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We see many different types of work accidents, from tripping accidents, accidents involving harmful substances, lifting/carrying accidents, accidents involving equipment or machinery etc. If you have sustained injury because there were no guards on a machine which you were using, then at face value it is likely that you have a genuine claim. Machinery should be safe and this means it should be regularly checked and maintained. If a guard has come off of a machine and has not been replaced, it is more dangerous and injury is foreseeable.

Modern machinery often have guards to prevent injury to hands. Indeed even on equipment you use in the garden such as hedge trimmers, there are guards in which your hands should not go beyond. With works machinery, we could be talking about large industrial machines so the potential injury could be very serious. If you catch you hand in a machine, we could be looking at loss of fingers or loss of the hand. The potential injury and potential effect on a victim’s life is significant.
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Construction is one of the biggest industries, employing 2 million people across the UK. Building sites are by nature very dangerous places, and employers have a duty to keep employees safe whilst at work. It can be difficult to control hazards and risks when the work environment is constantly changing, and therefore employees are probably injured on construction sites every single day.

The construction industry accounts for 22% of all fatalities and 10% off all major injuries at work. Accidents commonly caused because of falls from heights, slips, trips and defective equipment.

Employees are commonly injured by:
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A lot of people know their rights when it comes to making a claim for personal injury compensation for an accident at work. But some people are a little unsure about their rights if they work part time. Do you still have the same rights as a part time worker or casual worker?

The short answer is yes – you, as a part time employee of the employer, are still covered by all of the workplace regulations that cover full time employees as well. The regulations are there for anyone who works directly for the employer. Even if you work just one day a week, there is the same duty on your employer to make sure that you are not injured at work. The same duty at work applies.
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From the perspective of a workplace personal injury compensation claim, your employer owes you a very important duty of care for them to adhere to The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992.

Regulation 4 of the legislation states:

(a) so far as is reasonably practicable, avoid the need for his employees to undertake any manual handling operations at work which involve a risk of their being injured; or

(b) where it is not reasonably practicable to avoid the need for his employees to undertake any manual handling operations at work which involve a risk of their being injured

Further to this, employers are responsible to risk assess all manual handling activities and assess whether both the employee who will be undertaking the manoeuvre and the route are suitable. So things like stairs, which can be an obvious hazard, must be taken in to serious consideration. Common problems caused by stairs when it comes to manual handling are:
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At work, your employer is under a pretty heavy duty to look after your health and safety, and make sure you are not injured whilst working. When I say heavy, I mean there are a lot of workplace rules and regulations that employers must abide by, and breaching any of these regulations can pave the way to you making a work injury claim for personal compensation.
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Working at height poses a great risk to safety, accounting for a quarter of all workplace deaths. Falling from a height is the one most common causes of an accident within the workplace causing minor/major injuries and fatalities. Of course most of the time the fall isn’t from a great height, with 70 per cent of all accidents being caused from falling from below head height.

Injuries likely to be caused by falling from a height are as follows:

• Twist or swelling to the knees
• Sprained or broken limbs
• Back pain or slipped discs
• Soft tissues damage to the body area

The Working at Height Regulations 2005 were introduced to try and prevent accidents caused by a fall from height, and the regulations are to apply to anywhere where there is a risk of falling. The 2005 regulations set out that a height is to be defined as ‘any place, including a place at or below ground level‘, which liable to cause a personal injury.
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Slips and trips at work are one of the most common causes of accidents at work, resulting in 40% of all major injuries in the workplace. 10,000 employees alone were injured in the UK last year from slips and trips at work. Injuries can range from broken bones and fractures to minor cuts and bruises.

The common causes of slips and trips at work:

• Cleaning
• Flooring
• Environment
• Obstacles
• Colleagues
• Footwear

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, is in place to ensure the health and safety of all employees within the workplace.

Under Regulation 2 of the act, an employer has the duty to ‘as is reasonably practicable‘ ensure ‘the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees‘. An employer must ‘provide instruction, and training‘ to all employees that will be working with the workplace, and therefore be fully competent in using it.
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We specialise and deal only with claims for personal injury compensation. We have particular expertise, and many years of experience, in representing victims of work accidents. Work accidents are fairly common because there are a lot of rules and regulations that an employer can breach. We have regulations covering most scenarios. Here are some examples:

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992

These cover traffic routes and therefore slips and trips, general health and safety of the workplace, falls or falling objects, doors and gates, windows and skylights, and all sorts of things. The common ones are slips and trips. So if you have an accident in relation to any of the above, you may be able to make claim for personal injury compensation.
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Employers have a duty to protect their employees in the workplace. The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, or PUWER as they are informally known, outline what exactly an employer needs to do to meet this duty.

For example, Regulation 5 sets out ‘Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair‘ and Regulation 4.3 sets out ‘Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is used only for operations for which, and under conditions for which, it is suitable‘.

To summarise, an employer must ensure that all work equipment is in good working order and is completely suitable for the relevant task in hand. Examples of work equipment are hammers, knives, ladders, and may other tools – in fact, most equipment or machinery used within the working day. The 1998 regulations ensure that employees are covered when stopping and starting equipment, maintaining, cleaning and repairing all work equipment.
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Manual Handling is one of the most common causes of injury in the workplace. Manual Handling generally includes; lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling or carrying, and most employees carry out some sort of manual handling within their working day.

Common types of injury caused by manual handling are:

• Back pain
• Sprains and strains to lower back and shoulders
• Damages to muscles and tendons

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations were introduced in 1992 in order to keep employees safe in the workplace and to reduce the number of employees injured at work.

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 set out that employer should ‘so far as is reasonably practicable, avoid the need for his employees to undertake any manual handling operations at work which involve a risk of injury‘ and ‘shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of all such operations which cannot be avoided‘ plus ‘shall take appropriate steps to reduce the risk of injury during those operations to the lowest level reasonably practicable‘.
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