Health and Safety at work
Accidents can happen anywhere and anyone can be a victim of this unfortunate event. An accident at the work place can happen, despite implementing stringent health and safety guidelines followed by the employer.
If the employee suffers physical or mental injury, or in a worst case scenario, there is loss of life due to some untoward event, an accident at work claim can be filed.
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, conducted a ‘Pan-European opinion poll on occupational safety and health’ in June 2009.
According to this poll, about 26% of the EU citizens feel that over the last 5 years the health and safety at work in their country has got worse while a higher number of people, about 48%, feel that the situation has got better.
But, the truth is, accidents at work are still very common and can take place in any occupation.
The foremost responsibility of the employer is to ensure that the work environment is safe for his/her workers. This will also ensure that there are no, or minimal injuries suffered by their employees, which will in turn be beneficial for them as there will be no work accident claims filed against them.
Unfortunately, if you suffer an accident at work then there are a few guidelines that may help you filing for work accident claims.
• Report to your employee and get it recorded in the accident book. If there is no accident book in your organization then write the details in brief and send one copy to your boss and keep another copy for your own reference.
• See a doctor whether the injury is severe or not, this will provide you with medical details of your accident that will prove beneficial while claiming compensation in future.
• You need to provide evidence that the accident was due to the working practice at your workplace or due to negligence of someone else.
• There is a time limit of three years up to which you can file work compensation claim. You can go to an injury lawyer or you can also use the legal services of your trade union, if you have one.
A 32 year old Yorkshire man successfully won a work accident claim for a severe fracture, sustained while working in a steel factory. He received £25,000 as compensation.
He was assisting a crane operator, who was moving long sheets of steel, but unfortunately the steel fell on him which seriously fractured his legs.
He was hospitalised for over 3 weeks and his foot was immobilised for over 3 months. He had to take 7 months time off from work as a result.
The accident also resulted in restricted movement in his left leg, particularly his ankle and foot. Since the accident was caused due to employer’s negligence the worker was rightly entitled for the work accident claims compensation.
Work related accidents are frequent and can happen in any job regardless of the nature of work. The accident can be abrupt, unanticipated, unintended and brutal. It’s a moral responsibility of the person to report the accident so that it doesn’t happen again in future and no one else becomes a victim, like them.
Updated on 10/14/2009