Accident at Abattoir

Mr M

Represented by Ashley Webb

Our client worked in an abattoir. He was required to cut frozen blocks of meat. He was using a band saw nicknamed ‘the sewing machine’. Our client had to push the frozen carcass through the blade. He was not provided with any chain mail gloves, the push which he was provided with was inappropriate and not big enough to cope with the size of the carcass, and there was no guard on the blade.

The carcass got caught in the machine. In attempting to free the carcass, his left hand came into contact with the exposed blade and he suffered a near complete amputation of his left thumb. The bones of his left hand were fractured, and the tendons and ligaments were severed. The thumb had to be re-attached by surgery. We obtained an interim payment from the defendant’s insurers so that our client could receive physiotherapy, and obtained a five-figure compensation award in total for our client.