What Causes Accidents at the Workplace? Hear It from the Solicitors

Employers in the UK are obliged by the law to ensure safety and security of the employees working for them. It is their statutory duty to install adequate safety equipment and implement proper safety standards which also comply with the HSE directives and other statutory guidelines. However, not every employer sees it as a sheer necessity. Most of them love to sidestep those directives for the sake of the never-ending rush for increasing the profit figures and other reasons as well. People who suffer physically, mentally and financially for these costly negligent acts are the employees working in different firms of the UK. Fortunately, there are no win no fee solicitors who become saviors for the distressed workers, hypothetically speaking. As these solicitors work on a solid work ethic which is again based on a scriptural ethic ‘pro bono publico’ (for public good), they are often sought after across the region.

The reputable solicitors who work closely with the accident at work victims have identified several other reasons why these accidents happen. It is almost needless to say that these solicitors also provide legal services for the victims of these accidents.

What are the general duties of the employers?

All the employers need to comply with the common laws of the country and put in practice the statutory guidelines accented by the HSE and other non-departmental and departmental public bodies for minimizing occupational risks. An accident at work can be averted if, according to the common laws, the employer does the following:

• Ensure health and safety at work for the employees (ensure temporary or continual habitability of the same)
• Ensure that all the plants, materials and equipments are compliant with the safety practices as prescribed by the HSE. Generally speaking, these materials should not be hazardous.
• Ensure that the staffs are duly trained, cooperative and well-knowledgeable about the right usage of the equipments used in the plant or office.

What the eminent no win no fee solicitors have pointed out, and what is mostly alarming, is that these non-delegable duties are simply sidestepped by most of the employers which means they are not adhering to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The expert solicitors have also analysed the reasons behind these accidents.

Poor management resulting in workplace injuries and deaths

The Management of Health & Safety at Work 1999 regulations clearly defines it for the managers on how to manage or enhance those standards within their organizations. Many of them fail to adhere to these standards multiplying the chance of accidents at work. Employers are required to do the below-mentioned things on a regular and ongoing basis.

• Reasonably practicable and adequate risk assessment on a regular basis
• Regular assessment of existing health and safety strategies (If there is none, the employer must draft, finalize and implement a newer one)
• Deploy people and make use of technologies to assess the risks on a regular basis
• Employ health and safety executives
• Provide requisite training and information to the employees

No win no fee solicitors who have been dealing with these cases have found that many companies have a poor management for ensuring health and safety for the employees.

Inadequate, incompatible and malfunctioning equipments

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 should be adhered to by the employers when it comes to installation and maintenance of workplace equipments. The solicitors who provide legal services for workplace accident victims have found in many cases that the employers did not comply with the regulations. What are the expected actions from the employers?

• To equip workplaces with fully compatible and purpose-driven apparatus
• To maintain the equipments on a regular basis to avert an accident at work
• To regularly inspect the existing work equipments
• To train employees on how to use the equipments

It is, therefore, the liability of the employer if the equipments are found in a defective state after a workplace accident, which will point at an inadequate concern toward health and safety at work. The court inspects whether the accidents could be avoided if the employer took necessary steps beforehand. The workers should also be provided with adequate personal protective gears and clothing.

Lack of personal protective equipments (PPE) is also a reason

Many no win no fee solicitors have found that their clients had been injured due to lack of protective gears and clothing. In fact, inadequacy of protective equipments is a hot issue across various industries. The employers are expected to ensure that their workers are not endangered while working with hazardous materials and they should be equipped with proper gears for that reason. Employers need to:

• Carry out risk assessment of the PPE on a regular basis.
• Maintain the equipments in a reasonably practicable manner and repair or buy new equipments and clothing whenever necessary.
• Provide employees with adequate information on the right usage of these equipments as well.

Employers in the UK are required to adhere to all the standard practices which many of them fail to do. It is a regrettable fact that most of the employers wave off these regulations despite knowing the legal complications that might arise after an accident at work. However, the more alarming issue is some of the workplace accidents are buried because of lack of knowledge of the employees. There are many work people in the UK who do not even know about the existence and significance of the English Tort Laws.

Eminent no win no fee solicitors, however, are fully aware of these issues and they advertise their services on the internet and elsewhere permissible to attract attention of the general public. Some of them work in groups to provide all-round legal services to the victims of the workplace accidents. Trustworthy solicitors are authorized by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). If you have been injured recently in an accident at work and want to file a claim through a personal injury solicitor, all you need to do is to find a website of a solicitor firm and check whether the firm and the solicitors working in it are duly authorized by the SRA. There’s no point wasting time and money by hiring an inexpert solicitor.