In 2021 you should be able to feel safe working at a factory, knowing that your employer has a legal duty to put in place safety measures to keep you and other employees safe while at work. Unfortunately even with the HSE legislation and the employer being fully aware of their duty of care, sometimes things don’t go to plan and accidents happen through no fault of the employee’s actions.
If you are a factory employee who has suffered an injury that was not your fault your life may well have been changed in many ways. You might have had to take time off to recover or need ongoing medical care, if your injury was severe maybe you couldn’t return to work at all.
A factory accident can impact your life in ways you wouldn’t have imagined before. Whether it’s because you have lost your job and can no longer meet your financial commitments or provide for your family, it could be causing you extensive pain and suffering both physically and emotionally. Often accident victims end up on a reduced income, only being able to claim sick pay and unable to meet their financial obligations such as mortgage payments and utility bills. Such situations can cause you stress and anxiety on top of everything else.
What Causes Factory Accidents:
There are many different scenarios that could lead to an accident in a factory, here are the ones we deal with most often:
- Slips, trips and falls.
- Dangerous or poorly maintained machinery
- Incorrectly stacked objects falling on staff
- Employee falling from a height, such as a ladder
- Accidents caused by heavy lifting
- Forklift truck accidents
However minor or severe your injury at work, you are entitled to claim compensation if it wasn’t your fault.
Your Employer’s Duty of Care
Your employer has a duty of care to follow the legislation in the 1974 Health and Safety at work act. This includes making sure you are fully trained for your role including the use of any machinery, and manual handling tasks such as heavy lifting. They also have an obligation to provide you with any personal protective equipment such as gloves, hard hats and safety goggles to protect you while working if necessary.
They are also required to carry out regular risk assessments to identify any potential hazards that could lead to an accident for example trip hazards, poorly lit areas, badly stacked items or malfunctioning equipment.
If your employer has failed to carry out their obligation to provide a safe working environment and you have been injured as a result of their negligence you deserve to claim appropriate compensation.
Will I Lose My Job If I Make a Factory Accident Claim?
No. The law is very clear that an employee cannot be sacked or unfairly treated if they are involved in an accident and decide to pursue a claim for compensation.
How Will My Claim Affect My Employer?
You might be fretting about putting your employer out of business by making a factory accident claim but they will be legally be required to hold liability insurance to cover such circumstances so you can be assured you will not put your employer into debt for claiming compensation. The insurance policy will cover any claim brought against them.
If you are considering making a factory accident claim contact our personal injury factory accident claims solicitor today to discuss your case and find out how much compensation you could be entitled to. As personal injury specialists we will offer to represent you on a no win, no fee basis if after an initial compensation we decide that you have a good case for making a compensation claim.
