If you sustained injury at work and it was not your fault, you may be eligible to claim for compensation as your employer is under a duty to keep you safe and free from harm.
Obviously there are a number of measures that should be taken to ensure that you are not injured at work. Employers should make sure that the working environment is as safe as possible – this could be done by reducing the risks.
In an office environment a potential tripping risk may exist, such as by tripping over bags, boxes, wires etc. The employer should put processes/procedures in place to reduce the risk – such as a policy that bags must be kept fully under desks where they do not pose a tripping hazard.
Another important measure in reducing the risk of injury is training. Employees need to be adequately trained so that they are competent and able to do the job that they are employed to do, without sustaining injury.
Therefore if you are required to undertake lifting and carrying duties, you should have received adequate manual handling training. If you have not received manual handling training and you subsequently become injured when lifting/carrying, you may have a claim for compensation against your employer.
Even if you had received manual handling training this does not necessarily mean that you cannot claim.
This would raise other issues such as whether the training was adequate, whether it was updated or refreshed regularly, what kind of procedures are in place, whether there was some other way to do the job etc.
In order to help answer some of these questions we would request that your employer discloses certain documents. We would request disclosure of your works records, training records, risk assessments etc.
Employers should try to reduce the amount of manual handling that employees are expected to do. They should look at alternative ways of doing the job. This is because manual handling, especially with relatively heavy or bulky objects, poses a very real risk of injury.
Therefore if the job could be done some other way or by using an aid or equipment (such as a forklift truck) then this should be done.
It is accepted that in certain situations an element of manual handling would still be required. However anyone undertaking manual handling duties at work should be correctly trained.
Knowledge of lifting and carrying techniques can reduce the risk of injury occurring. Failure to give manual handling training is likely to lead to many compensation claims from employees who become injured.
If you have been injured at work and you would like to make a claim – do not hesitate to contact The Injury Lawyers today.
We offer free initial advice and we may be able to proceed with your claim on a No Win No Fee basis.
