It is said in certain circumstances that leaning on a table with your elbows is considered rude – and I probably break that rule all the time. But what most people would never expect is for that table or desk to collapse whilst your weight is being placed on it.
Rather obviously, this can be a cause of an injury – so where do you stand if this has happened to you? Can you make a personal injury claim?
Circumstances are important
How the claim will proceed and what laws and regulations we rely upon is normally entirely dependent on the scenario in which the accident has happened. For example:
- At work, a table injury claim would normally go against your employer using workplace regulations
- In a public place like a bar, café, or restaurant, we’re talking the Occupiers Liability Act against the persons or company in control of the premises
- In rented accommodation, it is the landlord or agent we can sue
- If you own the desk or table – and its new, and the accident is caused by a product fault – we can sue the seller of the product
So depending on how this has happened can depend entirely on how strong the case is and who we are going to pursue. I’ll break it down in to sections for you so you can understand this better:
Table injury claim at work
The main piece of legislation we need to look at is The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations that governs the use of all work equipment in the workplace. Tables and desks are classed as work equipment, so the applicable piece of legislation here reads as follows:
(1) Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.
A table injury that happens in a public place
The Occupiers Liability Act puts a duty on whoever is in control of a premises to take all reasonable steps to ensure that visitors are safe. If a table or a desk is poorly maintained then you may be able to make a claim against them; or if there was knowledge of a problem and nothing was done about, you may also have a claim.
Here it is more about reasonable knowledge and reasonable attempts at maintenance and inspection of desks and tables.
Rented accommodation table injury
Here it is a lot more about knowledge or whether there ought to have been knowledge of a problem. If you report a defect with a table or desk and this is not resolved quickly enough then there may be a claim to answer for. If you move in to accommodation and the desk or table is obviously defective then there is an argument that there ought to be reasonable knowledge of a problem which can be borne from inspections that should take place between residents moving in and out.
There is a much greater emphasis on knowledge or reasonable knowledge in these circumstances.
Product liability table injuries
It can all come down to proving that there was a defect caused by, perhaps, a manufacturing or transportation problem. If assembly is required then we need to prove that it was a defect that was responsible for the accident as opposed to an assembly error.
They can be hard to prove. Taking photos can help us to assess these sorts of claims, and if it’s the case that the desk or table is quite old, then it can be harder to make a claim as well.
Call us 0800 634 7575 to get your claim started today.
