{"id":12211,"date":"2017-04-27T14:11:34","date_gmt":"2017-04-27T13:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=12211"},"modified":"2017-04-28T14:42:32","modified_gmt":"2017-04-28T13:42:32","slug":"wouldnt-believe-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=12211","title":{"rendered":"‘You wouldn’t believe the pain’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In part 4 of our Workers’ Memorial Day series, we speak to Unite’s Gary Fairclough, who tells of a harrowing workplace accident that took him years to recover.<\/p>\n

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When Gary Fairclough fell through a scaffolding board that had been installed dangerously he did what anyone would do and put his arms out.<\/p>\n

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As he dropped into the air below Gary\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arms and shoulders jammed into the gap, taking the force of the impact and ripping out both of his pectoral tendons. His injuries were so severe that it would take three years for him to recover.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen I went to see the specialist he said he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never seen injuries like it. He used me as a medical study before I started surgery because the orthopaedic surgeons had never dealt with anything like that before,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Gary, who is now a Unite regional officer for Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Cumbria.<\/p>\n

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The irony isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lost on Gary that as well as working as a bricklayer at the building site where he sustained his injuries that day in 2007, he was also the site\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s union safety officer. In the run up to International Workers’ Memorial Day, the 55-year-old is sharing his story to highlight the dangers construction workers face everyday.<\/p>\n

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Each year thousands of construction workers like Gary are seriously injured at work. In 2015\/16 there were 5,245 construction related injuries and 43 workers killed.<\/p>\n

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For Gary the initial shock and pain of the accident was just the beginning of an arduous journey back to health.<\/p>\n

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He explained, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey managed to reattach the tendon in my left shoulder in 2008 but when they opened me up to reattach the right one six months later, they realised the tear was too big.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Gary was informed that the only way the doctors could repair the tendon was through an experimental surgery that utilised an achilles tendon from a organ donor.<\/p>\n

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Fortunately the surgery was a success, but Gary still had two more operations to go.<\/p>\n

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He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAfter that I had keyhole surgery on my shoulder joint and following that I had surgery on my ankle. But I got MRSA and nearly died in Preston hospital.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI was too poorly to have a general anaesthetic, so they had to clean the joint out while I was still awake. That was a traumatic experience \u00e2\u20ac\u201c you wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe the pain.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Finally, after more than 100 physiotherapy sessions, in 2010 Gary\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s treatment was over.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe irony is I never broke a bone, it was just tendon damage. But even though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve made a full recovery and I could never have returned to the construction industry,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Gary.<\/p>\n

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Union support<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Instead Gary decided to use the knowledge he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d gained while he was injured to help other people by working for the union.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf I had not been in a union and I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had that support, I would have gone under after the accident. I had no money coming in and I had a family to support. A full time officer helped get my claim going so I was able to receive proper compensation and put me in touch with a charity that provided financial assistance for injured workers,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Gary.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe union was there with the expertise I needed to call on to get me through. When I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m dealing with a person in the construction industry now in a similar situation I can really empathise. Unless you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been through it I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think you can appreciate how desperate people become.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Gary believes that attention should be drawn to the risks of working in the construction industry on International Workers Memorial Day, in order to challenge the idea that occupational dangers for builders should be tolerated.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf we had 40 police officers killed on the job each year there would be a public outcry. But we tolerate the deaths of 40 builders. Unless you give it to people on those terms, they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take in how dangerous the construction industry can be,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Gary said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe need to get the message out there that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not acceptable that so many builders are killed or injured because of their work.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more information about Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s involvement in International Workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Memorial Day on Friday (April 28), see our web page\u00c2\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In part 4 of our Workers’ Memorial Day series, we speak to Unite’s Gary Fairclough, who tells of a harrowing workplace accident that took him years to recover.   When Gary Fairclough fell through a scaffolding board that had been installed dangerously he did what anyone would do and put his arms out.   As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[167,290,516],"wps_subtitle":"Construction deaths and injuries \u00e2\u20ac\u0098unacceptable\u00e2\u20ac\u2122","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12211"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12211"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12218,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12211\/revisions\/12218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}