Accident at Work: Teen blinded at work offers his boss forgiveness

I have just read the inspiring story of Aaron Wilton-Jones, who has shown remarkable resilience since gaining a prosthetic eye after a workplace accident.

The accident happened in New Zealand but, I think the story will inspire others who have been involved in accidents at work.

Aaron Wilton-Jones was blinded in his left eye by a chisel on his second day of work but is willing to forgive his former employer who pleaded guilty over the incident.

Aaron hasn't heard from Kerry Bruce Duggan, trading as Mr Alifix, since before the operation where his damaged eye was removed. He has said that

"It'd be nice if he gave me a call or something and wanted to meet up for coffee,'' the 18-year-old said.

Aaron is prepared to forgive Mr Duggan, following in a family tradition of forgiveness.

Aaron said the incident in which he lost his eye was also an accident.

The Department of Labour said Mr Duggan taught Aaron to remove rubber seals using a screwdriver but gave him a chisel for the task when they were working at the gym. The court heard that as Aaron tried to remove the seals, he slipped and the chisel hit his eye. Aaron said Mr Duggan hadn't mentioned anything about wearing safety glasses.

Aaron had surgery and was told it was unlikely he'd keep his eye. Aaron had a second operation to remove his left eye in November and a prosthetic one was put in its place in December.

An investigation found a few simple measures could have significantly reduced the potential for harm and that Mr Duggan failed to adequately prepare his employee to carry out this work.

Aaron said that

"It took me a few months to get used to it all and get my judgment back. In the dark, walking upstairs, that's hard,'' he said.

"But I'm young and have picked up using one eye ... We only live once. You can't let anything hold you back, there's so much more out there.''

If it you or a member of your family has been injured in an accident in the past three years call our specialist personal injury solicitors on 0800 0384 384 or click here to book a free no obligation meeting.