The 5 Most Common Accident At Work Claims
Posted: Thursday, August 20, 2009
by Nick Jervis
Samson Consulting Limited
In this article we explore five of the most common types of accident at work claims.
1. Wet floors.
Wet floors in the working environment can be treacherous. Spillages can be particularly dangerous in hotels and restaurants due to the amount of rushing around. Often spillages can be left on the floor unattended and waiting staff, not knowing about them, return to the kitchen with their sight blocked by the items they are carrying and slip on the floor. Whilst most slipping injuries do not usually lead to serious injuries, if the waiter or waitress is carrying items, this often prevents them from softening their fall by using their hands meaning that they fall on their elbows or on their hips. This can lead to serious fractures.
2. Factory Accidents.
Factories by their nature (machinery and many people working long hours) can be dangerous places to work. This section does not deal with the common machinery accidents that feature later as one of the top five, but more to do with the people involved and the materials used in factories.
The most common type of factory accident normally involve workers tripping over discarded packaging. Every employer must ensure that the packaging used is placed in safe containers and not thrown on to the floor.
However, if an employer does not ensure the staff are trained correctly or provide facilities for disposal of packaging, this can lead to it being discarded and workers tripping over it. Once again, as with tripping accidents, quite frequently no serious injury is sustained. However, sometimes fractures to legs and arms lead to serious pain, time away from work and an accident at work claim being made.
3. Warehouse Accidents.
There are many different types of warehouse accidents, but one of the most common forms involves storage facilities. If warehousement are regularly using shelves, stacking and unstacking items, any weaknesses in the shelves will soon lead to them collapsing. In the worst cases this can actually lead to a trapping injury when shelving comes away from the wall and falls on to the warehouse person. These can lead to serious injuries and long term complications.
If shelving is not correctly secured when it is constructed this can cause injury when it collapses and a successful compensation claim.
4. Forklift Truck Accidents.
These are frequently the cause of accidents. Every forklift truck driver must receive training and the employer must ensure that only trained people use the forklift truck. If they do not supervise sufficiently and untrained handlers use the forklift truck, or even trained handlers use the forklift truck but drop pallets or cause items to fall on to other co-workers, this can lead to a successful claim for compensation.
5. Machinery Accidents.
Although left until last, the injuries sustained during the use of machinery can be extremely severe. If staff are not properly trained, or the machinery is not maintained, or guards are not fitted, workers can suffer severe injuries leading to amputations and even in some cases death. Machinery is by its nature, dangerous and the utmost care must be exercised by workers and by employers.
Summary.
This article explored five most common types of work accident claims, but there are many more. If you have been injured in an accident at work you should seek help from a specialist work accident solicitor.
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Read more about being Injured At Work? Find out more about Work Accidents generally and read our Free Work Accident Claims Guide. Nick Jervis is a solicitor (non-practising) and a consultant to Work Accident Solicitors who specialise in Work Accident Claims.
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