Injuries caused by machinery at work when employees are caught or entangled in moving parts are one of the more common types of cases that the Health and Safety Executive prosecute companies for. We deal with a startling amount of workplace negligence claims with these kinds of circumstances, and this is despite the fact that the law is very clear on preventing these situations arising.
We’re lucky to have fairly robust legislation here in the UK and we do boast pretty good records when it comes to incidents and fatalities in the workplace. But despite this, a lot of work accidents still happen.
So when it comes to looking at the law for when you are tasked with cleaning machinery where you will inevitably end up in contact with dangerous parts, its useful to see what The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations say, because they can be pretty key here.
Regulation 11 specifically addresses the issue of dangerous parts of machinery, and the gist of the legislation covers elements like:
- Preventing access to dangerous parts of machinery in general (rather obviously)
- The provision of guards and protection devices
- Provision of instructions, supervision, and training
The overall scope of the regulations also deals with the isolation of machinery from energy sources. The above parts are the more obvious ones, and if an employer was to fall foul of those duties, then you could have very good prospects of winning a case. But where machinery was switched off and someone turns it on or it is triggered automatically, there ought to be considerations and provisions for this too.
Considering the regulations that have been briefly discussed above, as well as the general duties an employer has to provide a safe system of work and a generally safe workplace, anybody tasked with cleaning machinery should not end up injured.
If it’s the case that injuries have been caused by sharp or exposed parts that couldn’t be guarded off and were not rotating or moving anyway, then we can use The Personal Protective Equipment Regulations and consider things like the need for coveralls, gloves, hard hats, and goggles etc as well.
The legislation for workplace health and safety is plentiful, and with very good reason. If you are injured at work when cleaning machinery you should definitely give The Injury Lawyers a call for a chat as we can probably offer you a no win, no fee right away.
Just call 0800 634 7575 today.
