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£450,000 pay-out for plunge
AN ELECTRICAL engineer who had his left leg amputated below the knee after falling from a ladder in South Yorkshire has been awarded £450,000 in compensation.
Keith Waring, from Dinnington, near Sheffield, fell 13 feet off the ladder on to a block-paved patio, seriously injuring his left ankle.
Mr Waring was working on some external cabling on the side of a house in Rotherham when the accident happened in September, 2002.
The money will be used to fund his future care and rehabilitation, his legal team said.
Lawyers said Mr Waring's accident could have been avoided if he had been given a safety harness and training.
Mr Waring has to wear a prosthesis on his left leg, as well as an 'external fixator' on his right leg. He has undergone extensive rehabilitation to aid his recovery, but still requires significant care from his wife.
Despite landing on his feet during the accident, the impact of the fall left him with serious crash fractures to both ankles.
He was admitted to hospital where he underwent an operation to put an external fixator to his right ankle, but his left ankle was so badly damaged he needed a below knee amputation.
Mr Waring said: "Although the injuries I sustained are very serious, in many ways I was lucky because I managed to land on my feet. It doesn't bear thinking about what would have happened if I'd landed differently or banged my head.
"The simple fact is that the accident should never have happened, and it would never have happened if my employer had given me the correct training and safety equipment for the job in hand."
David Urpeth, head of workplace injuries at Irwin Mitchell, said: "Mr Waring should have been given scaffolding or a harness to make sure he was safe, and should not have been asked to carry out a dangerous task he had not been given training for.
"Falls from heights remain the most common cause of serious injury in the workplace."
Mr Waring was working for Rotherham-based company Rhino, now known as Steal-Master UK Ltd, who are now in liquidation.
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