Many people will be asked to do all sorts of “ad-hoc” tasks buy their employer. This could include going up in to loft spaces in an office, or perhaps in an area being renovated. As daft as it may sound to some people, if a person is not aware that the floor they are stepping on is not a proper floor – i.e. it’s perhaps a suspended / false ceiling – stepping on it could be disastrous.
So what happens if you are asked to negotiate somewhere and you are not aware that the floor you are stepping on is just a ceiling with little or no support? What happens if you then fall through it and you are injured as a result?
You’d best call The Injury Lawyers for advice, because it sounds like you are entitled to make a claim for personal injury compensation…
Your Rights
Under the many workplace health and safety regulations that are in place, there is The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. One of the important regulations states the following:
12.(1) Every floor in a workplace and the surface of every traffic route in a workplace shall be of a construction such that the floor or surface of the traffic route is suitable for the purpose for which it is used.
Now, whilst a false ceiling area may not be a designated traffic route, if you are asked to navigate one and you are not warned or instructed of any dangers, the above regulations can apply.
There are also specific regulations when it comes to falls in the workplace. These read as follows:
13.(1) So far as is reasonably practicable, suitable and effective measures shall be taken to prevent any event specified in paragraph (3).
(3) The events specified in this paragraph are:-
(a) any person falling a distance likely to cause personal injury;
Legislation: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/3004/contents/made
So right away we can establish that your employer is in breach of several regulations in instructing you to navigate across a ceiling space which is likely to be insufficient for supporting your weight. Although this is a rare set of circumstances, we have fought and won claims in the past with these exact circumstances. It’s baffling that employers would take such risks!
100% Compensation
For work accident claims, we still offer 100% compensation even though the law changed on April and most other lawyers are deducting up to 25% from your payout. With us, you still keep every penny of what’s owed to you and we recover our legal fees directly from the other side – normally your employer’s insurers!
