Accidents at work
All employers have a responsibility to protect their employees, contractors and visitors from accidents and injury in the workplace.It is estimated that one million people suffer injury in the workplace every year and the vast majority of these are generally avoidable. Even with huge improvements in health and safety and an increasing list of safety rules/measures many workplace environments remain dangerous and accidents at work still happen.
Employers should carry out risk assessments of the workplace to ensure that any measures to improve safety are being used. Even without these risk assessments there are still a number of precautions that need to be present in the workplace such as your employees should be provided with the correct safety wear, which for the building trade includes goggles, hard hats, ear defenders, gloves, boots and high visibility jackets. As well as being provided with the correct safety wear, employees should also have the correct machinery and tools that they need to carry out their job. These tools and machinery should be checked regularly to ensure that they are in the best condition to carry out work.
If you unfortunately do suffer from an accident at work, you need to report it to your employers as soon as possible and make sure that the accident is recorded in the accident book. If the accident isn’t placed in the accident book or the company doesn’t have an accident book then you should write down brief details of the accident and send it to your boss, as well as keeping a copy for your own reference. If you can't report the accident because you are too ill, try to get someone else to do this.
If the accident at work involves any of the following:
- Death
- Disease
- Major injury
- Dangerous incidents
- Any injury that stops an employee doing their normal job for three or more days
Then your employer has a responsibility to report the accident not only in the accident book but also to the Health and Safety Executives.
One last procedure that is advised if you have suffered from a work place accident is going to see your doctor. You should do this even if your injury doesn’t seem too serious. The reason why this is so important is so that a doctor can record details of accident in case you wish to pursue a compensation claim later on.
If you are hoping to make a claim for compensation then remember, every compensation claim is different; some may be settled in a matter of months, others may take years but the one thing that you can count on is that Accident Claim Aid will be with you every step of the way.
At Accident Claim Aid we have extensive experience in dealing with all types of accident claims, including workplace accidents.
If you have had accident at work in the last three years then you could be entitled to make a claim for compensation. For more information about making a claim for compensation contact Accident Claim Aid on 0800 078 7171 and one of our advisors will be more than happy to help you.