Not Provided with Gloves at Work – can I Claim for Compensation?

At The Injury Lawyers we deal solely with personal injury claims. You can normally only make a personal injury claim if you have sustained an injury and it was not your fault. Therefore if your employer did not give you protective equipment, such as gloves or a hard hat, and as a result you have sustained an injury, then you may be able to claim compensation. However a failure to provide gloves in itself would not give rise to a successful claim. You can only claim if you have been injured as a result.

Depending on the nature of your job, gloves could be a form of personal protective equipment (PPE). PPE is designed to protect workers from harm or reduce the risk of injury occurring. Gloves could protect you from vibration, dangerous chemicals, sharp objects, or abrasions from rough materials for example. If you were not given gloves at work and you regularly used vibratory tools, you may develop injury as a result (such as vibration white finger). So if the failure to provide gloves causes or contributes to an injury, then it is likely that you do have a claim against your employer.

Employers are under a duty to keep employees safe and free from harm. This is done in a variety of ways. It is always best, if possible, to reduce or stop the hazard at source. For example if the hazard was excessive noise, it may be prudent to upgrade the machine to reduce the noise levels emitted. If this is not possible and the hazard of excessive noise still exists, then employers should protect against the risk by providing PPE (i.e. ear muffs and ear plugs). In this scenario the PPE would not remove the noise all together but it would reduce the noise going in the ear to a safer level.

It goes without saying that the use of the PPE should be compulsory if the noise levels require this to be the case; and it is the same with gloves. A failure to provide and enforce the use of gloves could give rise to compensation claims. Note that it is also the duty of the employer to enforce the use of gloves and other forms of PPE. Disciplinary steps would then have to be taken if an employee chose not to use the protective equipment. If the use of gloves was mandatory and you failed to wear them, sustaining injury as a result, you may still be able to claim but it is likely that your employer will argue that you are contributory negligent in failing to wear the gloves. If contributory negligence is found, your compensation would be reduced accordingly.

To discuss a potential injury claim do not hesitate to contact The Injury Lawyers today on 0800 634 75 75.