Accidents at work involving roll or stock cages are very common – we take on a lot of accident at work claims from defective cages and the like. One such example of these sorts of claims involves overfilled cages.

In today’s economic crisis, all businesses are trying to be as efficient as possible to cut costs and keep themselves afloat in these difficult times. You could say that a lot of Britons are somewhat overworked; I heard some statistics on the radio recently saying that we are one of the hardest working nations in the world, and we work much longer hours.

Sadly, with cost cutting comes corner cutting. Corner cutting can lead to health and safety breaches and subsequent injuries. As the topic of this article suggests, I’m discussing overfilled stock cages here. In these difficult times, packing as much stock on to one delivery lorry as oppose to two could save hundreds or thousands of pounds in the long run for a business.
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All manual handling activities at work require at least two key things: training, and risk assessments. Any employee who is instructed to undertake manual handling activities at work absolutely must receive quality training from the employer in safe and correct lifting techniques. On top of that, any activities must be fully risk assessed to make sure that the task is safe to carry out. These are legal requirements.

Even with proper training, if a task is not safe due to some form of other risk, then the task needs to be looked at carefully. Common examples are the size and weight of an object, obstacles on the route of the lift, and whether the objects are in a location that is safe to lift from. A classic example is that of the beer barrel deliveryman who in the past may have been subjected to lifting heavy kegs of alcohol in a basement whilst crouched down low due to a low lying roof. This can be a killer to your back!

Another example as the title of this article suggests, is that of stacked boxes or loads being on a shelf or at any other form of height. If you need to lift a box from stomach height, you can normally apply the manual handling regulations and safely lift the load so long as it is of a weight and size that is suitable to do so. However, if the box is above head height, you are at risk of injuring yourself as you try and lift the load from the height due to the position of your back.
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In a claim for compensation you have a duty to do mitigate your losses. This means that you have a duty to keep your losses to a minimum. You can, of course, recover compensation for your injuries and for the losses you incurred as a result of the accident. Your losses could be anything from damaged clothing, requiring care and assistance, paying for medication etc. The duty to mitigate your losses also extends to your physical injury. If there is something that you could do to minimise or reduce the length of your injury, then you should do it; especially if it is offered to you.

This can be better explained by using physiotherapy as an example.

Say for example you are injured in a car crash that was not your fault. Another vehicle drove into the rear of your vehicle and as a result you sustained a whiplash type injury. It is likely that the other side will offer to pay for a course of physiotherapy treatment for you. If this is offered and you decline the treatment then the Defendant could (and most probably would) argue that you are failing to mitigate your losses. By having physiotherapy treatment the idea is that your injury may resolve earlier. For example with physiotherapy treatment you may make a full recovery from the injuries you sustained in the accident within 6 months. Without such physiotherapy treatment you may not recover from the injuries you sustained in the accident until 9 months after the accident.
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We deal with all types of personal injury claims including accidents at work. If you have slipped down stairs at work, sustaining injury as a result, then you may be able to claim compensation. People are often reluctant to pursue a claim against their employer and while this is certainly understandable, if you have sustained injury through an accident which was not your fault, it is your right to claim compensation. It is also important to note that the general rule is that you must issue Court Proceedings on a claim or settle the case within 3 years of the date of the accident. Therefore it is better to make a claim sooner rather than later!

There are many regulations in place which employers should comply with.

Employers are under a duty to keep employees safe and free from harm during the course of their employment. If you slipped down stairs at work then initially we would look at what caused you to slip. Did you slip because the floor was left wet? Did you slip or fall because there was a defect with the stairs? Did you slip because you were carrying something which impeded your view of the stairs? There are many possibilities but if one of the above happened then it is likely that you do have a claim against your employer.
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Manual handling is important to get right. Getting it wrong can result in serious injuries; so it’s key for employers to make sure that they deal with manual handling activities in the correct way.

The two key things are training and risk assessments. Anyone, no matter what industry or working environment you are in, must have manual handling training if manual handling tasks are encompassed in their role. This training is not just a one off thing; there must be ongoing training to ensure that people receive refreshed training on a continual basis.

The second key thing is risk assessing a task. An employer should fully risk assess a manual handling activity to look at things such as:
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If you know the basic rules of the road, you should know that when you are emerging from a parked position, you need to make sure that the road is clear in both directions so that you don’t pull out on anybody. That means checking your blind spots as well as your mirrors with a good gaze over your shoulder, and looking ahead to make sure the entire road is clear.

So what happens if you are happily driving along and another driver ignorantly pulls out of a parked position and collides with your car? In theory you have a fairly straightforward claim for compensation. The damage areas to your car should show that your version of events is correct, and it’s always wise to whip out your smart phone and take some snaps at the scene of the accident, and call the police if necessary. If there are any witnesses to the accident, please make sure you take their information.
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Normally it can be fairly easy to tell who is at fault in a straightforward road traffic accident. However, in some cases like accidents on a roundabout or a head on collision, the damage areas on both vehicles may not clearly show who is to blame. I’d like to think people would be honest and admit if they were at fault, but we all know we don’t live in an ideal world. As such, you can end up in a situation where the other driver won’t admit liability for the accident even though they were at fault.

There are commonly two scenarios when this kind of thing happens. The first is that you instruct a quality personal injury lawyer like us to fight for your claim for compensation. As specialists in personal injury claiming, we can instruct experts and obtain all sorts of evidence to help prove your case. Make the claim as quickly as you can as there may even be CCTV covering the surrounding area that we can obtain. However, most places get rid of footage after a mere few weeks so we need to secure it as quickly as possible.
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This is probably more relevant for anyone working in a warehouse, an industrial site, and even those who work in offices (if boxes of files are being moved for archiving or something similar). Workplace regulations are numerous, and they’re there to protect employees from being injured in the line of duty.

When it comes to boxes, if these need to be stacked, then your employer is responsible to risk assess the process to make sure that any stacked boxes are done in a way that is safe to ensure they don’t fall over or cause anyone harm.

This ranges from what sorts of boxes can be stacked atop another, given weights and sizes, to where boxes should be stacked, and how high to ensure a stack is stable. At the same time, employees must be instructed in the correct procedure for stacking boxes safely.
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Care and assistance is something that many people do not consider to be a thing they can recover when claiming for compensation. Of course, when you are injured, everyday tasks such as shopping, cleaning and washing can become an extremely difficult task which you now require help with to complete.

This help can be obtained professionally, but it can also include help from friends and family. Unbeknown to many, help from your nearest and dearest can be recovered – but how does this work?

After the case has got moving and you are happy to proceed, you will receive something called a “Client Care Questionnaire” which is simply a form which is broken down into the common activities such as the above and you are required to estimate how long you have received help doing these things. Please bear in mind that these estimations do have to be “reasonable” and therefore it is important that you are honest when completing this form as the court does not look to kindly on people “over exaggerating” their claim!
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Most crossings are governed by the Zebra, Pelican and Puffin Crossing Regulations and General Directions 1997. This piece of legislation isn’t particularly “well known” however it contains important provisions if you do have an accident that occurs on one of the included crossings.

In this blog I will focus upon zebra crossings as these are usually more prone to accidents as they are not regulated by traffic lights but just the “zebra markings” on the floor and commonly the yellow beacons.

Whilst pedestrian crossings are clearly an appropriate place for pedestrians to cross, they do not provide an absolute right of way for a pedestrian. Therefore as expressed in the Highway Code it is imperative that pedestrians still take vigilant steps to ensure the area if safe prior to stepping out. Therefore there is some responsibility on the pedestrian to judge whether a speeding car is going to stop at the crossing. However, in these types of claims a number of factors can affect where blame is held to lie.
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