West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust has compensated a community paramedic named Michael Kirkham who was employed by Staffordshire Ambulance Service for permanent disabilities resulting from a fall while he was on duty. Staffordshire Ambulance Service has now merged into West Midlands Ambulance Service.
The community paramedic was on call for emergencies arising from doctor’s surgeries and he was attending one such call when the accident happened. He was leaving a patient’s house when his equipment bag caught on the door handle of the patient’s front door. The resulting thrust pulled him down and he suffered serious injuries on his shoulder.
Kirkham was diagnosed with severe shoulder injury and he had to spend four weeks in bed rest to let his shoulder heal so that he could return to his duties. However, he later developed severe pain in his back and limbs and was forced to use a walking stick to move around. When he started experienced loss of feeling in his arm, he had to quit his job. The accident has thus left him almost crippled and has compromised his mobility to a great extent.
Kirkham said that he had previously brought to the employer’s notice that his equipment bag was very heavy and not easy to carry. The weight of the bag has been reduced after the accident and the bag has been changed to a more manageable rucksack.
Kirkham was awarded damages of £200,000 after West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust admitted liability and agreed to settle the claim out of court. The ambulance service spokespersons said that the incident is quite unfortunate and that safety precautions will be taken to ensure that such accidents do not happen in future.
It is a requirement to undertake a suitable and sufficient risk assessment on all work undertaken where there is a risk of injury, NEBOSH Training, leading to the award of the NEBOSH General Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health, can be of benefit to organisations in providing the knowledge to manage safely and effectively in compliance with both legislative requirements and best practice.
