Health And Safety: Work Injury Claim In The Absence Of Risk Assessments And Training
In this Q&A we look at whether an employee can claim compensation for an injury at work if no health and safety training is provided.
- Health And Safety: Work Injury Claim In The Absence Of Risk Assessments And Training
Work injury victim question
I work in office in which members of staff have never been given any health and safety training either at induction or ongoing.
There are no Display Screen Equipment (DSE) risk assessments in place. Several colleagues are complaining of back / neck pains after working long hours on their computers. Their chairs and workstations have never been assessed.
If they have to receive medical treatment or have to have time off – are they entitled to compensation and has the company breached any HSE laws?
Solicitor Response – Health And Safety And Work Claims
Factors to be considered in determining if an employer is responsible to pay compensation for employees injured at work extend beyond a lack of risk assessments,
You may wish to consider these important points below:
Different types of health and safety training
You indicated that you work in an office on computers and you have not been given the appropriate health and safety training.
Repetitive Strain
See our repetitive strain injury article to view the health and safety law relating to the use of display screens.
Manual Handling
In the office you are also likely to be moving objects. Therefore, the Manual Handling Regulations are likely also to apply.
Work Accidents Guide
See our accident at work claim article to see how to prove employer liability for workplace accidents.
Health and safety risk assessments
See our accident in the workplace article for information about the risk assessments that should be made by an employer before jobs are done by employees to ensure health and safety at work.
Injury must be caused by breach of duty of care and negligence
Even if your employer has failed to provide proper health and safety training it does not mean that you can claim compensation.
You must have an injury which has been caused by your employer’s failure or negligence. In other words – you must suffer an injury which was caused by the faulty working practice.
Consideration of health and safety complaints made
Ordinarily employees who are not comfortable or feeling aches and pains would point this out at work. This might results in a risk assessment being completed or an adjustment being made to help accommodate that employee.
It would be difficult to succeed with a claim if no-one at work has made a complaint about the work stations or working practice.
Independent medical report
Your work injury solicitor will instruct an independent medical expert to produce a report as to your injuries. The expert will give a prognosis describing what your injuries are and whether such injuries could have been caused from an unsuitable work station.
| Producing A Medical Report |
|---|
| The medical report report is produced based on an examination of you and your medical notes. Depending on the nature of your injury – consideration will be given to the working practice and set up of your work station. Thereafter, the medical expert gives an opinion based on the balance of probability. In other words, that it was more likely than not that your injuries were as a result of the defective work station / practice. |
Health And Safety Summary
In this article we looked at the importance of health and safety at work. Noting that the lack of proper training and risk assessments does not in-and-of-itself mean your claim will be successful
FREE specialist solicitor legal help
Our website has a number of free online and telephone legal help options available. Select which type of free legal help you wish to benefit from, including receiving a callback from one of our specialist solicitors.
