The reason why there are so many rules and regulations when it comes to health and safety in the workplace is to avoid employees being injured through entirely preventable accidents. Despite the fact that the rules and regulations are numerous, we take on and win a high volume of work accident compensation claims for personal injury.
When it comes to scaffolding accidents, the injuries can be devastating. There are a few regulations that cover health and safety when it comes to scaffolding accidents, so you should never end up falling through scaffolding. Whether the scaffolding was not erected properly or whether it was unsuitable, or whether it had become defective, you have a strong claim for compensation if you have fallen through scaffolding at work and being injured.
Your Rights
We’d be more than happy to investigate this for you on a Genuine No Win, No Fee basis. We can also offer you a 100% compensation agreement because your employers insurance will pay our legal fees for pursuing the case.
Other law firms will want to deduct up to 25% from your payout due to recent legal reforms, but we are still offering a full 100% compensation agreement. So don’t let them trick you in to thinking that everyone is charging nowadays – because we are still offering 100%!
Let’s look at a number of the regulations that apply here:
The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 state the following:
12.(1) Every floor in a workplace and the surface of every traffic route in a workplace shall be of a construction such that the floor or surface of the traffic route is suitable for the purpose for which it is used.
Scaffolding is a traffic route – it’s used to access areas and the regulations above can therefore apply. If the floor collapses beneath you, that’s a breach of the regulations and your employer is liable to compensate you.
The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998:
5.(1) Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.
Scaffolding can fall within the realms of work equipment, and a breach of Regulation 5 here often imposes a strict liability on your employer. This means that the simple fact that the scaffolding floor collapsed means your employer has failed to adhere to the above.
The Work at Height Regulations 2005:
Every existing place of work or means of access or egress at height shall –
(a) be stable and of sufficient strength and rigidity for the purpose for which it is intended to be or is being used.
The working at height regulations equally impose a duty on your employer to ensure that the construction of any areas at height are sufficient for walking on.
So there are three different important workplace regulations that your employer has potentially breached in allowing you to fall through scaffolding at work. So making a claim for compensation if this has happened to you should be an easy one to win.
When it comes to who to sue, it could be your employer based on the above or it could be a separate company if the scaffolding was erected and owned by an external contractor. If this is the case, prospects of winning the claim are still fine and we wouldn’t envisage any trouble at all in winning your claim.
Call our free claims helpline on 0800 634 75 75 for advice now!
Source: www.legislation.gov.uk/
