London and Birmingham based solicitors specialising in Personal Injury & Accidents at Work, Education, Disability and Crime

Mr Ugo Leandros worked for a small firm making kitchen equipment and part of his work involved loading unwanted chipboard kitchen units into a crusher and operating it. One day he found the door of the crusher would not open after use, so, copying what he had seen other workers do, he used a hammer to release the latch. The door of the crusher flew open it had been jammed by the press of crushed wood behind it and hit him in the face, causing a cut, a neck injury and subsequent headaches. The insurers of Mr Leandros employers said the accident was partially his fault as he had not followed the correct procedure for opening the door when jammed. Mr Leandros (who spoke very little English) told us through an interpreter that nobody had told him of any other procedure.Substantially, Mr Leandros won on this point and he received £5,000 in compensation, together with his legal costs.