A musician has been awarded £6,240 in compensation after he suffered an electric shock lasting a full two minutes as he prepared to do a soundcheck before performing on P&O’s ‘Pride of Hull’ ferry. The employers liability claim came after Dominic Zyntek, a guitarist, had touched his guitar and the microphone at the same time causing a short circuit leading to the shock.
The claim was exacerbated by the fact that another member of the entertainments team had received a shock the previous night and was taken to hospital in Rotterdam as a precaution, but Dominic had been told that the equipment was safe to use.
Dominic, whose band ‘The Vinyl Countdown’ ironically cover AC/DC songs, said “This was a truly terrifying experience. All I can really remember is being given the all clear to play and as soon as I put my hand on the guitar the next thing I heard was screaming. I honestly thought that I was going to die, it was like I was being burnt alive for a few minutes and the resulting burns on my hands were extremely painful.
“I didn’t realise at the time, but I had bit my tongue so I was spitting out blood and the drummer shouted out ‘he’s coughing up blood, he’s going to die.’ I had to have silver wraps on my hands for weeks to help with the healing and the scar tissue still causes me pain even now. My guitar was ruined and, unfortunately, I couldn’t do my part-time job or complete any gigs with the band for about five weeks.”
He said: “Thankfully, justice was achieved and, hopefully, this case highlights to all businesses and organisations the importance of careful health and safety checks to stop any similar situation happening again.”
AC/DC’s hits include ‘High Voltage’, ‘Flick Of The Switch’, ‘Powerage’, ‘Plug Me In’ and ‘Live Wire’.
A spokesman for P&O Ferries said: “This accident happened in 2012 and as you’d expect resulted in an immediate investigation. Action was taken to prevent it ever happening again by the installation of an extra circuit breaker.’’
Not so shocking is the fact that employers liability insurance is a legal prerequisite for any business employing staff, whether full or part time, on a sub contract basis or even ad hoc volunteers. So compare employers liability insurance here at Comparecrazy.com where the prices are electric!
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