FedEx Delivery Driver Awarded £35,000 After Suffering Chronic Back Injury At Work

Oakwood Solicitors Ltd has secured £35,000 in compensation after a client suffered a serious back  injury whilst working as a delivery driver for FedEx.

The injuries occurred after the client was exposed to excessive manual handing and unsafe working conditions whilst delivering items weighing up to 50kg to customers homes.

As a result, he experienced chronic pain, life-altering injuries and had to undergo surgery.

Asimah Ali, a Solicitor in Oakwood Solicitors’ Industrial Disease Department worked on the case. She said:

“We were pleased to represent Mr. Parker in his back injury claim. Although, the claim was complex, we were able to reach a successful conclusion in his claim, obtain a fantastic result and secure a significant sum of compensation for Mr. Parker and his injuries.”

Mr. Parker said:

“Oakwood Solicitors were fantastic; my solicitor Asimah Ali was very knowledgeable and professional in dealing with my personal injury claim. Asimah would always communicate with me as soon as there were any updates with my claim and overall, I was extremely pleased with how everything was dealt with.

“Before I made the phone call, I was unsure if I would even get anything in terms of compensation but after talking to Asimah and explaining my situation, Oakwood Solicitors Ltd proceeded with my claim and Asimah helped me secure compensation for my personal injury.

“I am extremely happy with the outcome and grateful for the help as the compensation money will really help me out financially, if anyone else had any similar injuries to myself I would highly recommend Oakwood Solicitors.”

Circumstances of the case

Mr. Parker, from Boston, Lincolnshire, had worked as a courier and delivery driver for FedEx from 2018/19 to July 2023, during the time the injuries occurred.

Mr. Parker reported being exposed to excessive manual handling and unsafe working conditions when delivering items weighing up to 50 kg to customers’ homes using a Mercedes Sprinter van.

In his role, Mr. Parker said that he had to make between 40-60 stops every day with a maximum of over 100 parcels/deliveries that needed to be delivered.

He also said that he was required to lift and move heavy items out of the back of the van in order to get to other deliveries which were often placed in a disorganised manner.

Disorganised vans

He noted that some problems arose from the way night staff loaded the vans, as items were not organised correctly for his delivery routes. This disorganisation forced him to manually lift heavy items from the back of the van at customer locations without proper safeguards in place.

Additionally, strict time constraints prevented him from rearranging the van before starting his deliveries. When he raised these concerns with management, his manager shrugged his shoulders and said there was nothing they could do.

Chronic pain

In summer 2019, less than a year after starting, Mr. Parker began experiencing chronic back pain which affected his personal and work life.

Medical examinations revealed a ruptured disc issue, resulting in ongoing pain radiating down his legs, at times, severe enough to prevent him from walking. He underwent surgery in 2020 but faced a similar situation a year later after lifting another heavy box, necessitating further surgery for a disc prolapse.

No manual handling training

Mr. Parker alleged that when he first started working for the company, there was no manual handling training given to him.

However, basic manual handling training was given to him after his first back operation which did not actually reflect the manual handling, he was doing in the environment he was working in.

Mr. Parker added that he was not provided with any adequate training regarding proper manual handling and lifting of the items that he was required to load out of the van, move, manoeuvre, lift and deliver.

Mr. Parker said that company provided equipment, such as a pallet truck and sack barrow, which he used in lifting the loads. Despite this, some of the items were heavy and too big for the pallet so he could not necessarily use the pallet trucks when lifting, manoeuvring and delivering the loads, so these were not always fit for use.

Life-altering injuries

Following his injuries, it was determined that the company had not assessed Mr. Parker’s  capacity to perform his duties, despite him undergoing two operations  while employed there.

Consequently, Mr. Parker endured chronic and life-altering injuries, comprising of a disc prolapse, requiring surgery, physiotherapy, MRI scans,  medication and various periods of absence from work.

After engaging in legal representation from Oakwood Solicitors Ltd, Mr. Parker received an out of court settlement in the sum of £35,000. Investigations revealed that the company violated and breached several Manual Handling and Health and Safety at Work regulations, including but not limited to:

• Failure to avoid the need for the claimant to undertake a manual handling operation which involved risk to Mr. Parker being injured contrary to Regulation 4 ( 1) (a) of the Manual Handling Operations 1992 ;
• Failure to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the manual handling operation to be undertaken by Mr. Parker or to take appropriate steps to reduce the risk of injury arising out of the operation to the lowest level contrary to Regulation 4(1)(b) of the Manual Handling Operations 1992;
• Failure to take appropriate steps to reduce the risk of injury arising out of the operation to the lowest level contrary to Regulations 4(1)(b)(ii) of the Manual Handling Regulations 1992;
• Failure to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk to which Mr Parker was exposed contrary to Regulations 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at work Regulations 1992;
• Failure to ensure the workplace, equipment, devices and systems were maintained in an efficient working order and kept in good repair namely you failed to ensure a proper system of work in regards to the manual handling operations;
• Employed Mr. Parker to lift, move or manoeuvre loads so heavy as to likely cause injury;
• Failure to provide or maintain for the claimant a safe system of work, failed to provide for the claimant safe or adequate plant or equipment; and
• In all the circumstances exposed Mr. Parker to a danger or a trap or a foreseeable risk of injury.

If you have suffered an injury or illness caused by poor workplace practices, get in touch with Oakwood Solicitors today to find out how we can help you.

Further reading

Industrial disease claims – Oakwood Solicitors

Reasonable adjustments at work – ACAS

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