The company is bracing itself for a series of compensation claims after it emerged that two such books were stolen from its site in Hinxton, Cambridge, where the main contractor was Mace and the client was the Wellcome Trust.
Steve Harvey, John Doyle's company secretary, said its insurance broker had recently warned him about the issue.
He said: "Our broker warned us that accident books were being stolen from sites 鈥� and then our health and safety manager told us a week later that two books on our Hinxton site had gone missing."
Harvey said that after investigating the incident he believed that the books had been stolen. He said he had information that the books had been sold for 拢1000 each.
The company is now waiting for a claim to come in before it takes further action.
Harvey said the company wanted to warn the industry about the dangers, and added that John Doyle was taking measures to secure its site accident books. One personal injury lawyer said that some accident management companies operate by finding injured clients and selling on details to lawyers.
We are already taking measures to secure site accident books
Steve Harvey, John Doyle
He said that the lawyers probably did not know how the information had been obtained and probably would never know.
The lawyer said: "If a client has a legitimate claim, nothing illegal has taken place if that person makes a claim to which he or she is entitled. But this will increase the numbers of claims as many people probably would not have claimed otherwise."
The rise in claims would cause an increase in liability insurance in the long term, said the lawyer.
He added: "But remember these accidents are happening no matter where the information comes from.
I would recommend that firms take appropriate safety precautions."
A spokesperson for the association of personal injury lawyers said it would investigate any cases that were brought to its attention.
No comments yet