You could be entitled to claim workplace compensation if you have been injured through no fault of your own during loading and unloading activities through the course of your employment.
If we believe that you have a valid case to pursue, we may be able to represent you for a claim on a No Win, No Fee basis. You can speak to our team for free, no-obligation legal help here now.
Health and safety regulations for loading and unloading at work
Health and safety regulations in the workplace are incredibly strict for very good reasons, as we must make sure to protect employees from any risk of harm. When it comes to health and safety in respect of loading and unloading activities at work, there is a great deal that employers need to do to make sure that their workforce is safe.
Naturally, any activities involving loading and loading can carry a number of risks for those engaged in the activity. There is the usual manual handling aspect of things to make sure that anybody who is lifting and moving large or heavy objects can do so safely without the risk of injury. There is the matter of the use of equipment to assist in loading and unloading, such as pallet trucks and forklift trucks. There is also the requirement to make sure that the area where the loading and unloading is taking place is safe to avoid anyone tripping or falling whilst engaged in such activities.
It only takes one thing to go wrong. If somebody is hit by a falling object, or is injured when trying to move something in the workplace, the outcome could be serious. Any injury to the back can be incredibly serious and can lead to significant suffering, and being struck by an object can, in the worst-case scenarios, result in fatalities.
Anyone who has been injured whilst engaging in this kind of activity in the workplace could be eligible to claim compensation if the incident arose from some kind of negligence. If your employer has breached health and safety regulations by failing to make sure that the activity was safe in every way that they could, you may have a case to pursue. If the fault is with a colleague then your employer can still be held vicariously liable for the negligence of an employee, so you may still be able to pursue a case.
Speak to our team for free, no-obligation legal advice now
The best thing to do to find out if you can pursue a workplace compensation claim on a No Win, No Fee basis is to seek legal advice immediately.
Our team is always happy to provide free, no-obligation legal advice about your potential rights to pursue a case – you can speak to us here for information now.
A recent HSE fine
As we referenced above, sadly, in the worst-case scenarios, fatalities can occur when manual handling activities in the workplace go wrong. In a recent fine notification that was issued by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), they confirmed that a transport company has been fined after a driver was tragically killed whilst loading and unloading a trailer.
The HSE reportedly issued a fine of £400,000 as a result of the driver being killed after he was knocked off a trailer during the activity in question. The HSE investigation reportedly found that the company was at fault for failings in respect of health and safety, and that this contributed to the accident in question.