Personal Injury - Injuries At Work

It is a know fact that accidents will often happen at work and most of the time your employer can be held liable for any injuries that may have been caused to you through an accident. All employers have an obligation to protect their employees against any hazard at work, they will need tol let their employees know of all the health and safety issues that could affect them. An employer has a legal duty to report certain accidents and they will need to pay their employee sick pay if they are entitled to it.

The employer has an obligation to report all serious work-related accidents, diseases and dangerous incidents to the Incident Contact Centre of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). An employer will have to report deaths, disease, major injuries, dangerous accidents, and any injuries that stop employees from doing their normal work for more than three days. It is advisable to always make sure that the report is actually done by the employer if you are involved in the incident as an employee.

An employer must carry out risk assessments and take care of any health and safety issues for employees and any visitors that come to the company site. This will include deciding how many first aiders are needed, what kind of first aid equipment is appropriate, what first aid facilities should be applicable, and what fire precautions are in place. Employers usually provide qualified first aiders with extra pay, but this is not a statutory right for being qualified as a first aider. However, despite all these precautions in place that the employer must take, an employee must take reasonable care to look after their own health and safety. It is up to the employer and the employee to provide a safe working environment.

If an injury at work does occur it should be recorded in the employer's accident report book, even if it is only a minor injury like a cut finger. All employers except very small companies must keep an accident handbook which is focused on benefiting the employee, providing them with a useful record of what has happened in case there is a need for time off work or a need to claim compensation later for the injury that occurred. This proceedure will also help assist the employer to see what needs to be done to stop things going wrong again and how to take action to prevent future incidents. But, in most cases, if an accident at work has occurred and you need time off, an employee is entitled to statutory sick pay or more if your employer has a scheme in place or if they decide to pay extra because of what happened.

I am a legal writer covering advice on topics of law including injuries at work, for further text and similar works visit personal injuries or contact a solicitor today.

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