As soon as you start your new job, the duty of care that your employer owes to all of their employees starts immediately. There is no honeymoon period or anything like that – the duty starts from the first second you start working for them. This fact can lead to a lot of accidents at work.
The duty is on your employer to ensure that any task you are requested to do will be able to be carried out in a safe way. So if the task at hand requires you to be trained, your employer is responsible for the training. Let’s look at a few examples:
Manual Handling – if you are instructed to undertake any manual handling activities and your new employer has not yet trained you, if you sustain injury because of the lack of training, you may have a claim for compensation against them.
Work Equipment – if you are asked to use a machine and you end up injuring yourself on a dangerous part because, again, no training has been provided, your new employer is liable.
Personal Protective Equipment – if you are not instructed to wear a hard hat and something falls and hats you on the head on a building site, you may have a claim. Equipment that requires specific training for you to be able to maximise its use is also important.
Records – Your employer should keep records to evidence your training as well. This is normally the way an employer will defend a claim if you allege poor training and they have a record showing you have agreed to the training being fit for purpose. This is key as a new employee, as your new employer will struggle to defend the claim without evidence of training.
What about your rights for making a claim against a new employer?
As an employee, you are covered by law so you don’t need to worry about being sacked or treated differently for claiming. You have rights – and these rights are not to be breached. So don’t panic about making a claim for personal injury compensation against a new employer. If they sacked you for making a claim, they would likely end up with an employment claim on their hands! Besides – their insurers wouldn’t be happy about them sacking an employee for making a claim.
At the same time, most employers know the law and know the score! They’ll have been sued plenty of times before, and its law to have insurance that covers them for these claims. It’s nothing personal – you’re just claiming form insurance that exits to protect you.
