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I’m going to discuss the duty your employer has when it comes to working in an environment where a wet floor is common in the workplace.

Say you work in a car wash, or a water plant, or somewhere where the floor is likely to be wet. If this is the case, then can you claim for compensation for slippingon a wet floor at work?

After all, if the floor is wet because of the nature of the business, what can your employer do to prevent an accident occurring? For that answer, we turn to the relevant legislation…
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.For the purposes of this article I am going to discuss the law that is applicable for an accident involving a works vehicle. I’m going to cover what happens if you are injured because the vehicle is broken or defective as oppose to a general road accident – unless the accident was caused due to a defect.

A vehicle provided by your employer is classed as work equipment, and is therefore subject to The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. This hugely important piece of legislation puts an important duty on your employer to make sure that work equipment that is provided to you is, in essence, safe to use.

I will quote some of the important parts of the regulations:

5.1 – “Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.”

5.2 – “Every employer shall ensure that where any machinery has a maintenance log, the log is kept up to date.”
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I’m going to write in parts to this article – one from the perspective of a trainee or new employee having an accident, and the other from the perspective of someone injured by a trainee or new employer at work!

You Start Work

So you start your new job and you are being trained up in how to be as efficient as possible for the company. There are lots of things you need to learn and health and safety is an issue that needs to be in the forefront of both your mind and your employers. When you are in a new environment, you may lack the skills necessary to understand certain risks. For ease of example, we’ll use a building site:
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If you have an accident at work and it wasn’t your fault, you may have a claim for compensation against your employer. All employers have a legal duty to have a policy of employer’s liability insurance that covers them for claims being made against them. The insurance is there to be claimed from.

But what happens if you are at work and you are injured by one of your colleagues? What happens if you are lifting a heavy item and your colleague drops it because they weren’t paying enough attention? Or what happens if your colleague accidentally drives in to you with a forklift truck? Or what about if they switch a machine on whilst you are cleaning it?

Who is to blame?

Well the colleague is generally at fault if you look at it from a literal perspective if they were the negligent one, but in the eyes of the law you may be able to claim against your employer for compensation. It’s called vicarious liability, and it generally means, in a workplace scenario, that the negligence of a colleague falls on to your employer.
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If you have been injured and you were not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, can you still make a claim for compensation? In simple terms the answer is yes, you still may be able to make a claim. You should of course be wearing a helmet if you are on a bicycle or motorbike. The same concept also applies to work accidents in terms of wearing a hard hat where neccessary. There is a possibility that the Defendant (the other driver, an employer etc) may allege something called contributory negligence. This can reduce the compensation that you are entitled to; however this does not normally wipe out your compensation in its entirety.

It may be works practice or rules to wear a hard hat at all times whilst on site. Say you forgot to wear your hard hat and you sustained a head injury when an object fell. In this case it is likely that an element of contributory negligence would be found by a court. You can still claim and recover compensation, as there may still be negligence in that an object fell, putting employees at risk of sustaining injury. If contributory negligence is agreed or found by a court, your compensation would be reduced.
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Many people drive as part of their work. Field salespersons, lorry and delivery drivers, couriers; I’m talking to you! So what happens if you have a road accident whilst you are driving a works vehicle? Do you sue your employer? Is it different to making a ‘general’ road accident claim?

Well if you are not at fault, then it should work in the same way as any other claim – you pursue compensation from the insurers of the driver at fault. Say you are hit in the back, or someone pulls out from a side road; if you are not at fault, you won’t be making a claim against your employers insurance – it’s against the other drivers insurance!
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This is an important question – so here’s three reasons why you SHOULD make a claim against your employer for an injury at work.

You’re Covered

Your employer has a legal obligation to have a policy of employer’s liability insurance that covers their employees for injuries at work. It’s nothing personal when you make a claim for an injury at work – you are simply claiming against the insurance your employer has for the sole reason of making a claim from.

It’s similar to contents insurance – you have it in the event your are the victim of theft or damage. It’s there to be used; just like your employer’s liability insurance.

It can cover legal fees too!
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The law for this subject is very clear – there is a huge burden on your employer to limit as much as possible the need for manual handling at work, or risk assess it and make sure it’s done correctly to avoid any injuries occurring. If you are injured due to a manual handling activity at work, you may have a claim for compensation if your employer has failed to uphold the important duty of care they have for you.

As an example, let’s say you are asked to move a significantly large crate containing bricks. It weighs half a tonne, and unless you possess superhuman strength, it really cannot be moved manually without breaking it down.

If you have to move it, your employer should make sure that you have the right tools to move it. I would imagine a forklift truck or perhaps a pallet truck or pump truck could do the job. But what also needs to be considered in accordance with the regulations above is whether the job can be done risk free. Here is where the risk assessment comes in to place. Your employer should consider:
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If you need gloves to be able to do your job without injuring your hands, your employer has a duty to provide them to you. To quote Regulation 4 of the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992:

4.—(1) Every employer shall ensure that suitable personal protective equipment is provided to his employees who may be exposed to a risk to their health or safety while at work except where and to the extent that such risk has been adequately controlled by other means which are equally or more effective (source).

The law is clear – if there is a risk that your hands could be injured during the course of your employment, your employer should provide you with appropriate equipment to protect you from a risk. Let’s say you handle hot materials or chemicals – you need heat retardant or chemical proof gloves to prevent any potential injuries. The gloves have to be good enough for the job as well. Regulation 6 states the following:
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Today is a Friday – so most of the country (I imagine) is waiting for 5’o-clock to hit so they can escape the workplace and wind down after a week of working hard. Obviously we’re not – we’re open until 10pm tonight and 9am – 5pm over the weekend (and on the bank holiday) because we’re a little crazy and like to be as accessible as possible to our clients!

But the point I’m making is that the last thing anyone expects is to be going about their daily working business and suddenly slip over and injure themselves at work.
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