A workman, who sustained serious injuries to his leg in an accident at work, has made a personal injury compensation claim against his employer.

Mr William Edge, who is 64 years of age, was working as a labourer for building company Ardmore Construction and was required to lock up the construction site at the end of the day. This also involved the securing of the basement area which could only be accessed by a ladder that was fixed to the base of crane.

Mr Edge was usually working alone on the construction site when he carried out his duties and had on numerous occasions asked his employers for a 2 way radio, but the requests for this equipment were ignored.

The accident at work occurred when Mr Edge lost his grip of the ladder, which was wet, while he was locking up. Mr Edge fell to the ground and sustained a broken ankle. There was no one around to hear his calls for help when he fell and he had to shout for almost 20 minutes before a passer by heard him.

Mr Edge has underwent eight operations due the injuries he sustained in the accident at work, until finally in January 2007 a decision was made by medical staff to amputate his leg just below the knee.

Mr Edge contacted a solicitor after his accident at work and made a personal injury compensation claim against his employer. He was awarded an undisclosed figure of compensation in an out of court settlement