Pallets can be fairly large and difficult to manually handle. If they have goods on them, the weight will likely increase.
But in the workplace there are specific health and safety regulations that employers must abide by in order to keep their staff safe from injury. These are covered in The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992.
These, in general, stipulate that an employer must:
- Limit or reduce any manual handling activities
- Provide equipment for manual handling activities to avoid manual handling
- Ensure enough staff are present for a manual handling task
- Risk assess all manual handling activities to ensure the load can be safely moved
- Training must be provided to any staff partaking in manual handling activities
So in reality, you shouldn’t be expected to lift a pallet unless it’s absolutely necessary. Forklift trucks can be deployed to lift them instead. But if this can’t be done, then the activity must be risk assessed to ensure that there are enough employees to safely carry the load and the journey is safe to navigate.
So if any of the following happens, you may have a claim for personal injury compensation:
- A pallet is too heavy or awkward to lift – with or without stock on it
- You have not been trained in how to safely lift the pallet
- Equipment like a forklift truck could have avoided the need to handle the pallet
- Not enough people were present to be able to safely lift the pallet
- A colleague doesn’t handle the pallet with you properly – perhaps dropping it causing a shift in weight or a collision with you
Employers have a legal obligation to have insurance that covers their employees for injuries at work. If you are injured lifting a pallet at work then you may have a valid claim for work injury compensation from the insurance.
For this type of claim we offer our clients a unique 100% compensation agreement and a full No Win, No Fee service. Most lawyers now take 25% from the victim’s payout due to recent legal fee reforms, but for work accidents we are still offering a 100% agreement!
So for free and friendly advice about making a claim on a no obligation basis, don’t hesitate to call our claims line on 0800 634 75 75 for help and advice today.
