There are loads of health and safety rules and regulations that employers must adhere to in order to ensure their employees are not injured in the line of duty. Generally speaking, if they fail to stick to the rules and an employee is injured, the employee has a right to make a claim for work injury compensation from their employers insurance.
So when it comes to you having to work with sharp edges, perhaps inside a machine or with some kind of cutting instrument, your employer has a duty to provide you with gloves to ensure that you do not sustain an injury.
In fact, there are specific regulations for this under The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992. The important bit reads as follows:
4.(1) Every employer shall ensure that suitable personal protective equipment is provided to his employees who may be exposed to a risk to their health or safety while at work except where and to the extent that such risk has been adequately controlled by other means which are equally or more effective.
Legislation : www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/2966/contents/made
The duty is clear – if your hands are at risk of being injured and gloves can be provided to stop you from sustaining an injury, your employer must provide you with them.
What happens if they don’t?
If they fail to provide you with gloves and you are injured as a result, you can make a claim for personal injury compensation for any injuries and losses caused as a result of the accident. They have breached the regulations so they should be found liable for a claim.
What if they told me to get my own gloves?
It is your employer who must provide you with protective equipment. They cannot tell you to get your own – it is your employer who must provide, maintain, pay for, and training you when it comes to providing such equipment.
