It is the duty of your employer to ensure that the flooring of the workplace is safe for employers. Injuries and accidents can commonly occur due to poor or defective flooring in the work place. Accidents can happen due to uneven flooring, broken tiles, rough ground, spillages or even a lack of matting or carpeting.
The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) regulations 1992, set out that a floor “must be suitable for the purpose which it is used” and should be in good condition with “no hole or slope, or be uneven or slippery” so as to not pose a risk to the health and safety of employees. The 1992 regulations also set out that “every floor in a workplace” must be kept free from “obstruction” and any “substance which may cause a person to slip, trip or fall“.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, sets out that all employers have responsibility to ensure the health and safety of employees and that all slip and trips risks are regularly monitored, as far as reasonably practical. Therefore health and safety must be of high importance to all employers.
Employers may wish to carry out risk assessments in order to regularly monitor hazards, and to take control of any potential risks in the workplace. Employers may like to carry out a risk assessments with regards to flooring; looking at ways to stop the flooring being contaminated, looking at effective cleaning methods in order to prevent spillages, making sure the flooring is appropriate for the work environment, and that correct footwear is given to employees such as safety boots.
Employees also have a duty with regards to flooring, if employees find a hazard in the work place they have a duty to ensure that the hazard is reported to their employer so that the hazard can be dealt with.
Have you been injured in accident at work that wasn’t your fault because of unsafe and hazardous flooring, you may be able to claim for compensation. It would need to be seen that the standard of flooring was negligent and therefore your employer has failed in his duty to ensure that the work place is safe.
If possible, it would be helpful if you could take photographs of your injuries and of the defective flooring, which will be able to support your claim. It would then need to be investigated whether your employer took reasonable steps to ensure the flooring was safe and whether the flooring had been regularly maintained, in order to keep it safe. Your employers will have Employers Liability Insurance in place, which means that they have insurance which will cover the cost of the compensation for your accident.
Call our claims helpline now on 0800 634 75 75 for free advice.
