A woman who slipped into an industrial cooking pot containing 50kg of steaming hot curry highlights the dangers for workers from proposed Government cuts to health and safety cover, a law firm has said.
Sudesh Bala, 47, of Luton, fell into the pot while alone in a kitchen and was unable to get out or get the attention of her colleagues for around ten minutes.
She suffered severe burns to her back, buttocks and groin while working for Shobha UK Ltd, a catering company in Kingham Way, Luton, which has since gone into liquidation.
Mrs Bala was working on an urgent order on October 9 last year to serve 500 people at an exhibition in Birmingham’s NEC and was just one of just three staff on the premises.
Her colleagues were afraid to call the emergency services and waited around 30 minutes for her husband Naresh to come and call an ambulance.
He said: “I was horrified when I saw how badly hurt Sudesh was, her skin was dripping off her like candle wax.” She was taken to Luton & Dunstable Hospital and and then transferred to a specialist burns unit at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.
Mrs Bala was treated for her injuries with extensive skin grafts and has been unable to work since, and the experience has left her with mental scars on top of the physical ones.
She had worked at Shobha UK Ltd for ten years and says during this time said she did not receive any health and safety training at all during her employment and was even required to supply her own safety footwear.
Mrs Bala is seeking compensation from the company’s insurer Ageas which is denying liability and the case is likely to go to court.
DBS Law, based in Birmingham, has taken on Mrs Bala s case on a no-win-nofee basis despite the risk of putting the case in front of a judge when the defendant denies liability.
This is only possible because of the existence of a success fee paid to lawyers by the insurer if they fail to convince the judge their client was not responsible for the accident.
The Government proposes to abolish this success fee, in its controversial Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, published on June 21.
This would increase the financial risk to solicitors and make it harder to take on cases like Mrs Bala’s.
DBS Law managing director Rob Bhol said: “This is a shocking case, one that demonstrates the dangers working people face where health and safety is neglected by their employer.” Ageas declined to comment.
