Our client (aged 29) was employed as a productive operative by Honda at their car factory in Swindon. During the course of his employment he undertook a number of tasks which required him to turn and twist his body into various positions and he found this to be difficult as he was very tall. There was also no system of job rotation. He went on to develop back symptoms and it was our case that his work at Honda was not undertaken in a safe manner.
We obtained ergonomic evidence which was supportive of his claim. The difficulty with his case however was that our client did have some degenerative disc disease already in his lumbar spine and the unsafe working environment only exacerbated his back symptoms by a period of 2 to 3 years.
The insurers of Honda disputed liability and we had no option but to issue proceedings. Once they had appointed solicitors, they could see the merit of his claim and we were able to negotiate a settlement on his behalf which included his loss of earnings arising from his absences from work caused by his back injury.
S J Edney solicitors obtained £15,500 for this client in 2009