Lifting and carrying in the workplace can be dangerous enough in itself; but when important rules and regulations are ignored by employers, workers are at serious risk of injuring themselves in the line of duty.
An injury caused by manual handling, such as back injuries and other muscular injuries, can be very serious. So what happens if you’re injured due to no assistance, or a lack of assistance, for the tasks at hand?
The Law
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations say that where manual handling cannot be avoided, risk assessments need to be carried out and appropriate steps need to be taken to ensure that employees aren’t at risk of injury. As such, there should always be the adequate amount of staff available and ready, including being suitably qualified and trained, to assist in undertaking lifting and carrying tasks.
So if any of the following has happened to you, you may have a valid claim for personal injury compensation:
- There is no assistance available or too little assistance for a manual handling task
- Employees assisting are not suitably trained and / or able to assist
This could be the case if the weight or size of a load is too much for the person(s) who are involved in the task, or the volume of carrying and lifting is too much for those involved. If it’s the case that there wasn’t enough assistance on a particular day due to illness, or perhaps reallocations of staff, this is no excuse.
What can I do?
The best thing to do is call us on 0800 634 75 75, explain the circumstances of what has happened, and we can advise you if we can assist you on a No Win, No Fee basis. We may also be able to offer a 100% compensation agreement for your work accident claim as well.
Getting manual handling right in the workplace is so important because injuries caused by manual handling can be absolutely devastating. Back injuries can lead to a lot of pain and aggravation and time off work, resulting in not only pain but financial losses like earnings, travel expenses, and medical expenses.