Health & Safety Breach

Every employer in United Kingdom has a legal duty to ensure the safety of employees and personnel as detailed in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

A variety of accidents can occur where there is a health and safety breach or negligence by employer. Yet, the types of injury can range from bone breakages to burns, blunt force trauma, industrial deafness, COPDs, WRULDs, disability and even death in severe construction accidents. The kind of injury sustained will depend largely upon your occupation, your working conditions and the nature of the health and safety breach.

Legally, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) should be provided to protect employees whilst tools, machinery and structures should be inspected and mended to prevent any risk of injury to personnel. Where such precautions are not taken, victims of resulting accidents are entitled to make a health and safe compensation claim.

The most common cause of health and safety accidents is employer negligence. Health and safety compensation claim can be huge depending upon your occupation. Construction work is notoriously dangerous, whilst office work is commonly associated with carpal tunnel syndrome claims and repetitive strain injuries. Whatever your role, you employer is obliged to protect you by minimizing the risks and clearly marking out the remaining hazards in your work space.

Copious amounts of legislation exists to protect employees from occupational hazards; these also exist to reduce the number of compensation claims made:

• The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981
• The Health and Safety Information for Employees Regulations 1989
• The Noise at Work Regulations 1989
• The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1999 (COSHH)
• The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
• The Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations (CHIP 2) 1994
• The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994
• The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998
• The Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Regulations 1992
• The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
• The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992
• The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) 1998
• The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992

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