A warehouse operative has received £4,500 in compensation after his employer admitted blame for an accident that left him unable to carry out every day tasks and took more than eight months to heal.

Paul Pritchard, 37, from Sunderland was forced to take almost four months off work when he was injured whilst packing aeroplane components weighing around 24kg each at the Rolls Royce Depot in Sunderland for Mitie Group.

The parts were stored in such a way that he had to bend down to lift them. As he lifted one of the heavy discs he strained the right side of his chest wall.

Thompsons Solicitors made claim for compensation

Following the accident Mr Pritchard contacted his trade union the GMB which instructed its lawyers Thompsons Solicitors to pursue compensation.

Thompsons argued that Mitie should have done more to prevent the accident from happening.

Mr Pritchard said: “I was off work for almost four months and was basically bedridden. I contacted the GMB because I felt that Mitie should have done more to make sure the job I was doing was safe.

“I still work at Rolls Royce but now have a different employer and workplace health and safety is much better.”

Chris Preston, Regional Organiser at the GMB added: “Paul didn’t want to be injured and he would rather not have lost the wages that he did. A simple risk assessment of the task and small changes would have avoided this altogether.”

Lyndsay Milligan from Thompsons Solicitors' Newcastle office said: “The employers failed to think the job through and put Mr Pritchard and his colleagues' well being at risk. The answer was to store the aeroplane components at a more suitable height to avoid straining when lifting them.”