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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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Many people, particular in supermarkets and warehouses, use roll cages. It’s an everyday piece of equipment needed for moving stock around the premises – so they’re pretty useful! Having worked with them in the past, they don’t half get battered around sometimes! In fact, we see a lot of claims for compensation caused by roll cages at work.
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Rules and regulations that employers have to abide by when it comes to manual handling activities in the course of your employment are strict and numerous. There’s a very good and rather obvious reasons for this; manual handling injuries tend to affect the back. Your back is of course one of the most important parts of the body, so injuring it can be considerably debilitating.

Whilst manual handling comes in to almost everybody’s role in some way, it applies to others far more in certain occupations. It applies minimally for me as I’m an office worker, lifting only boxes of paper or files on the odd occasion.

But a plumber, or a mechanic, or anyone on a constructions site or in a warehouse, are going to be doing a lot of lifting as part of their role. As such, proper manual handling training and risk assessments should be done by your employer to comply with the law!
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If you have sustained injury at work then you may be able to make a claim for compensation. Perhaps you sustained injury due to faulty equipment in the workplace as this is a fairly common scenario.

Following the enactment of the Use of Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992 your employer is under a duty to ensure that equipment, machinery and vehicles that you use at work are suitable for their intended use. There is also a duty to ensure safety and maintenance. Further, there is a duty to make sure that the equipment, machinery or vehicle, is only used by people (staff) who have received adequate training and instruction. The equipment, machinery or vehicle must also be accompanied by suitable safety measure. The safety measures could be protective devices, markings, warning signs etc.

Your employer should ensure that equipment, machinery and vehicles are regularly checked and maintained. If an employee notices a fault then they should notify a manager or supervisor as soon as possible. However the ultimate duty is on the employer and hence regular inspections and maintenance procedure should be carried out.
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Most industry workers will be aware of the term PPE, or Personal Protective Equipment. In many jobs PPE is required in order to keep workers safe and free from injury or harm. Without adequate PPE injuries are more likely to occur and this ultimately can cost a company a lot of money in dealing with personal injury claims. There is a duty on employers to keep employees reasonably safe and free from harm. One method of protecting employees from harm is providing them with adequate PPE.

PPE can be in many different forms from hard hats, steel toe cap boots, overalls, high-visibility vests, goggles, gloves, ear muffs etc. Each item of PPE is designed to protect employees from hazards in the workplace. Workers who use potentially dangerous chemicals as part of their job (such as employees of pharmaceutical companies) should be provided with adequate eye protection. Equally people who work in the steel industry should be provided with adequate hearing protection and people who work on building sites should be provided with hard hats, high visibility vests and potentially other protection such as hearing protection.
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Vicarious liability for a work accident compensation claim essentially means that you have been injured due to the negligence of a colleague. If you are injured due to the negligence of a colleague, in UK law, your employer is vicariously can be found liable which means they have the duty (normally through their insurers) to compensate you. So for example : if your co-worker, let’s call him “Jim”, runs in to you whilst driving a forklift truck because he wasn’t looking where he was going, fear not; you don’t have to sue “Jim” personally! In this situation, the claim can be brought against your employer.

Employers Liability Insurance covers vicarious liability claims.

Claims that fall within the realm of vicarious liability usually have pretty high success rates. Here are a few examples of cases where your employer can be vicariously liable (aside from the forklift one above):
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