Welding can be a fairly dangerous task for rather obvious reasons. We have such stringent health and safety rules and regulations here in the UK to protect workers from being injured unnecessarily in the workplace.
Where a risk of injury can be reduced or completely avoided, an employer has a duty to take whatever reasonable steps are necessary to achieve this. So read on for more information about making a claim for personal injury compensation if you are injured in a welding accident at work.
Firstly it’s important to take a look at the law to show you that you are protected and that there is a duty on employers to take certain steps. Perhaps the most important one here is The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations that state:
(1) Every employer shall ensure that suitable personal protective equipment is provided to his employees who may be exposed to a risk to their health or safety while at work…
The rules are clear – if there is a risk that personal protective equipment (or PPE for short) can prevent, the employer must provide it.
It doesn’t just stop at providing it though. Other stipulations mean that your employer:
- Pays for and supplies the equipment – not you!
- Must maintain and replace PPE to ensure it is still effective
- Must ensure any PPE provided is suitable for the job at hand and suited for the individual needs (taking in to account things like a person’s size, for example)
- Must provide training in the effective use of the PPE
As such, you can make a claim for a welding injury at work in any of these following example events:
- You are not provided with any PPE
- There isn’t enough PPE for you to use at the time
- The PPE isn’t suitable for you
- The PPE is damaged and fails to protect you
- You haven’t received any or any adequate training in the use of the PPE and you are injured because you failed to utilise it correctly
Welding injuries can be very serious indeed
The most common ones being injuries to the eyes and burns to areas of the body. Eye protection should be worn to prevent injuries caused by a projectile as well as to prevent damage from the light emitted when welding. Gloves and coveralls should ensure that burns are not suffered to any part of the body as well.
On another point, if the welding equipment is broken or not suitable and this causes an injury, or if you have not been trained properly in its use, we can also apply The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations which say that an employer must ensure work equipment is suitable and in an effective state of working order and good repair.
It’s really simple stuff when it comes to protecting you from welding injuries at work – so any failure on the part of your employer can leave them liable to compensate you for injures sustained. Call 0800 634 7575 for specialist welding injury compensation help and advice.
