At The Injury Lawyers we deal with all sorts of accident at work claims. The focus of this blog, however, is personal protective equipment; or PPE as it is known for short.
PPE is equipment that is needed at work to wear or use in order to protect workers from risks to their health and safety. If you have suffered an injury due to a lack of/insufficient PPE, then you may have a claim for compensation, just like a worker I read about some time ago. This worker was employed by a car manufacturer to pick out metal debris from a coolant at the base of a drill. Now, due to this, the claimant suffered irritant dermatitis on his hands – an extremely sore and painful condition which meant he had to take time off work. The claimant successfully sued his employers for £5,500 as it was found the claimant was supplied with inadequate gloves for the work as they were pierced by the metal cutting. The employer could also have provided a better procedure of clearing the debris from the machines by implementing a vacuum extraction procedure. So, not only was inadequate PPE provided, but a better procedure all round could have even prevented the victims suffering.
PPE is only really meant as a last resort, whereby the employers have no other way of protecting their employees against the risks to their health and safety. Regulations in the UK state that this PPE should be provided to employees free of charge and without any contributions having to be made at all. It is also the duty of the employers to ensure the PPE is correctly used; i.e. by way training, and to check that the PPE is maintained regularly and stored correctly.
PPE can protect against all sorts of injuries at work. Equipment such as gloves and safety boots protect against lacerations, and head gear can protect against head injuries. Not only this, but like the story above, PPE can protect against industrial diseases such as asbestosis poisoning, irritant dermatitis, or Vibration White Finger.
At The Injury Lawyers we work hard on behalf of our clients to get them the best possible amounts of compensation. We give free assessments to claims whether we take them on or not – so you have nothing to lose by trying.
