When it comes to manual handling in the workplace, it isn’t just about training in correct lifting techniques, providing equipment and enough people for a lift, and making sure lifts are performed safely; there are other factors to take in to account as well.
As the title of this blog may suggest, let’s look at slips when performing manual handling activities in the workplace. Is your employer negligent? When can you make a claim for personal injury compensation if you slip when performing a manual handling activity?
The Law
We’ll take a look at a few regulations that your employer has to abide by that are applicable in this scenario.
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations address the need for risk assessments to be carried out for any manual handling activities that take place. This doesn’t end at just weights and sizes of loads – routes that need to be used should be risk assessed as well. For example, if you need to lift something and part of the route is outside, has the ground being wet been considered? What if it’s raining, or had been raining?
Perhaps you need to lift the load in to a walk in freezer where the ground may have residue of water or ice on it. This should be taken in to account as well.
If you work in a place where the floor may be wet all the time, there may be a duty under The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations to provide you with safety boots with a strong grip. This can be all the more important if you need to lift objects all the time as well.
In general, The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations stipulate that the ground should be free from any article that could cause a person to slip anyway; so irrelevant of the fact you were performing a manual handling task at the time, there are regulations that address slipping as a standard.
So can I claim?
Well now that you know there are plenty of rules and regulations for employers to abide by, you can see that it can be easy for employers to fail to abide by them properly. If your employer fails to properly risk assess manual handling activities and / or fails to take all reasonable steps to prevent such accidents, you may have a claim for personal injury compensation.
For most claims, all we need to do is submit a Claim Notification Form either directly to your employer or to their insurers. They only have a period of 30 working days to accept liability in most cases as well. We work on a No Win, No Fee basis so it’s always worth putting in a claim as there is no cost to you if it doesn’t win.
