Injuries at work – the employer’s responsibilities

Law in the United Kingdom states that an employer must provide a safe, risk-free environment for their employees, as failure to do so could result in injury to workers and the possibility of a lawsuit arising. Here are a few points that employers should take note of as their responsibilities to employees.

The employer must continuously assess the possible risks in the workplace and seek to rectify these. These might be done with the assistance of a health and safety officer or simply a routine check by any one of the managers in the organisation. There may be specific documentation that needs completing to record the checks, both to give peace of mind to employees and also to cover the firm in the event of someone getting an injury at work and filing a lawsuit.

Every employee must be provided with appropriate and thorough training when they start their employment, especially if the job involves using equipment that poses some kind of health and safety risk, like machinery. A large proportion of workplace injuries come as a result of poor or no training, and employees not being aware of the threats that some pieces of equipment can offer.

An employer must ensure that the workplace is fit for work and any hazards have been removed. This includes providing adequate ventilation, lighting, space and temperature controls. These precautions are designed mainly to prevent any long-term problems with health, but can also apply to short-term events such as an employee tripping over a loose floor tile and damaging their leg.

Any machinery or equipment that you are required to do as part of your job must be fully tested on a regular basis to ensure that it is safe and fit for use. A lot of injuries that come about as a result of misuse of equipment are mainly down to inadequate training on behalf of the employee, but can also be because of poorly maintained equipment that has malfunctioned.

If you have suffered an injury at work, or any type of injury that was not your fault, you can claim criminal injury compensation by contacting the experts at Irwin Mitchell.