.
The most famous case involving injuries sustained on a bouncy castle is the Court of Appeal case of Harris V Perry 2008 which established the precedent for the duty of care owed by parents to their own and other children when they are playing together. In this case the Claimant, an 11 year old boy, suffered serious and permanent head injuries after being kicked in the head by another boy aged 15. The Defendants, Mr. and Mrs. Perry hired the inflatable castle, along with an inflatable bungee run, for their children’s birthday party and Mrs. Perry was supervising both inflatable’s in a position that she could see both. However, Mrs. Perry momentarily turned her back on the bouncy castle to attend another child on the bungee run and it was during this time when the incident occurred.
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Cases of stress in the workplace are on the rise every year and it is becoming a costly problem for all businesses. Studies have shown that approximately 1 in 3 of all workers experience high level of stress and a quarter of all workers state that their job is the main cause of stress in their lives. The latest figures released by the Health and Safety Executive show that absences from work cost the economy over £12 billion and of this it is estimated that stress related illness and absence now costs in the region of £5-7 billion.
So, what is workplace stress and what can you do about it? The Definition of workplace stress is the harmful physical and emotional response that occurs when there is a poor match between job demands and the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker. If you have suffered extreme stress as a result of your job then you may be able to claim compensation however, proving such claims is notoriously difficult as the evidential burden on anyone making a claim is extremely high. Another of the main problems in making a claim for stress is proving foreseeability and you need to ask the question: is it reasonable to suggest that the employer could have foreseen the injury?
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Sky and BBC news have recently published reports regarding an elderly woman who sustained injuries when a cleaning product exploded in her face.
Grandmother, Sheila Insch, was in the process of unblocking her drain using a product called ‘Dr Drain’ at her home in Hampshire when the product suddenly exploded causing the substance to splash all over her face. Mrs. Insch was rushed to Southampton General Hospital by her daughter where she received treatment for facial burns. However, Doctors have stated that she was lucky not to lose her eyesight and it was only the instinctive reaction of closing her eyes that prevented this.
Mrs. Insch said she experienced extreme pain and has issued a warning to others using similar products and has confirmed that she followed the instructions provided with the product in full. She said “I read the instructions and put two drops in. It started to bubble so I turned round to see what was happening and it exploded. It hit the ceiling and went straight into my face. I just grabbed something to wipe my face and I kept washing my face all the way to hospital. It was terribly painful, burning, it hurt“. Her daughter also described her horror and anguish stating “There’s nothing you could say to actually describe seeing your mother’s face melting in front of you“.
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Every year thousands of people are killed on British roads in road traffic accidents and a new report recently released by ‘The Road Safety Foundation’ has revealed the top ten most dangerous roads in Britain. The report, titled ‘Saving Lives For Less’ covers 28,000 miles of motorways and A-roads and revealed that half of all fatal road crashes occur on just one-tenth of all Britain’s roads.
The most dangerous road in Britain is revealed to be the A537 which runs between Macclesfield in Cheshire, and Buxton in Derbyshire. The road has severe bends, steep falls and is edged by dry stone walls and between 2007 and 2008, 34 people were killed on this road. The most improved road for safety is the A40 between Landover and Carmarthen.
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A story reported yesterday (30th June 2010) on the BBC News Website (source) about a young girl who has been crushed to death by an electrical gate in Manchester.
The 6 year old girl, named as Miss Semelia Campbell became trapped between a brick post and the wrought iron gate at around 7.30pm on Monday on the Lowry Estate in Moss Side, Manchester. Her Mother, Ms Judith Gilroy, watched on helplessly after the key fob she had failed to stop the gate moving and, although she also later switched off the electricity, she was unable to save her.
A police officer who rushed to the scene eventually managed to pull her out after he smashed the motor but she had already gone into cardiac arrest. She was rushed to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital but tragically she died a short time later.
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