Your employer has an important duty to look after your wellbeing, and they therefore have a duty to ensure that you must adhere to a safe system of work. If an unsafe system of work is adopted, and you are injured as a result, there may be a claim for compensation to answer for. When it comes to dangerously stacked stock cages, it commonly comes down to one of a few scenarios:
Scenario 1 – cages are over stacked as a general work procedure to save time. Stock falls off of a cage and hits an employee. This is an unsafe system of work, and your employer may be liable for a claim for personal injury compensation.
Scenario 2 – the cages are unsuitable for the stock they are being used for. Perhaps they have open sides and small items are stacked atop each other, making them liable to fall out of the sides and hit someone. Again, your employer may be liable.
Scenario 3 – a colleague dangerously stacks a cage which results in stock falling and hitting you. Your employer is vicariously liable for the negligent actions of a colleague, and so still may be liable for a claim for personal injury compensation against them.
At work, stock cages are covered by The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The most important part of this legislation in my opinion is Regulation 5, which states:
5.—(1) Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.
The above is very important. It essentially imposes a strict liability on employers to ensure that work equipment is not defective. Therefore if a piece of work equipment is broken and it causes an injury, your employer may have no choice but to accept responsibility even if there was nothing they could do to have prevented the defect. That’s the nature of strict liability.
So give us a call on 0800 634 75 75 today for advice and help about making a claim for personal injury compensation.