The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is an independent watchdog that monitors job-related health and safety as well as illnesses that are caused by work. The latest figures from the HSE show that in 2000/10, 28.5 million working days were lost because of work-related ill health. 5.1 million of these were caused by accidents at work.
If you have an accident at work, you should make sure that you report the accident using the reporting procedure available in your workplace. Your employer is required to keep a record of any workplace accidents by law. Your employer must also report any serious accident to the HSE.
You should also make a note of the accident circumstances, who you reported it to, and any witnesses who saw the accident happen. To assist with any claim it is helpful if you collect any evidence, such as pictures of what caused your accident, or the area where the accident happened. Your employer is under a legal duty to make safe anything that is identified as being dangerous, so it is important to make sure that you obtain evidence as soon as possible after your accident.
Employees are often reluctant to make a claim against their employers. This may be because they feel it would be disloyal to claim against their employer, or they fear that there will be reprisals if they make a claim.
However, your employer owes a legal duty of care to keep you as safe as possible when you are at work. It is also a legal requirement for all employers to have employee liability insurance. This is to make sure that if you have an accident at work, there will be enough money available to compensate you fully for your injuries. It will be the insurance company who deals with your claim and who has responsibility for paying out any compensation, not your employer.
It would be unwise for an employer to make any sort of retaliation against an employee who claimed for an accident at work. This is because they would be at risk of the employee bringing a claim for unfair dismissal against them. Most employers also recognise that their employees have a legal right to be kept safe at work and the reason they have insurance is because accidents do sometimes happen.
Another reason some people are reluctant to claim for accidents at work is where their injury was caused by another employee who may have been acting irresponsibly. In the vast majority of cases, the employer is still responsible for the injuries to their employees caused by other employees.
If you are unsure whether you can claim for your accident you can contact our personal injury helpline for free legal advice.