Glasgow Solicitors Blog from The GLP

As a child growing up around the mining area of Lanarkshire in the 1970s I recall easily the memories of hard working people telling stories of their working life. The conditions of such work was often poor. Industrial injury and disease were common place but the people were, for the most part, stoic and grateful to have work. They were of the genuine view that hard work never killed anyone. I understood the message being conveyed to me but understood too that bad working conditions could and did.

Conditions have improved in the UK since the 70s thanks to the establishment of a health and safety system, the foundation of which was the Health and Safety at Work Act 1975. The legislation had at its heart a simple but enduring principle that those who create risk are best placed to control that risk whether employers, occupiers or manufacturers of articles or substances for use at work.

I am disheartened by the myth of the "compensation culture" or that the UK is becoming risk averse as a result of compensation claims. The truth is very different. The simple fact is that broadly claims have fallen in the UK in the last 10 years.

From the mid 80s and through the 90s I worked in Cambuslang which is a town on the south-east outskirts of Glasgow. I dealt with all types of personal injury, industrial injury and disease work; the area being largely populated with steel workers and workers of the Hoover plant.

I found that when I qualified I had a natural leaning towards personal injury work and the protection of the rights of workers and others harmed as a result of the carelessness of others. Compensation is only restorative. It really only gives back what was lost in the first place. It is important that those injured have access to specialists who can assist in safeguarding their access to justice. That is the philosophy behind the Glasgow Law Practice.

Kathleen McCarthy,
Director Glasgow Law Practice
LLB, Master of Law (Medicine, Law and Ethics)
Member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers
and the Scottish Head Injury Forum