Accident Types

Accidents at work remain very common, with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimating that in 2006 – 2008 there were over 800,000 workplace accidents, despite the fact that the laws and regulations covering health & Safety at work continue to be strengthened.

For a claim to succeed, you will need to prove (using these laws and regulations) that your employer was at fault for the accident and that the accident was the cause of your injuries.
Your employer MUST by law have an accident book, which MUST be completed if there is an accident at work. In addition if the accident causes serious injury or death they are legally required to report it to the Health & Safety Executive.

Defective Work Equipment
Many jobs, trades and professions require the daily use of work equipment, which can range from heavy machinery and vehicles, right down to the smallest tool such as a screwdriver.
If you are working in a job that requires the use of work equipment, you will know how dangerous it can be if the work equipment you are supplied with is dangerous, broken or defective in any way.

The Health & Safety Executive confirm that in the year 2007/2008 many thousands of UK workers were seriously injured or suffered debilitating illness and conditions, as a result of them having to use defective work equipment.

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment regulations 1998 state that employers must:-

Supply you with work equipment which is in good working order.
Ensure that the work equipment is properly maintained and replaced as and when necessary.
Train you properly on how to safely use your work equipment.
If necessary, supply you with sufficient, competent work colleagues to assist you in the use of the work equipment.
Despite these regulations and the many thousands of often very serious claims which are brought each year because of employer’s failure to stick to these rules and because many employers (particularly in tough financial or trading conditions) regularly cut corners with work equipment generally.

Our Panel Solicitors have dealt with and continue to deal with a large number of claims for workers that have been injured as a result of working with defective work equipment, including a garment worker who was deafened in both ears as a result of an “exploding” folding machine and a delivery worker who was injured when his delivery platform collapsed. These accidents lead to serious and life changing injuries to the unfortunate victims.

FALLS FROM HEIGHTS
If you have ever had to work at a height, you will know how dangerous this feels and how potentially disastrous and life changing it would be if you were injured due to a fall from height.
The Health & Safety Executive confirm that in fact in the year 2007/2008 more than 7500 workers were killed or seriously injured as a result of falls from height at work.

Trades and professions that are especially at risk include roofers, scaffolders, bricklayers, building industry workers and indeed any worker that even has to use a ladder at work.

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 state that employers must:

Properly plan, risk assess and supervise every instance of work at height.
Properly train any worker who is expected to work at height.
Provide suitable and adequate safety equipment for those workers expected to work at height.
Prevent working from height in dangerous areas.
Despite these regulations and the many thousands of often very serious claims which are brought each year because of falls from height at work, employers regularly cut corners and flout the regulations.
Our work accident panel solicitors are currently dealing with a large number of claims for workers that have been injured as a result of falls from heights at work, including a carpenter falling through a gap in a badly constructed scaffolding floor board, a satellite dish installer who fell from a ladder that wasn’t “footed” and a carpenter who witnessed the fatal injuries sustained by his co-worker when the scaffolding collapsed only yards from where he stood. All these accidents lead to serious and life changing injuries to the unfortunate victims.

INADEQUATE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE)
Many jobs, trades and professions require the daily use of protective clothing or equipment to prevent injury and illness, from chemical and steel workers, research chemists and construction industry workers, to agricultural workers and factory workers.

If you are working in a job that requires personal protective clothing or equipment, you will know how dangerous it is for there to be a shortage or even an absence of the protective clothing that you need.

The Health & Safety Executive confirm that in the year 2007/2008 many thousands of UK workers were seriously injured or suffered debilitating illness and conditions, such as industrial dermatitis, as a result of them having inadequate personal protective clothing or equipment at work.

The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 state that employers must:

Provide suitable personal protective equipment to workers who may be exposed to a risk to their health and safety whilst at work.
That the equipment provided fits the worker correctly.
That the equipment is appropriate for the risk the worker is being exposed to.
That the worker is properly trained in how to use the protective clothing or equipment.
That the protective equipment provided is properly maintained and replaced as and when necessary.
Despite these regulations and the many thousands of often very serious claims which are brought each year because of employer’s failure to provide adequate protective clothing or equipment at work, employers regularly cut corners and fail to provide the required protective equipment.

Our work accident panel solicitors have dealt with and continue to deal with a large number of claims for workers that have been injured or suffered illness as a result of inadequate provision of personal protective clothing or equipment, including a worker in a cosmetics factory who contracted disabling industrial dermatitis as a result of exposure of his feet to a harmful chemical, a factory worker who was hit in the eye by a shard of plastic causing permanent damage to his eyesight, a machinist who partially severed his fingers when working without chain mail gloves and a worker who sustained acid burns to his eyes. All these accidents lead to serious and life changing injuries to the unfortunate victims.

LIFTING OR MANUAL HANDLING ACCIDENTS
Many jobs, trades and professions require you to lift or move heavy objects as part of your duties at work, sometimes with the help of equipment, but more often without. These are known as “manual handling” tasks.
Workers particularly at risk include those in the caring professions, warehouse and factory workers and those in the construction industries, although workers in office based jobs are often called upon to lift and move heavy objects and are normally the least well prepared position to do so.

The Health & Safety Executive confirm that in the year 2007/2008 lifting and manual handling accidents made up more than 25% of all of the serious incidents reported to them and that many thousands of UK workers are seriously injured every year as a result of lifting or moving heavy objects at work.
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 state that employers must:

Avoid, wherever possible, the need for you to lift or move heavy objects at work.
If you do have to lift or move heavy objects, provide suitable equipment or additional work colleagues to assist you.
Train you properly in manual handling techniques to help in safely lifting and moving heavy objects at work.
It is worth noting that the Regulations not only apply to lifting, but also to accidents caused by lowering, pushing or pulling objects.
Despite these regulations and the many thousands of often very serious claims which are brought each year because of employers breaches of the Manual Handling Regulations, as they cut corners to save money.

Our work accident Panel Solicitors have dealt with and continue to deal with a large number of claims for workers that have been injured as a result of lifting or moving heavy objects at work, including a care worker who had to a very heavy patient without equipment or adequate support from colleagues and a retail worker who had to lift very heavy boxes of stock without equipment or assistance. These accidents lead to serious and life changing injuries to the unfortunate victims.

SLIPS AND TRIPS AT WORK
Whatever your line of work, one of the biggest risks to your safety is that you will be the victim of a slip, trip or fall at work.
On average, according to the Health & Safety Executive, slips trips and falls at work are the cause of around 30% of all injury causing accidents at work and in the year 2007/2008 more than 37,000 workers were seriously injured from slipping, tripping or falling at work.

The Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare) Regulations 1992 state that employers must:

keep floors and traffic routes free from obstructions
make good any damaged, uneven or potholed floors and traffic routes
must clear up any spillages or leaks
must warn you about any unsafe areas with warning signs, barriers and notices etc.
Despite these regulations and the many thousands of claims which are brought each year because of slips and trips at work, employers are all too often tempted to cut corners to save the cost that follow from sticking to the rules.
Our work accident Panel Solicitors are currently dealing with a large number of claims for workers that have been injured as a result of slips, trips and falls in the workplace, including a trip on a loose office carpet, a slip on an oil spillage in a garage and a trip on an object left in a designated walkway in a warehouse, all of which lead to serious and life changing injuries to the unfortunate victims.

WORKPLACE TRANSPORT ACCIDENTS
In nearly every job or profession, you come into regular contact with methods of transport in the workplace, be it forklift trucks, pallet trucks, cars, vans, lorries and cages. If you are hit or run over by a vehicle or other transportation device at work, you will know how easy it would be to sustain serous and life changing injuries. The Health & Safety Executive confirm that in the year 2007/2008 more than 6400 UK workers were killed or seriously injured as a result of workplace transportation accidents.

Trades and professions that are especially at risk include warehouse workers, factory workers, retail workers, delivery and supply chain workers and workers in construction related industries.
Regulation 17 of the Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare) Regulations 1992 states that employers must:

Organize the workplace so that pedestrians and vehicles can circulate in a safe manner.
Take suitable measures to ensure that where pedestrians and vehicles use the same traffic route, that there is sufficient space between them.
Suitably indicate the different traffic routes in the workplace.
Prevent vehicles from coming within a safe distance of doors and entry routes.
Despite these regulations and the many thousands of often very serious claims which are brought each year because of workplace transportation accidents, employers regularly cut corners and flout the regulations.

Our work accident Panel Solicitors have dealt with a large number of claims for workers that have been injured as a result of workplace transport accidents, including a glass factory worker who was crushed by a trolley cage loaded with glass sheets, a warehouse worker hit by a forklift truck and a construction worker run over by an excavator. All these accidents lead to serious and life changing injuries to the unfortunate victims.