When your world is turned upside down, experts are here to help

Thinking it over with Carol Fish, Director & Head of Serious and Catastrophic Injury …

WE have seen from the Covid-19 pandemic how the world can turn upside down so suddenly.

At the start of 2020 none of us could have envisaged how life would have unfolded.

Yet, here we are heading into August – the final month of summer – still facing uncertain times and concern about what autumn and winter might bring.

Any family who has had their lives touched by serious or catastrophic injury also knows all too painfully how quickly life can turn on its head.

One minute you and your loved ones are going about your daily lives, the next minute, an accident happens, and suddenly you are facing completely different challenges.

That’s where you need an expert solicitor, experienced in high value serious and catastrophic injuries at your side, to help you through.

By getting expert advice and correct financial support, families are able to rebuild their lives and overcome the challenges they face.

I have long-standing professional experience of dealing with a broad range of serious and catastrophic injury cases (with a value in excess of £25,000).

Each case is individual. But compassionate support and expert advice are needed by everyone who finds themselves in these situations. I pride myself on providing both.
August is the month of Injury Prevention Week (August 17-21), when the focus will be on how to prevent injuries across society.

Accidents will always happen. None of us is perfect and we all make mistakes.

It’s on our roads where we see many of those injuries. There were 25,511 serious injuries in road traffic accidents and 160,597 casualties of all severities reported to the police in 2018.

This includes pedestrians and cyclists as well as motorists. In future years we are likely to see newer forms of transport, such as electric scooters in these figures.

While all the environmental benefits of such developments are to be welcomed, we need to be aware that dangers in our public spaces are changing.

Pedestrians will have to become more alert to quieter moving vehicles such as electric cars and electric scooters.

A big push to get people fitter – and reduce the nation’s obesity – is also likely to see even more people taking up cycling.

In Cumbria and Northumberland we have seen a welcome increase in the number of cyclists on our roads in recent years.

But again, for the sake of cyclists and scooter riders, as well as themselves, we would advise pedestrians to be more aware of those moving around them.

As I have seen over the years, it can sometimes be the most innocuous looking incident which can lead to serious or catastrophic injury.

The workplace remains an environment where such accidents can happen.

In terms of fatalities, the latest Health and Safety Executive 2019-2020 RIDDOR statistics show that 111 people across Britain were killed in the workplace. Construction accounted for (40%);  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (20%); Manufacturing (15%); Transport and Storage (11%); with falls from height accounting for (29%); struck by a moving vehicle (20%), struck by a moving object (18%); trapped by something collapsing or overturning (15%), and contract with moving machinery (11%).

In terms of non-fatal injuries in the workplace slips, trips or falls on the same level account for 29 per cent; handling, lifting or carrying (20%); and struck by a moving object (10%).

We hope it gives people peace of mind that if they do find themselves, or a loved one, involved in an accident which results in serious injury, that here at Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors we are always only a phone call away.

To contact Carol please call 01228 585245