Have you recently suffered an injury at work? If so you may be thinking of submitting a claim but feel doubtful in doing so since it’s a claim against your employer, but the truth is, you are entitled and very much within your rights to submit a personal injury claim at work, and claim compensation if successful.
Now, the accident needs to be proven that it was no fault of your own and negligent on behalf of the employer to be successful. If you feel that this is a situation that you are currently facing, then you should go ahead and put forward the claim as soon as possible.
Workplace accidents do happen and frequently too, but where it becomes problematic is if the accident was caused by inadequate training or perhaps undertaking unaccustomed work duties, which lead to a trip, fall or injury. And if such scenario does occur, workplaces are obliged to follow the rules, they need to abide by EU and Irish health and safety regulations, but luckily most do, and most do have a company insurance policy in place to cover the costs of such events occurring.
Duty of care, Employers
All employers have a duty of care and must follow procedures to ensure that the safety and wellbeing of employees are reasonably maintained. It has to be effective and efficient although of course, it may not always be preventable because inevitably accidents do happen. Some of the thing’s workplaces must do to ensure that workers health and wellbeing is protected to the best of their ability are as follows,
- Provide a safe working environment,
- Maintain and manage equipment to ensure that they are safe to use,
- Provide protective workwear where necessary,
- Reduce the risk of exposure to harmful chemicals, noise pollution, vibrations and any physical agent,
- Provide sufficient and adequate training to employees including instruction where necessary,
- Ensure that there is a competent safety officer to oversee possible risk areas.
Duty of care, Employees
There are some duties that employees must also abide by in order to protect the health and safety of themselves and of others around them; they are as follows,
- To take precautions so not to endanger others around them,
- To ensure they behave in a reasonable manner, not harm others, physically or mentally,
- To handle equipment in the appropriate manner,
- To not turn up to work under the influence of alcohol or drugs,
- To take any medical assessment if instructed to do so,
- To report things that require prompt attention such as faulty equipment.
If an accident does happen, it’s important that it is reported immediately and that any necessary medical assistance is sought right away, you will also need to enlist the help of some legal advice promptly.
Medical advice is vital as it can be used as evidence to support your injury claim; it’s also a good idea to get the medical treatment you need without delay. Documentation will be needed to support your claim, so make sure that you have doctor or consultant records ready just in case the claim happened to be disputed.
When the accident is reported to the employer or supervisor, it should be logged, and you should ask for the copy of the report as this will be needed to support your claim also.
Always speak with a personal injury solicitor before conferring with anyone else and don’t be bullied into settling if you feel pressurised to do so.
