We can help you claim
compensation following an accident
illness or injury - nationwide
Call: 0800 10 757 95
When working on a building site, there are many dangers to be aware of and employees should be given protective clothing in order to prevent or decrease risks of a building site accident.
Common accident at work claims are made after trips, falls and manual handling injuries, but many people might not know the extent of the injuries which can be caused by wet cement and other similar building materials.
Danger in disguise
Wet cement contains calcium hydroxide, formed when water is mixed with the cement powder, and this is a highly alkaline substance which has a pH of 12.9. To illustrate how high a pH this is, bleach has a pH of 13.
Because of its pH, it can cause third degree burns but damage to skin is not immediately apparent. The calcium hydroxide can damage nerve endings in the skin and so victims of the burn may not realise till some hours later that they have sustained an injury, or recognise wet cement as being the cause.
In the worst cases wet cement can cause ulcerations, deep skin layer damage and the worker may have to undergo a skin graft. The injury can take months to heal and leave a permanent scar.
On some occasions, protective clothing used incorrectly, or used for working around cement when that is not the item of clothing's function, can increase the severity of the injury. Cement falling in workers' boots or seeping through clothes can hold the cement close to the skin for a long period of time, resulting in worse damage than would otherwise have been experienced.
Protection at work
Hampshire Trading Standards has a usefulposter on their website, which explains what protective clothing should be worn and precautions which should be followed to avoid a cement-related building site accident.
Having as little contact with wet cement as possible should reduce risk of injury and remaining aware of any cement falling into boots, or clothes becoming saturated with cement, may enable the worker to remove the mixture from clothing and wash skin which might otherwise become affected by an alkaline burn.
Other building materials similar to cement which could pose a risk to those working on a building site, are concrete, mortar and screed. These also have the ability to give chemical burns when skin is exposed to them.
Do you want to make a building site accident claim?
Making an accident at work claim, after suffering a chemical burn from wet cement or a similar substance, could be much easier with YouClaim's personal injury solicitors.
We use plain English to explain the legal process to you, and should your claim be successful you'll receive the 100% compensation due to you because we don't take a cut. As well as that, our no win no fee services won't cost you a penny.
To find out if you could make a building site accident claim today, just fill out our short online claim form and one of our team members will get back to you concerning your case at a time most convenient to you. Alternatively you could use live help to discuss any queries you may have with one of our advisers.
