Dallas McMillan's Glasgow Lawyers' Blog

Recently published figures have revealed slight falls in a number of key areas of workplace ill-health and injury in Scotland.

Proposed new rules on how old insurance records are searched are a “missed opportunity” to ensure the industry honours its responsibility to sick and dying workers.

Doctors in the UK are to become the first in the world to have regular assessments to ensure that their training and expertise are up-to-date and that they are fit to carry out their roles, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced.

Truro Crown court has heard that an elderly man with dementia was able to wander into another resident's room at his nursing home and fall to his death from a window. Reginald Gibbings, 89, fell 3.6 metres from the room in July 2008.

Dozens of construction sites across Scotland have been put under the spotlight as part of an intensive inspection regime by the Health and Safety Executive.

Plans to introduce legislation to protect people from legal action if they apologise for causing injury are “pointless and misguided” lawyers have said.

InjuriesBoard.ie has released details of its work in the first six months of 2012. Data for the period shows a gradual but consistent increase (4.1%) in claims volumes compared to the same period in 2011. The period also saw the emergence of issue-specific claims linked to Thalidomide and De Puy hip replacements.

National estimates of death following general surgery have been too optimistic, according to the first large-scale study to explore surgical outcomes across Europe, led by Queen Mary, University of London.

Government plans to abolish safety inspections in thousands of businesses across the UK will put the health of millions of workers at risk, the TUC has warned.

Campaigners have welcomed a decision by the Government to rethink its proposals to cut compensation payments for victims of crime.

An independent survey, commissioned by the not-for-profit Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), has found that almost 40% of people who have suffered a whiplash injury have never claimed compensation for it.

A recent study has exposed the distraction and danger to drivers of just having a mobile phone in the car, with a fifth of participants in a simulator situation moving their eyes from the road for more than seven seconds after simply hearing their phone ring.

The simulator study commissioned by esure car insurance reveals that motorists take 23% longer to respond to an unexpected occurrence on the road when trying to send a text message while driving – which equates to the vehicle moving 8.5metres ‘blind’ while driving at 70mph. This lag in reaction times proved larger than the increased reaction times of distractions of arguing children in the backseat (13%) or feeling stressed (4%).

The simulator study further revealed that posting a short status update on, for example facebook - an everyday temptation to those with a smartphone - had various effects in driver performance mainly causing motorists to move across their lane to a greater extent (up to one metre more than in controlled conditions), being less consistent in following distance and driving closer to the vehicle ahead.

These decreases in motoring performance occurred despite drivers slowing down – proving that a reduction in speed does not offset the true dangers of being on a smartphone and the dangers of updating a social networking status.

Two men colluded with each other to commit fraud by falsifying a record stating that a school in Abingdon had been properly cleaned of asbestos.

The "unusual fraud" was confirmed by detective work by one of the men’s employers using GPS tracking technology on the employee’s company van, which proved he had not attended the school when he claimed he had.

The deception by the two men was uncovered after an engineer went to the school to start plumbing work but could see that asbestos material had been left, putting him and others at risk of exposure to dangerous fibres.

He reported it to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which investigated and brought a prosecution against both men.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Andrew Moore said:

"HSE takes exposure to asbestos very seriously. Currently 4,000 people die every year from asbestos-related disease and the onset of these debilitating diseases can occur many years after exposure. That is why there are clear rules and regulations governing its removal and site decontamination, and that is why HSE will prosecute those who flout the legislation."

The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on plans to reform the system of NHS compensation claims by introducing a no-fault compensation scheme in Scotland.

The change would mean patients who have suffered loss, injury or damage as a result of healthcare treatment could be compensated without having to resort to court action.

The proposed new system would still require proof that harm was caused by treatment but would remove the need to prove negligence.

Minister for Public Health Michael Matheson said:

"We know that the vast majority of the care delivered in our NHS is of the highest quality, but it is important that people who have suffered as a result of clinical mistakes should have some form of redress.

"It's in no-one's best interests to have that redress delayed because a compensation claim can take years to go through the courts and nor is it in anyone's interests to have precious NHS resources spent on expensive legal fees.

“That is why we are considering the introduction of a no-fault compensation system. It is important that we seek wider views in order to help in our understanding of what the practical implications would be and to ensure that those affected receive appropriate redress without the need to go through a lengthy court process.”

No-fault systems are already in place in countries such as Sweden, New Zealand, Finland, Denmark and Norway, and parts of the United States.

The Department of Transport has published statistics on personal injury accidents in the year ending March 2012 on public roads (including footways) in Great Britain.

The statistics show that:

An assault victim has spoken out in support of a not-for-profit group’s campaign against Government plans to slash compensation payments for victims of crime.

The lowest ever recorded figures for road casualties in Scotland have been published, according to Minister for Transport Keith Brown.

The latest figures for 2011 show road casualties are 4% lower than in 2010, and include an 11% drop in fatalities over the same period.

Mr Brown said:

“We in the Scottish Government are very aware of the tragic and personal cost of every fatality on our roads.  I am therefore encouraged by the very latest data which shows total reported road casualties are now at their lowest level since records began. The number of casualties last year dropped by 575 - a fall of 4% on 2010 figures. There has also been a drop of 5% on those seriously injured and a further reduction of 11% on fatalities.

“My deepest sympathies are of course with all of those who have been affected by incidents on our roads and we accept one death is simply one too many. That is why we are doing everything we can to reduce the numbers of casualties further.”

http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/news/Road-casualties-Scotland-lowest-figures

The latest RAC Report on Motoring has found that the number of 17-24-year-olds drug-driving has doubled from 5% to 9% in the past twelve months, and 13% of this age group have driven or been a passenger in a car when the driver was under the influence of drugs over the past year.

A review into the PiP breast implant scandal has found that, although the regulator acted appropriately and followed scientific and clinical advice, there is room for improvement and serious lessons must be learned.

The director of a building firm has been prosecuted after a self-employed contractor fell to his death through a fragile roof at an industrial building in Penryn.