Injured man sues former boss over forklift accident
(CNS): A West Bay man who fracture his spine and leg in a workplace accident on the Health City Cayman Islands construction site three years ago, when he was knocked off the top of a container by the prongs of a forklift truck, is suing his former employers. Mike McLaughlin (26), who worked as a general labourer at Superior Drywall, has filed a legal claim for over $80,000 in costs and losses plus future damages, incurred because of the injuries. He also states that while he was unable to work because of the accident he was sacked from his job, losing his health insurance.
According to the claim filed in Grand Court this month, McLaughlin, who was only 23 at the time, states that he was working at the site of the Health City hospital in East End in October 2013 when his supervisor asked him to climb on top of a 40-foot container with damaged doors. He stated that his supervisor and another work colleague were trying to use a forklift truck to close the broken door and he had been asked to watch from the vantage point and indicate when the doors were in place.
Positioned on the edge over the door, looking down, as an attempt was made to manoeuvre the forklift and doors, the machine slipped and the prongs of the forklift struck McLaughlin, flinging him into the air and off the container.
Due to the fall McLaughlin fractured his spine in a number of places, broke his ankle and leg, and sustained a number of other fractures. He underwent numerous surgeries and was off his feet for some six months, during which time he was also sacked. Until his accident McLaughlin was a manual labourer but he is now in constant pain and is struggling to find work he can physically do. He has only been able to work part-time in a limited way with a family watersports operation.
According to the claim, McLaughlin says his former employer, Superior Drywall, was negligent because it exposed him to the risk of injury, failed to take precautions or assess the risk, or protect him from injury. He accuses his boss of being culpable in the misuse of the forklift.
Listing his loss of earnings, as well as medical and other related costs, including an outstanding healthcare bill, the total amount comes to almost $100,000 with interest. But the claim also states that McLaughlin will be seeking future costs and losses.
CNS has contacted Superior Drywall and is awaiting a response.
Category: Local News
I don’t blame him. He’s out a bag full of money and will incur further medical attention in the future. Sorry, but the employer needs to take the loss on this one due to negligence. This is why construction companies in general need high workman’s comp and/or liability insurance to deal with such matters. It’s crazy the stuff you see going on with some of these contructions sites and their workers, like no harnesses 4 floors up hanging on to a window ledge and fastening something. crazy!
Probably the now new employment method – make them a sub contractor.
That way you get out of paying anything except some stupid cheap rate you bully the poor people into. Lets go fat cats!!!!!!!!!!!
How does his insurance cover for an accident get terminated by loss of cover after the event? Either he was not insured a the time, or h is getting royally shafted by his insurer, but his employer isn’t liable for the latter.
When you employ a person the first thing you do is all the necessary paper work. I know from experience that many DO NOT fill in their health insurance forms and you are left chasing them for weeks. Same goes for pension. You then tell them they cannot work and they get all upset and go to the labor office. im not saying this guy didnt fill a form in or maybe wasnt handed one but im pretty sure he was given the option. You cannot insure a guy if he doesn’t give you his full name, address and all that stuff that goes with it! its always…tomorrow sir….and tomorrow sir….
It plainly said the injured was insured by superior dry wall after his injuries his employer cancelled the young man insurance
6.16pm and you cant put him to work without insurance and not be liable. Certainly if you chose to hire without him having insurance the liability is all yours. The insurance law makes it the responsibility of the employer to provide insurance cover for his workers.Therefore your rules should be: no insurance , no work.
What a crock of bull! First thing you do is tell the employ to get to work. If you were such a proper employer you would sit down with your new employee and help the person go thru the forms and fill in. At the rate of pay they receive 3/4 of these poor people can read and write properly. More exploitation!
Give me a break!
And you think if they were paid more that would somehow let them win the competition for reading and writing?
You should see the reality from the Employer perspective. One can only beg an employee for so long before you realize they actually don’t care.
This is an accident and the Employer did not conspire for this young man to get injured. He was employed as a capable thinking person, so obviously the Employer gave the instructions to oversea the forklift, thinking he had a responsible employee to figure out the instructions. . But as bad as the situation is, the Employee was negligent in making sure he was safe.
Good thing the Employer did not ask him to climb a tree to do the same thing. Ignorance is Bliss and rampant.
It would be the same as if the Employer told him to cross the road. If he got hit would he then blame the employer for breaching safety regulations?
Sir you did not tell me that car was coming.
Employers beware. The old new trend is for Females to be out seeking work while fresh on pregnancy.
The good hope with all of this is that, all around the world there are good and bad employers and employees. So it’s really not a conspiracy after all.
Yes you are soo right. Lets get them slave days back and we can have them fan you to keep cool. Your comments show you could care less what any employee makes except you. Disgusting
These are bigoted statements against any working person. Guess the privileged class want us all to follow there lead.
You really are a terrible person! How could you comment with such conviction. When an employer asks an employee to do something the employer has the upper hand because he pays the employee. So the playing field is not balanced. A worker has the right to refuse but if you want to be a part of the good employee list and most individuals do because it his human nature to want the best for yourself. You will do what you are asked and Safety doesn’t come into the equation unless, there is a safety rep watching or someone has recently been hurt. So in that moment the employer has the upper hand. Walking in front of a car is really a terrible example and further points to your level of decency. If the employee is that stupid to walk in front of a car with no apparent reason. He wouldn’t be asked to climb anything because he is probably blind or without the mental capacity to handle a hammer or tie his shoes. The person was asked to take a risk for the benefit of an employer. The cost of doing business just went up the second the forklift made contact with the employee. By trying to fix something the wrong way is why warranties become void. An employer profits from the company employee and if the employer fails to look out for the safety of an employee for the sake of money…The employer will pay for his lack of poor judgment…That is my two cents….I feel for the guy who fell and believe the employer should pay the injured employee at least enough money to get him back on his feet and a holiday when that has happened because chronic pain means….it hurts all the time. In the end the employee was injured by an employer that put wealth before health!
I know for a fact that there were weekly safety meetings for all employees, including subcontractors on this project. Each employee had to also sign a document stating they had been made aware of all the rules and regulations, what safety clothing to wear etc.
Unfortunately some persons take it upon themselves to do something foolish, and this is usually the outcome, sometimes worse.
I’m afraid the employee needs to take part of the blame, and I’m sure his lawyer knows this.
The new builders law should take care of non compliant companies.
Take the blame? You are a real winner; either get and do what I say boy or you are fired. New builders law – another scam.
AND where or where is the Labour Department in all of this. They are the most useless government department under a useless Ministry. They need to just shut them down as they are unwilling, unable or a combination of both to help anyone. USELESS USLESS USELESS
As a contractor myself, the current health and safety regulations is useless, so let’s not throw all the blame on the DLP as they can only enforce what they are provided with. Until the government takes a serious look at implementing strict fines, the pathetic legislation will be no deterrent to unscrupulous and unethical contractors. I will agree with the writer that the Ministry of Labour has failed this country miserably.
Dept Labor have a file on the incident, and I’m sure it will be produced in court.
Guy shouldn’t have been on top of the container.
It says the young the young man was instructed by his supervisor to go up on the container and assist with the door
he was asked..not instructed…too different things.
Yea asked- right. How many drinks have you had!!!!
Asked bo bo, and dont do it. You know what happens as you are in the seat. Fire them for not doing as requested.
If he was told by the supervisor to scale the side of a 5 story building, he would have thought about it 1st, and said no. Problem here is he (and the supervisor) didn’t heed advice given weekly at the safety meetings.
Both responsable if indeed he was asked to do this.
@busta nut – your comments are bullcrap. The guy was simply working for his pay and you cannot compare scaling a 5 story building to being on top of container. I am quite sure that Mike would not have gone on the container if he thought for one moment he would have been hurt. We often do stuff in the workplace that could be dangerous for e.g. climbing stepping stools to put files away or to do filing or storing items away.
Sitting at your computer making these kinds of comments when you have no idea the amount of horrible pain and suffering Mike went through and continues to go through, nor the emotional suffering worrying about how he will be able to take of his son financially. When you have had vertebrates broken and bones broken in your face, ribs and leg and you have a child to care for then you can comment. In the meantime shut up and keep your stupid insensitive comments to yourself.
The employer has to take responsibility. Many people are going to be watching this case closely and expect the courts and the government to ensure that this young man is adequately compensated and the company held accountable for their dodgy actions.
Thank you because our rights are being forgotten for the mighty few
Hey busta nut, where are you at man? That is a totally unreal statement. Have you ever had to really work in the field in Cayman? Deal with the Eastern Ave crews pick up crews?
Deal with the unscrupulous labor brokers who make money off the back of in properly working work permit holders?
Have you ever viewed the unsanitary housing conditions these imported workers live in to give the cheap wage?
This island is on a destructive path where the Nuevo Rich want all and the rest fall down. Wake up Cayman because these people will destroy your future.
Good luck to him. Plenty of dangerous workplaces in Cayman and the Courts need to show they don’t just side with the negligent employers. Health & safety is an important matter on sites everywhere else in the world.
That poor man. Unfortunately for Superior Drywall, I doubt that they have properly protected themselves against liability of work related injuries which would be prevalent and should be required for this industry.
I feel for both but that man now has no way to support himself to the level that he could have. They need to help look after him.
if they don’t have insurance then Health City should be culpable and held responsible as they did not do their due diligence. No poor man…this young man should be wealthy when this is all done…period! This is so wrong on so many levels. I just hope they do not drag this case out and cause further hardships for this guy.
So you want to hold Health City accountable for his actions that got himself injured? good luck with that! . I was working on site that day. no one forced him to do what he was doing. He was part of a group who took it on themselves to climb on top of the container. Half of these guys never returned their forms for health insurance as they didn’t want the money taking out of their paycheck. Some were told to leave site until they handed in their forms and yes they all went running to L&P which was pretty embarrassing for them in the end.
Get off it! You so called contractors are all the same, playing up to the head and take advantage of the workers. You want your cheap work permit people that you can run around like slaves and then have your Rolex , gold chains and big trucks. Forms; hell you don’t pay pension, health, vacation, overtime, nothing! You make the work permit holder pay for there own permits.
why dont you be a contractor and hire these people…seen as you know so much about it.
You were working there that day – let’s hope that you don’t get seriously hurt on a worksite doing your job and someone with your mindset has to help you out.
well I did not have the advantage to be a MLA
They need to adjust those Laws, and make the work permit holder pay for those Permits. That’s a very simple math to understand.
And whats wrong with the Rolex? After all I see employees have nice new Cars and hair doo all the time. All weekend from Friday nights out on the Town, to Sunday on the beach.
But come monday, “baby sick” or “foot hurt”, or whatever new words to cover for the hangover or the high, so can’t come to work.
If they making so little how come they living so large?
Then adjust the laws to make it mandatory for the potential employee to have insurance and pensions set up, so an employer would just have to pay into those plans. CINICO alone collects ci$200.00 each time the health insurance lapse for it to be started again.
Its called being responsible. And it need to happen on both sides.
In the meantime, let’s find a way to blame this incident on Alden.
See you follow the law don’t you?
Still, the ‘ultimate’ responsibility is with the project. Even when building my small building one of the contractor’s contractual requirements was that they had appropriate workman’s compensation. To protect me (as much as possible) if anyone got hurt working ‘for me’. (Honestly if it got that far only the lawyers would win, but its still the project responsibility to cover themselves through due diligence that the (sub)contractors have insurance.)
no hold Health City for not doing due diligence on the company they sub-contracted to carry out their work. They knew S. Drywall would have staff. They should have ensured the company had worker’s comp.
Due diligence was done for each subcontractor on the site. And proof of all insurance was required.
Its unfortunate a couple of guys didn’t heed safety advice, and this is what happens.
Some workers just can’t be trained in safety, it’s an inconvenience.
What happened between the employer, and employee after the fact, can’t be blamed on Health City, or the main contractors.
But they wanted it cheaper – cut some corners buddy; we will protect you as we have the connections with C
Where under someone’s desk!
Yes do your job boy!
No workmans comp insurance? In the US, you can’t get fired OR lose your insurance when you are disabled because of an injury that occurred on the job.
That amount is very small considering that this injury will effect you the rest of your life.
The big guys could care less. Keep those costs down!!!!!
Read it again…
Strange this company is also a major contractor for DECCO.
More of the flagrant abuses of these so called contractors. Where are the rights and protections for workers? What about worker man compensation insurance? No in order to avail cheap costs for the fat cats the workers are thrown under to bus (or forklift). The main developer of this project bragged how they were creating jobs. Most workers there were people who had permits as gardeners, car washers etc but because of the lax enforcement of the laws there are no checks and then these people work as “sub contractors”. When will all this end? Look at the Kimpton fiasco, anther major sub contractor has been “terminated”. Come on our elected officials get on it please.
What a shame that this skirting of the existing laws are common place. This is more and more the wild west and banana republic!
you talk so much rubbish….gardeners and car washers lol
Rubbish, check out what goes on but you must be in your ivory tower!
working at your house C
Did his employer have health insurance in place?
I’m quite sure they did have health insurance as it’s required by law. Nonetheless, companies like this provide their employees with the crappiest coverage to save money. No real benefits for the employee, only the employer. I hope Mike receives the compensation he deserves.
Did they have mandated worker compensation insurance? Very simple policy to get but you need to pay the premiums. Guess that is to much for some people.