A young dad has been awarded a “seven-figure” payout after his life was ruined by a horrific workplace saw accident that left him with two missing fingers.
Chris Pawson, 38, had a successful career as a self-employed joiner working on makeovers for some of the UK’s best-known high street food chains.
But his life changed forever when his right hand was dragged into a lethal spinning blade after a colleague failed to set up a saw properly.
His middle finger disappeared completely, and his ring finger was partially amputated while his thumb and index finger were left with extensive nerve, muscle and tendon damage.
Unable to return to his career as a skilled carpenter, he was given just two months pay by his company before being left on the career scrapheap.
With a catastrophic injury, no income, and a new baby, he sued his former bosses, who initially tried to buy him off with a paltry $199,767.75, despite costing him his career.
But following a four-year legal battle, he later won an undisclosed seven-figure settlement through Express Solicitors, giving him access to cutting-edge bionic prosthetics from America.
Now with highly realistic fingers to mirror the ones that were chopped off, he has forged a new career training the next generation of construction workers at the same college where he first trained.
Chris from Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancs, said: “My life has changed in every way imaginable.
“It shouldn’t have happened, and I am paying the price forever for that rushed job that my boss had me do.
“I would say to anyone working on a building site to double-check every machine before you use it. It’s just not worth the risk.
“After it happened, I couldn’t even hold my baby. It was devastating. I couldn’t do anything. Until you have lived it you don’t realise how much you rely on your hand for everything.
“I have always been right-handed but had to train myself to use my hand again with new prosthetics and use my other hand more. I have had some really dark times, and now we are on the other side only because of the legal action.
“Now I have got access to the latest prosthetics from America for the rest of my life, which helps me to live as normal a life as possible. I have also got a new career, and my life is back on track.”
Chris – who started his construction career after college as an apprentice – had been working as a joiner for over ten years when disaster struck.
He was contracted to Blackpool-based BGS Projects Ltd as a self-employed joiner specialising in building furniture and fittings for store makeovers which the company did for a number of popular high street chains.
The company boasts on its website that it operates its own workshop, “giving us control over production and turnaround times.’
So when a rushed job came in in February 2022, Chris – who had worked at the firm for six months – was told to get on the electric saw immediately with disastrous consequences.
He added: “One of the office lads came over and said, ‘Look, we’ve got a rush job that’s going out today, and you need to jump on it now. So I had a brew and jumped on the saw.”
Unbeknown to Chris, the worker who had used the heavy-duty circular saw before him had failed to properly align the machinery.
So when a piece of wood he was cutting at the time snagged, it pulled his right hand directly into the spinning blade.
The blade tore through bone and tissue, resulting in him later losing his middle finger and most of his ring finger.
The dad-of-two added: “There was no pain at the start when it happened. I was in complete shock at that moment. It wasn’t until I saw the blood and later when I was in hospital that I realized what had fully happened and the pain fully kicked in.
“The pain was unimaginable, but then the panic about my family life and career hit me.”
Chris and his heavily pregnant partner Bryony had only recently moved into a new house when he was rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital, then transferred to Preston Hospital for specialist plastic surgery.
His partially amputated ring finger was shortened while his nerve and tendon-damaged index finger and thumb were repaired.
His amputated middle finger was never recovered from his work site.
He added: “When I got back from hospital after three days, I couldn’t do anything. Bryony had to do everything for me and around the house while looking after our new baby. I don’t know what I would have done without her. She was my rock. I felt useless, but when your hand is damaged, it affects every part of your life, and there is nothing you can do.”
After two months paid as a self-employed sub-contractor, his old firm stopped contacting him.
He lost his job, his income vanished, and the bills began piling up.
Chris added: “We had a baby weeks after my accident, a mortgage, and suddenly I couldn’t even hold my newborn, let alone a nail or hammer or work, so I couldn’t earn a living. I felt like I had failed my family.”
Chris turned to specialist Catastrophic injury lawyers at Express Solicitors to launch legal action against his former company.
With mortgage arrears and potential financial ruin on the horizon, his lawyers fought for an interim payment.
This helped keep a roof over his head as well as pay for critical private surgeries on his finger when it suddenly stopped moving while playing with his dog.
He added: “I was playing with Milo when it suddenly snapped and wouldn’t move. It was very scary. I had the ruptured tendon fixed privately and later another op to repair the pulley and revise the scar tissue. Thankfully that gave me back some movement. I am headstrong so I tried to return to joinery but the strain through my fingers was too much, and I realised I couldn’t do the career I loved anymore.”
Sensing his precarious position his old company’s lawyers then tried to buy the desperate family off with a low settlement offer.
He added: “It was a really hard time, especially getting my head round I could never do the job I loved again. They were hoping we would just give in.”
After suffering with his mental health, Chris – who used to run, play football and attend the gym four times a week before his accident – tried to get back to playing 5-a-side football but was sidelined with an unrelated torn cartilage injury to add to his problems.
He added: “Before my accident I was a very active person. But it was one thing after another. I tried football, then the gym, but it was very frustrating as I couldn’t do weights anymore. I had a young family to think of, so I just had to forget about football and fitness and get on with getting better.”
It soon became apparent that NHS prosthetics weren’t compatible with his severe injuries, so he sought the latest Prosthetics only available abroad.
As part of a bespoke rehabilitation program, lawyers sourced three cutting-edge prosthetics directly from the United States to replace his lost fingers, each tailored to a specific part of his life. Each one costing tens of thousands of pounds.
He added: “The NHS aftercare was very good, but the prosthetics were next to nothing at all.
“I can’t underestimate how much these new ones have changed my life. Without them, I don’t know where I would be, as the basic ones on NHS kept falling apart and didn’t help at all. I have an MCP Driver, which I use every day to drive, do things around the house or at work, for typing, and to use my phone. And a Grip Lock, which lets me lift things up that are heavy or awkward, or mow the lawn.
And my cosmetic skin coloured silicone fingers are for when I am out and about, as they look hyper- realistic they even have all my veins that follow my hand and hair, and from a distance you just can’t tell. I use these when I don’t want any questions.”
Chris also has a series of adapted products at home to help him with everyday tasks, including a spork – combined knife and fork, food chopping and washing-up gadgets, as well as an adapted car with Bluetooth touch controls for driving.
He still suffers daily from extreme pain, so he wears compression gloves all day under his prosthetics and during cold weather wears heated gloves.
He added: “This isn’t something you get over you just learn you learn to live with it, I have a new normal and have got my aids and prosthetics to help me manage with life the best I can.”
Chris refused to let the tragedy define him. After realising his career was over, he decided to pass on his skills to the next generation.
Now he works at Blackpool and the Fylde College – where he once trained as a joiner – to mentor the next generation of construction workers.
Chris, who has two children, Alfie, four, and Cooper, one, with his partner Bryony, said: “I love my new role as a resource assistant in the electrical department. And I am able to pass on my knowledge to students and stay within the trade.
“It’s great seeing the enthusiasm from the students and seeing them learn new skills. I am now helping mentor over 150 students. Also, I get to warn them about the dangers, obviously, with what happened to me as well. It is a very rewarding job.”
Now, after years of litigation, he has secured a substantial seven-figure settlement with Express Solicitors to cover future prosthetics and rehab as well as giving his family financial security.
Partner Nicola Simmons said: “Chris suffered a catastrophic injury at work, losing his fingers. One rushed job using faulty equipment cost him a career he loved and should never have happened.
“Now we have helped secure him and his family’s future with a new job and financial security for life. All workplaces need to do more to make sure equipment is safe for use to prevent tragic accidents like this from ever happening again.”
BGS Projects Ltd has been contacted for comment.