Just How Safe is Your Workplace?

When you are at work your employer has a duty of care to ensure that your workplace is safe. They should keep you informed of any health and safety issues that may affect you as well as having a legal obligation to report certain accidents and incidents.

When it comes to the question of who is responsible for making sure that you are safe in your workplace your employer should carry out risk assessments and do what's needed to protect the health of employees and visitors of the workplace. These risk assessments include deciding how many first aiders' are needed and what first aid equipment should be kept within the building.

If an injury does occur within the workplace it is vital that the accident, no matter how minor it seems, should be reported recorded in your employer's accident book. Accident books provide a useful record of what happened in case you need time off. It also helps your employer see what went wrong to cause the accident in the first place. By doing this your employer can then take the necessary steps to ensure that the accident doesn't happen again. An accident book is also very important if you are going to pursue a claim for compensation.

Any claim for compensation after a work place accident can be done within three years of the accident occurring. If you are going to put in a claim for compensation after a work place accident that occurred through no fault of your own then it is important that you contact a solicitor or legal firm who will be able to assess your case in order to find out where you legally stand with making a claim for compensation.

It is estimated that one million people suffer injury in the workplace every year and the vast majority of these are generally avoidable. Even with huge improvements in health and safety and an increasing list of safety rules/measures many workplace environments remain dangerous.

If the worst does happen and you do end up suffering an accident within your workplace then your employer must report serious work - related accidents, diseases and dangerous incidents to the Incident Contact Centre of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or in Northern Ireland the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI).

The type of things that your employer must report to the HSE/HSENI are the following:

• If a death occurs in the workplace
• Major injuries (for example, a broken arm or ribs)
• Dangerous incidents (for example, the collapse of scaffolding, people overcome by gas)
• Any other injury that stops an employee from doing their normal work for more than three days
• Any disease

If any of these incidents do occur in the workplace it is highly important that the report of them comes from your employer and no one else; however if you were involved in the accident then you should make sure that your employer does actually report it.

If you have experienced an accident in your workplace in the last three years that has affected your life or taken away part of your independence then contact a legal firm today about making a claim for compensation.