OTS Litigation – Have you been injured at work?

Employers are responsible for the health and safety of their employees whilst they are at work and a claim can be brought against them if you have been injured at work and believe your employers are responsible.

According to the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969, employers are legally required to have at least a minimum level of insurance cover against any potential claims from employees if they have someone working for them, including voluntary, contract or temporary staff. If your employer does not hold a current employers’ liability insurance policy compliant with the law, they can be fined up to £2500 for each day which they are without suitable insurance.

Furthermore, a copy of the Certificate of Employers’ Liability Insurance must be displayed in a place where all employees can easily see it. If they do not display the certificate of insurance or refuse to make it available to Health & Safety Executive inspectors when asked, they can be fined up to £1000.

According to the annual Labour Force Survey (LFS) report published on the HSE (Health & Safety Executive) website, in 2014/15 an estimated 611,000 workers sustained a non-fatal injury at work. Of these injuries:

• 198,000 led to over 3 days absence from work; of which
• 152,000 led to over 7 days absence
• an estimated 4.1 million working days were lost due to workplace injuries, on average 6.7 days per case

The HSE aslo published the provisional figure of 142 workers fatally injured in 2014/2015 which corresponds to a rate of 0.46 deaths per 100,000 workers. This figure in 2014/15 is 9% lower than the average for the past five years. The latest rate of fatal injury of 0.46 compares to the five-year average rate of 0.53.

Have you been injured at work? Has your Employee been injured at work?

As an employer you have a duty of care to ensure your staffs health, safety and welfare whislt at work, both under legislation and common law. Unfortunately, accidents do still happen as the figures above show and employees might get injured due to a variety of reasons: lack of training, faulty equipment, lack of protective clothing or equipment to perform a certain task or exposure to dangerous chemicals and substances to name but a few as the list of possible hazards is probably infinite.

If you are an employer and your employee suffered any injury or became ill as a result of your work, they may be entitled to compensation from you.

If you are an employee you may want compensation for any injury or illness suffered as a result of your work. Compensation aims to minimise your suffering and bring you back to the same position you were, had you not suffered such accident.

An employee's claim for compensation will generally reflect the following factors:

• All the pain and suffering you experienced as a result of the accident;
• Your loss of earnings
• The cost of dare if you required someone to look after you following the accident
• Out of pocket expenses such as trips to the hospital and other medical expenses (e.g. medication and MRI/CT scans)
• Future losses if you suffered a life changing injury

As an employee, when claiming compensation for an accident suffered at work, there is no need to be concerned about losing your job. It is unlwaful for anemployer to dismiss an employee on that basis as it would amount to an unfair dismissal.

Also, an emplyee needs to always ensure that the accident report book is completed and they are happy with all the information logged there prior to signing it.

Are you ready to make a work accident claim?

If so, please phone our office on 0203 959 9123 and book an appointment with one of our Employment liability experts. We handle all types of claim, for people working in all types of environment, from places such as offices, shops and restaurants to building sites.

Are you looking to defend a work accident claim?

If so, our emloyment liability solicitors are on hand to assist. Please phone our office on 0203 959 9123 and book an appointment with on of our solicitors.

We will be able to give you the help and advice you need and conduct all aspects of an Employment Liability claim.