Employee has leg amputated - Bakery company fined £400,000

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A food manufacturing company on the Wirral has been fined £400,000 after one of its employees had to have her leg amputated.

Sharon Bramhall lost a leg following a serious incident at Baker & Baker Products, which is based in Bromborough. The 58-year-old had to have her left leg amputated below the knee following the incident at the company’s premises on Stadium Road.

employee has leg amputated

Baker and Baker Products, which makes a wide variety of baked goods, pleaded guilty and was sentenced at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on 25 March 2024. In a statement provided to the court, Mrs. Bramhall said she felt ‘lucky’ it wasn’t worse.

“I know I could have died,” she said.

“Sometimes I wake up and just wish I’d booked that night off work for some reason and none of this would have happened.”

The court heard how Mrs. Bramhall had been supervising four other members of staff as they completed high-level cleaning tasks during a night shift on 22 April 2022.

She had been acting as ‘a banksman’ for an employee who was controlling a mobile elevating work platform (MEWP). As the MEWP turned through 90 degrees into the warehouse it struck Sharon, crushing her left leg. The incident was captured on CCTV.

She was hospitalised for three months and has had a total of nine operations including several skin grafts.

“I have a huge scar on my stomach from where the surgeons took a piece of it to use as a flap over my stump.

“My left leg above my stump is really badly scarred and damaged. It was trapped under the cherry picker.

“The recovery afterwards was awful. It is difficult to put in to words just how much the accident has impacted me. I have had to uproot and move my family.

“I am struggling with blistering on my stump, even now, rendering me wheelchair dependent. I am not able to leave the house on my own. I am fearful about what the future holds for me.”

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed a series of failings by Baker & Baker Products UK Limited.

The company failed to have in place a suitable and sufficient safe system of work when escorting MEWP’s from a parked position to point of use. They also failed to provide information, instruction and training for the movement of the MEWP and use of banksman and also failed to adhere to their normal practice and company policy to ensure a trained MEWP operator acted as banskman.

Had these been implemented, the incident could have been prevented.

Baker & Baker Products UK Limited, of Stadium Road, Bromborough, Wirral, pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) and 33(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £400,000 and was ordered to pay costs of £7,266 costs.

This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyers Karen Park and Matt Reynolds and paralegal officer Louisa Shaw.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Ian Betley said:

“Sharon Bramhall suffered terrible injuries that will affect her for the rest of her life due to the failings of her employer.

“Vehicles continue to be a major cause of serious injuries in the workplace, and the first principle of any employer should be to keep people and vehicles apart.

“The risk assessment decided that someone was needed to escort the MEWP, thus a safe system of work needed to be devised. Employees should have been given appropriate banksman training, including how to effectively communicate with the driver.

“Had these been in place, Sharon’s injuries could have been avoided.”

Accidents at work – The law

Employers have a liability to ensure their workers are safe under The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The regulations set out a number of rules including providing a safe working environment that is properly maintained, where operations within it are conducted safely and adequate welfare provisions for staff at work.

It is a criminal offence to fail to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act. A breach of provisions of regulations can be punishable by fine, imprisonment or both.

If you have suffered from a work-related accident, get in touch with Oakwood Solicitors today.

Claiming for injury at work

You have three years to bring a claim within three years from the date of your accident, but it is advised that you bring a claim as soon as possible to pursue the matter. You can make a claim if you are an employee, agency worker or a contractor.

In many industries, companies tend to hire contractors and self-employed workers to carry out work on projects. It is a misconception that self-employed workers are always responsible for their own workplace health and safety.

Whilst it is true that they would usually have to take out their own insurance to cover certain aspects, in some circumstances they can claim if they are injured due to the actions of an employed person.

Depending on the relationship between the company and contractor, a self-employed contractor may be able to establish that the accident and subsequent injury was caused by another person or company.

This is largely because the self-employed person will usually have no control over the health and safety and/or risk assessments for the site they are working on.

Accidents at work – Compensation examples

If your Accident at Work claim is successful, you may be entitled to compensation. Compensation is awarded in special damages and general damages.

General damages are awarded to compensate for the physical and/or mental suffering the claimant has experienced due to the accident and the effect it has had on your life. If symptoms are ongoing and are supported by medical evidence, this would increase the value of the claim.

The best starting point for assessing damages is by reference to the Judicial College Guidelines, which set out financial brackets for common types of injury.

The guidelines are broken down into the affected body parts and type and severity of the injury. They were introduced as it was recognised that whilst no two cases are ever precisely the same, justice was required to develop consistency between awards.

Special damages are awarded to cover any financial losses or out-of-pocket expenses caused as a result of the incident. This could include loss of earnings, medication or prescription charges, travel to appointments or any cost of care for the extra care you have needed from family or care providers.

If you are unable to do tasks like gardening, walking the dog, and have to pay for these services as a consequence of your accident and subsequent injuries, these can also be claimed for.

This can also include any future loss claim and if you are unable to return to the same job as a result of the accident at work, you can claim for a lump sum based on your wages known as Smith v Manchester award.

This is where it can be proved that as a result of your injuries, there is a risk you would find it more difficult to obtain similar employment.

However, an injured person has a duty to take reasonable steps to minimise their losses/expenses. This is called mitigation of losses, and a Court will assess whether or not the loss was reasonably incurred, before making an award.

Workplace injury examples

Accidents at work can happen across all industries, and serious accidents can happen if employers do not follow the legal guidelines to keep employees safe. We have listed some of the most common types of accidents at work:

Construction site claims
Work at height claims
Manual handing
Trips and slips
Defective work equipment
Issues with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Inadequate training
Accidents caused by colleagues or superiors

Accident at work solicitors

If you have suffered from an accident at work and have been left with injuries, you may be entitled to claim against your employer. Oakwood Solicitors’ team of legal experts are on hand to assist you with your claim today.

Bakery company fined £400,000 after employee has leg amputated