Know Your Rights If You, Or Anyone In Your Family is Involved in a Work Accident
If you or your partner have ever been involved in an accident directly related to your work then you may be eligible for some sort of compensation. Accidents at work can substantially affect all areas of your life, from time with your family to getting around and carrying out your everyday tasks. Knowing your rights, when it comes to work related injuries or accidents, can be a bit of a minefield, so today we are going to break down your rights should you or anyone in your family ever be involved in one.
Report It Immediately
Should you, or anyone in your family, ever be involved in a work accident, where you sustain a minor or major injury, the first thing to do is to make sure that it is recorded. Most employers have an ‘accident book’, which most employers are unaware of, but this is the first place to start. Your employer has a responsibility to report all work related accident to the local authority. Employers are legally bound to be actively reporting accidents and monitoring anything that goes wrong in their workplace to make sure the same mistake doesn’t happen twice.
Whether the injuries sustained are minor such as a broken ankle on a wet reception floor, without a warning sign, or whether they are serious injuries resulting from something like scaffolding collapsing, the employer has a responsibility to make sure that every injury sustained by their employees is recorded and steps are taken to prevent it from happening again.
Who is to Blame?
The second step is to find out who is to blame for the accident. Your employer has a legal obligation to ensure top level health and safety for all visitors and employees and they should be regularly carrying out risk assessments.
They should be responsible for every detail from first aid medical equipment in various areas of the office, through to having first aid trained individuals on site, all the way through to constantly striving to make sure that the work place is as safe for their staff as possible.
Compensation
For anyone that has been involved in a work-related accident, you could very well be eligible for compensation. A personal injury claim is possible for anyone that has been hurt or injured as a direct result of a fault within the work area. If you have suffered an injury at work that has prevented you from going about your normal work day for more than three days you could definitely be in a strong position to apply for a personal injury claim. So speak to your HR executive, or do your own research for companies that will be able to talk you through your rights.
Sick Pay
You should also be eligible for sick pay, whilst you recover from the incident. Most companies have a very basic statutory sick pay policy, however if you’ve been severely injured because of some flaw or problem in your workplace then you definately need to speak to your employer about your rights regarding how much time you can have off to recover. Your employer should have a scheme that compensates individuals who have suffered an accident in the workplace, and may offer to pay you extra depending on the seriousness of the accident, or perhaps give you extended sick pay to help you make a full recovery.