Each year in the UK many thousands of workers are injured during the course of their duties. It is important that positive steps are taken by all injured parties to protect their legal rights should a compensation claim become necessary.
The latest figures released by the Health and Safety Commission for 2004/2005 indicate that there were 150,559 non fatal injuries sustained by employees. This equates to 587 injuries per 100,000 employees. The number of actual compensation claims made for injury bears no resemblance to these statistics because most employees dare not or simply will not claim against an employer.
Only 2 out of every f5 people will usually make a claim. The number of claimants runs into tens of thousands every year. Here are some basic points on health & safety at work and how an individual / employee should react to an injury sustained at work.
What should the employer do to ensure that accidents are reduced?
The general rule is that an employer must take "reasonable care" to ensure adequate health and safety measures are in place and that the risk of an injury being sustained by any worker is reduced as much as possible.
This is usually done by by providing a safe system of work where any potential risks are assessed and if possible reduced as much as is reasonably possible. This could be by something as simple as altering the layout of the premises or providing training and instruction on how best to carry out tasks in the safest manner.
Or by providing adequate plant, this may range from the provision of heavy machinery down to even the most basic of office equipment such as tables and chairs
Finally the employer must ensure that fellow employees are competent to reduce the risk of human error causing accidents at work whether through ignorance, negligence or malice. So even if a fellow employee causes you to sustain an injury then as long as they are acting in the course of their work it is possible that your employer may be liable for their actions.
Employers Liability Insurance
Once you are in a position to make an informed decision you may decide to make a claim against your employer. Any claims should be covered by the employers insurance.
Most employers are required by law to have Employers Liability Insurance, failure to have this can mean that sanctions are imposed against the employer. Taking such a policy out ensures that funds are available to meet the costs of compensation and legal fees where an employee is injured or becomes ill as a result of the fault of the employer. This also means that an employee can seek compensation even if that business goes into liquidation or receivership.
The claims themselves are dealt with via the employer's insurance company and not the actual employer themselves. The employer only becomes involved in a claim where they have to provide details to the insurers when they are investigating the claim to prove where fault lies for the accident.
A copy of the Certificate of Insurance itself should be displayed where any employee could easily read it.
What should the employer do when an employee has an accident at work?
In any case regardless of the severity of the injury caused to an employee a report of this should be made in the company accident book. The employer is obliged to keep an accident book on the premises. This should give details such as the accident circumstances, dates, identity of the injured party and details of what caused the accident if at all possible. It is very important that any accident is reported just in case the injury gets worse and this also serves as proof that the accident actually occurred in the manner described.
RIDDOR
Your employer has an obligation to comply with the Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 otherwise known as RIDDOR. These require that any deaths, major injuries, injuries that result in an absence of more than three days, injuries to members of the public and dangerous occurrences or near misses be reported.
The Health & Safety Executive will usually intervene in a case referred to RIDDOR. More information on RIDDOR may be found on the HSE website.
What you should do if you have an accident at work
Most people tend to be in a state of shock when an accident occurs. Irrespective of whether this is through the pain caused, or just disbelief that the accident happened. Most people have the mentality that it will "Never happen to them". Also as you reach adulthood people tend to think that only the young and elderly have accidents. Therefore, it is often it is a bigger shock to the system when an adult has an accident.
There are some very simple steps to follow which people often forget in the aftermath of an accident at work, and so when they decide to make a claim they find it very difficult to prove that the accident occurred in the manner described.
Report the accident in the accident book as soon as possible;
When the accident report is made ensure that it is factually correct before you sign it. Do not let the employer or senior management pressurise you into signing a document that is untrue;
If there were any witnesses to the incident then take their details. If there were no witnesses to the actual event it may be possible to get witnesses to system of work which may have caused the injury. This could also be of assistance to you should you wish to make a claim and the system of work employed was an unsafe one.
