WORK ACCIDENTS
The HSE (Health & Safety Executive) estimates that in 2004/2005 up to 35 million working days were lost in the UK to injuries or illnesses arising from work. Nearly 600 workers and members of the public lost their lives due to work related accidents. This figure does not include many more ordinary working people who died from an occupational illness.
The main protections offered by the law are enshrined in the code of Health & Safety Regulations that came into force in the early 1990’s replacing the old Factories and Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Acts. The regulations have both civil and criminal jurisdiction stemming from the 1974 Health & Safety at Work Act. The main regulations include:
The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992;
The Personal Protective Equipment Regulations at Work 1992;
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992;
The Health & Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992;
The Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996;
The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998;
The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998;
The Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999;
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1999;
The Work at Height Regulations 2005.
These regulations provide, in many cases, a hierarchy of measures and offer guidance that employers should take to prevent injury to their employees. They go hand in hand with older judge made common law negligence. Many of the specific regulations confer what is known as “strict liability” upon the employer, which gives the regulations significant weight in a civil case, should an employee be injured as a result of breach of the regulations. A few examples are:
Injury due to failure of equipment
Injury due to unsuitable equipment
Injury due to insufficient guarding of dangerous parts of machinery
Injury due to failure to maintain the workplace
Injury due to failure to keep the workplace clean
Injury due to a failure to keep floors maintained and clear of obstruction or hazard
Injury due to falls from height, unless, amongst other things, proper fall arrest measures have been assessed and implemented.
Additionally, under certain regulations the burden of proof may fall on the employer. In the Manual Handling Operations Regulations the employer needs to show that it has taken all sufficient and suitable steps to assess the risk, to avoid the need for handling, to use mechanical means for handling, to have trained the worker properly in handling and to have reduced the risk to the lowest level possible.
Surprisingly, many employees who suffer injury at work do not claim compensation against their employer, who will hold Compulsory Employers Liability Insurance. By failing to do this, the matter will not be investigated by the EL insurers, thus potentially perpetuating unsafe practices, leaving the dangers in place and allowing unscrupulous employers to continue to put their workers at risk.
If you would like to obtain free expert legal advice either:
- Call us free, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
on 08000 111 712 (St Helens) or 08000 111 564 (Widnes)
- Request an accident report form by Fax,
on 01744 744404 (St Helens) or 0151 495 2227 (Widnes)
- Complete our online claim form
- Call into one of our offices, as no appointment is needed,
click here for directions.
- Or send the following information by email to "newclaim@hattons.oy2.biz":*
- Full Name
- Full Address, including postcode
- Daytime Telephone Number
- Mobile Telephone Number
- Date of Accident
- Brief Accident Details
- Brief Injury Details
- How you found our website
|
