When you go to work, you enter into a two-way contract with your employer. The first part of that contract and the one which is most obvious is that you provide your labour, skills or services in return for a wage. The second part is that your employer is bound, by law, to provide a working environment which is safe. The legal position is outlined by the Health and Safety Executive and states, quite clearly, that any employer has a duty to keep their staff safe from harm.
If your employer fails in this duty – by not maintaining the integrity of floor surfaces, for example, or by failing to ensure that spills and debris are quickly cleared away – then they have been negligible, and if this negligence leads to you falling and hurting yourself then you have every right to claim compensation.
Many people worry about making a claim against their employer, but a personal injuries solicitor will be able to explain that these worries are unfounded. It’s against the law, for example, for an employer to intimidate or even dismiss an employee who has made a claim, and any compensation paid will be covered by workplace insurance, rather than coming out of the company’s own coffers.
Feeling safe at work is the very least you can expect, and the days when workers were seen as expendable are, thankfully, long gone. If your employer has let you down in this respect then you have every right to seek compensation for the pain and distress and for any money the fall may have ended up costing you. If you do fall in this manner, it’s imperative that you enter the incident into your employers’ accident book and keep a record of any medical treatment required and any out of pocket expenses incurred. Your solicitor will use all of this information when putting together the strongest possible case.
