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We take on a lot of work accident claims, and a lot of them relate to workers injured on the back of the lorry they are either driving or working from. I’ll give you a few examples and explain a little about how the law works when it comes to who is at fault and how to make a claim for personal injury compensation.

First and foremost, a lorry is classed as work equipment – and under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations, your employer has a specific duty to inspect and maintain all work equipment to make sure no one comes to harm when using it. As it so happens, there are also some strict liability regulations that mean that if you are injured due to defective work equipment, you may have a very strong case. Say for example the shutters break and fall on you because a catch is broken, or they get stuck as you’re pushing them and cause you to badly jerk your back. Even if there was no way your employer could have stopped this from happening, you may still have a very good claim.
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If you sustained injury at work and it was not your fault, you may be eligible to claim for compensation as your employer is under a duty to keep you safe and free from harm.

Obviously there are a number of measures that should be taken to ensure that you are not injured at work. Employers should make sure that the working environment is as safe as possible – this could be done by reducing the risks.

In an office environment a potential tripping risk may exist, such as by tripping over bags, boxes, wires etc. The employer should put processes/procedures in place to reduce the risk – such as a policy that bags must be kept fully under desks where they do not pose a tripping hazard.
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At The Injury Lawyers we deal solely with personal injury claims. You can normally only make a personal injury claim if you have sustained an injury and it was not your fault. Therefore if your employer did not give you protective equipment, such as gloves or a hard hat, and as a result you have sustained an injury, then you may be able to claim compensation. However a failure to provide gloves in itself would not give rise to a successful claim. You can only claim if you have been injured as a result.

Depending on the nature of your job, gloves could be a form of personal protective equipment (PPE). PPE is designed to protect workers from harm or reduce the risk of injury occurring. Gloves could protect you from vibration, dangerous chemicals, sharp objects, or abrasions from rough materials for example. If you were not given gloves at work and you regularly used vibratory tools, you may develop injury as a result (such as vibration white finger). So if the failure to provide gloves causes or contributes to an injury, then it is likely that you do have a claim against your employer.
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Here at The Injury Lawyers we deal solely with personal injury claims – we are therefore experts in the personal injury field. If you are wondering whether you have to be off work to make a claim for compensation, put simply, the answer is no. If you are injured in an accident that was not your fault, you could be eligible to claim compensation. It does not matter whether or not you took time off work.

It could be that your injuries did not affect your work and therefore you may have been able to continue in your employment. With minor injuries, for example minor whiplash injuries, people may not have to take any time off work. Whether or not you do need to take time off work will depend on the nature and severity of your injuries and also the nature of the job that you do. If you do heavy manual work then you may be less able to fulfil your duties. However before taking time off speak to your employer as they may be able to offer you an alternative role while you get better. This is often referred to as “light duties”. You may be able to work but you may not be able to do anything heavy.
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If you have sustained an injury at work, such as by tripping over boxes, you may be entitled to recover compensation. Many employees are reluctant to pursue a claim against their employer for fear of losing their job or fear that it will make life at work more difficult. This is certainly understandable and ultimately it is always your choice whether or not you would like to make a claim. It is your right to claim if you have sustained injury at work and it was not your fault. Whether or not you exercise that right is a decision only you can make.

Trips at work can happen anytime, whether it is tripping over bags on the floor, boxes or cables etc. Most working environments have some kind of equipment that could potentially cause a tripping hazard. There should be procedures in place to keep employees reasonably safe and free from harm. Bags and boxes should not be left in areas where they pose a tripping hazard. These kinds of hazards can often be avoided by adopting simple but effective measures such as keeping bags under desks. Not all trips will lead to injuries and it may just be a case of embarrassment. However if you have sustained injury, you may be eligible to make a work injury claim for compensation.
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Clearly if a roof collapses and people are beneath the roof, it is highly likely that people will be injured or quite possibly killed. The potential result of such an accident is devastating. A roof could collapse because it has not been adequately checked or maintained. A roof could also collapse due to some other cause such as an explosion or not being constructed properly.

If a roof collapses at work then you may have a claim against your employer. Basically your employer is under a duty to keep you safe and free from harm. There is a requirement to maintain the workplace and keep it safe. Such requirements are all a measure of degree. Clearly if a roof collapses because it is hit by an aeroplane, there is probably not a great deal that an employer could do about it and they are unlikely to be at fault. Such an occurrence would not be foreseeable.

The most common occurrence that could give rise to a personal injury claim would be a failure to adequately maintain a roof. Due to poor maintenance a roof could collapse and cause injury. In this scenario it is foreseeable as if the roof is not properly checked or maintained, it is likely to come into disrepair. Equally if a roof collapsed in a local shop, causing injury, a right of action would be against the owner of the shop in question.
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Here at The Injury Lawyers we deal with all types of personal injury claims. We deal with many workplace accident claims which are often referred to simply as accident at work claims. Such claims can include a wide range of accidents and injuries depending on the nature of the work in question. Although many procedures and health and safety measures should, and are often are in place, accidents at work remain one of the most common types of personal injury claims.

Serious accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences must be reported in accordance with RIDDOR (which stands for the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations). Under RIDDOR an employer, the self-employed, or those in control of work premises must report any of the following:
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Under Section 2 of the Health and safety at work act 1974 employers are under a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the health safety and welfare of their employees at work is maintained. Therefore, if you have been injured whilst at work you may be entitled to compensation. Certain injuries sustained at work can be incredibly debilitating and can, of course, affect your future job prospects and therefore compensation may be a necessity.

There are many different ways that you can be injured at work especially taking in to account the range of industries and sectors that are out there. However, whether you work on a building site with extensive heavy machinery or you’re working as a care worker there is always the risk of sustaining an injury.

Of course in the majority of cases your employer will have protected you against these by putting in place policies, guidelines and by providing adequate training. However, it is hard to make everything 100% safe and therefore sometimes these measures simply do not protect you against danger. So who do you pursue if you are injured at work?
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There are so many regulations covering accidents at work. Many of these regulations have been introduced and amended over time to keep up with the modern workplace. Employers should adhere to regulations to avoid paying out thousands of pounds in compensation to injured victims. There are regulations covering all different types of jobs and hazards.

Here is a list of just some of the regulations currently in place:
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Plenty of us now are sitting down in chairs at work. We trust we’re safe of course – it’s not normal for a chair just to collapse… is it?

In a workplace situation, if your chair collapses for reasons beyond your control, you may well have a good claim for compensation. Your chair is classed as your work equipment, and there are specific regulations in place that state that any defective work equipment that causes you an injury leaves your employer liable.

Even if the reason the chair became defective was totally out of your employers’ control, we can allege the defective work equipment rule and in theory the insurers should be strictly liable to compensate you. As long as it wasn’t you who was responsible for breaking the chair – say you jumped up and down on it or loosened a screw or something.
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