There are plenty of potential hazards in the modern workplace, and there are plenty of health and safety rules and regulations that are designed to protect people from being injured in the line of duty.
When it comes to working with potentially hazardous equipment or materials, all reasonable steps should be taken to ensure that you are not at risk of injuring yourself.
So the dangers of equipment and materials aside, what happens if an injury is caused not because of equipment or materials but because the area you are expected to work in is unsafe? Let’s take a look at a few examples:
- The ground is uneven or defective, resulting in a potential fall or trip hazard when using a saw or other dangerous equipment or when handling hot liquids.
- A workstation isn’t big enough making the cramped conditions dangerous as you are too close to a potential hazard.
- A work area is too crowded meaning you are at risk of bumping in to other colleagues or furniture
A workplace should be suitable to allow a person to work safely without the risk of unnecessary injury. If you are injured because a work area is unsafe and this has caused an accident, you may have a valid claim for personal injury compensation through your employers insurance.
How does a claim work?
Your employers are legally bound to have a policy of insurance that covers employees injured in the line of duty. If we can show that your employer has been negligent in the duty of care that they have for you, the insurers should compensate you. We would normally argue that they should have done more, or ought to have known to do more, to prevent an accident.
The process is simple – for most claims we submit an electronic form directly to the insurers who then have 30 working days to accept liability. If they do, we will use medical evidence from an expert we instruct to assess the extent of your suffering and value the injury claim.
If the claim wins, you can keep all 100% of any compensation that’s awarded to you – even though the law changed in April 2013 which has led to most other lawyers now taking 25% from your payout!
If the claim doesn’t win, we work on a No Win, No Fee basis – so you pay nothing!
To find out if you can claim, call our free claims helpline on 0800 634 75 75.
