Finger Worth $2 Billion Essay Example

Many accidents occur at work, most of them go unnoticed while others are minor and they are not taken seriously. Despite this, other accidents at work can be fatal and life threatening; this is where the accidents cause injuries to the worker like losing their body parts which could lead to them being disabled. There have been cases where workers have died while working. Most of the accidents at work can be prevented if the workers and the employers take it as their responsibility to avoid the accident. Employees are supposed to perform a risk assessment to check the probability of accidents occurring.

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In case the workers notice that something in the workplace has the probability of causing an accident, they are expected to take the necessary precautions to prevent the accident. The employees are expected to follow the set health and safety measures to avoid any accidents and injuries that are likely to occurs. In case an employee is injured at work, in most cases, the employer is expected to compensate for any damages caused.

The other day I read a story about a man who lost the tip of his finger while at work, the man was aged 34 and was a worker of Frontline and was working at the Glencore Rolleston open cut mine when the accident occurred ( Kerri-Anne Mesner, 2018). The article claimed that it was in the afternoon immediately after lunch when he was requested to assist in the removal of a track frame from the dozer. A crane supported the track frame that was to be removed during the incident. When removing the track frame, a pin is expected to be removed using specialized equipment that is specifically designed for the task. Unfortunately, the equipment that is supposed to be used in removing the pin was not available, so the pin was to be removed manually, the only equipment that was closely related to the equipment used to remove the pin was the crowbar.

The injured man removed the pin using the crowbar since the equipment used to remove the pin is not the one designed for the work; the track frame moved unpredictably. If the necessary equipment is used, the track frame is supposed to move slowly down to the expected location, but this was not the case here. The frame moved at a higher speed, and unpredictably, due to this, the index finger of the man was stuck between the crowbar and the track frame. It took some time to free the finger; he was assisted by the fellow workers to try and remove the finger.

Most of those helping him did not have an idea on the best way to remove the finger without worsening the injuries caused. By the time they were able to free the finger, it had been completely crushed. The man was taken to the hospital immediately; the doctors assessed the injuries and concluded the only option was to detach the finger (Kerri-Anne Mesner, 2018). The man is demanding a compensation worth $2 million from the company, he claims that if the company had all the required working materials he would still be having his finger. The man is a manual worker and he has no option but to rely on his compromised hand in his work for the rest of his life.

Reference

Kerri-Anne Mesner, (2018). Is a fingertip worth $2 million? Retrieved from https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/how-much-is-a-finger-tip-worth/3376843/