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Veitch Penny - Personal Injury

Home arrow Types of Claim arrow Accidents at work
Accidents at work

Health & Safety Legislation has now been in existence for over 40 years. Industrial processes are far safer as a result but nevertheless work place accidents occur on a regular basis. The most common include slipping on wet or greasy floors, collapsing chairs, falling down stairs and tripping over hazards. A claim by an employee against his employer is usually based on both negligence and breach of the many safety regulations which are imposed upon employers.

An employer can also be held responsible as an occupier under the Occupiers Liability Act and can be held responsible for the negligent acts of another employee (known as ‘Vicarious Liability’).

Sometimes employers can be held liable under statutory duties even if they could have done nothing more to ensure the safety of an injured employee. This is known as Strict Liability.

Although the employer is generally at a disadvantage when it comes to injury claims the law does have to maintain a balance between the cost of safety measures and the likelihood and severity of the risk.

Generally an employer has a duty of care to its employees to take all reasonable steps to:-

(a) Provide a safe system of work

(b) Provide and maintain a safe place of work

(c) Provide and maintain safe plant and machinery

(d) Select competent employees

(e) Protect employees from reasonably foreseeable risks

Because of our expertise in these areas we are able to understand the issues quickly, take a balanced view, and advise clients on their various rights pursuant to the numerous statutory obligations which are imposed on an employer.



Accidents Involving Machinery Print E-mail
The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations place an obligation upon all employers to ensure that equipment in the workplace is safe and does not give rise to risks to health and safety.  

For example any piece of machinery which has moving parts has to be adequately guarded to ensure that employees cannot place their hands and fingers into a mechanism likely to cause a serious injury.

 
Fork Lift Trucks Print E-mail

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations impose duties upon employers to ensure that walk ways and access areas within a place of work are reasonably safe such that there have to be very careful regulations to ensure, for example, that fork lift truck drivers do not cause serious injury to other employees working in the same environment.

 
Burns and Corrosive Liquids Print E-mail

The COSHH Regulations (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) require employers to ensure the safe storage and use of hazardous liquids and The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations place obligations on employers to ensure that employees are provided with appropriate safety equipment such as boots, gloves, helmets, goggles and reflective jackets.

 
Lifting Accidents Print E-mail

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations impose very strict duties upon employers to ensure that, so far as is reasonably practicable, employees avoid the need to undertake any form of manual handling operations at work which involve a risk of their being injured. If manual handling cannot be avoided in the workplace employers have to undertake adequate risk assessments to reduce the risk as far as possible and to ensure that employees are adequately trained to lift weights if the lift cannot be avoided completely.

 
Slips, Trips and Falls Print E-mail

Slip, Trips and Falls are the most common of all Accidents that take place at work. Here at Veitch Penny we have experience in dealing with these type of accidents on a frequent basis and because of our expertise in this field we are able to understand your situtation and get you the compensation you deserve quickly and with as little inconvinience to yourself as possible.

A good example of a slip and trip case, is if a factory floor is slippery with oil after a flood and the employer takes steps to minimise the danger by putting up appropriate warning signs and spreading sawdust on the floor whilst it is being cleaned. The court may find that reasonable in all of the circumstances rather than having to close the factory and sustain a significant financial loss

For further information and advice, please feel free to contact us on the number provided. 
 
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Did you know?

Summary figures for 12 months to end March 2007 show car user casualties have reduced by 4 percent compared with the period ending March 2006
 

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