Accident At Work

How You May Be Affected By An Accident At Work

Sometimes it feels as if we spend all our waking hours “on-the-job.” We might feel as if we are married to our employer and seem to spend more time at work than we do at home. Of course we need to be able to work to be able to make ends meet, to provide for our families, to generally enjoy life and to save for the future, but our work is nevertheless an integral part of our very being. Nevertheless, we also have to realise that we can be quite vulnerable whenever we are in the workplace. You don’t have to be employed in one of those particularly challenging and potentially dangerous occupations and you can be susceptible to an accident or incident even if you are in a quite sedentary position, such as administration. Do you know what to do and where to turn if you’re involved in an accident at your place of work?

The first thing that you have to remember is that, as much as you might love your job, feel fortunate to be employed and have a great relationship with your employer, you are engaged in a contractual relationship. You are providing your services to the employer in return for compensation and each party agrees to do certain things, as part of that contract. One of the principal obligations on the part of the employer is to provide a place that is safe and secure for you, the employee. This includes, but is not limited to ensuring that you are provided with protective clothing if necessary, that there is adequate first aid equipment and similar facilities, that adequate precautions are taken to protect you in the event of fire, including a clear means of escape and so on.

Employers may also maintain insurance to help protect them against many incidents such as these and you should never feel “guilty” in any way if you are unfortunate enough to become a victim of an accident at work.

Whenever an incident happens you must make sure that you report it and put all the details in the accident book. This is critical as it not only helps the employer to address the situation, to help make sure that it doesn’t happen again, but also in the event that you seek to claim compensation for your injuries. Entries in this book will then become evidence in this case. The law also requires that more serious incidents are reported to the Health and Safety Executive, or as an industrial injury. This will help you if you have to lodge claims for disability with the government, going forward.

An accident at work can be a very troubling episode in your life, but when it’s caused by the negligence of the employer or by another employee you need to consider compensation to help you pay for all the additional costs, together with any losses that you may incur. Consult with an experienced personal injury solicitor who will be able to advise you how to proceed.