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If you have sustained injury at work within the last 3 years then you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation.

If you sustained an injury in terms of an industrial disease, then you may be able to claim notwithstanding the 3 year rule. If you have sustained an injury at work then you should contact a Solicitor as soon as possible to see if you have a claim. In terms of general workplace accidents there is normally a 3 year limitation period in which you must issue Court Proceedings or settle your claim within 3 years of the date of the accident; otherwise you may lose your right to claim compensation.

In some cases such as for industrial diseases (for example vibration white finger and industrial deafness) the limitation period is somewhat different as, at the time, you may not have been aware that you sustained injury. A good example is with deafness; at the time of exposure to loud noise you may not notice a hearing deficiency, but later in life you may find that your hearing is not as good as it should be. In this scenario your hearing has been damaged by noise exposure and has meant that you experience hearing difficulties in advance of when otherwise expected.
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Chances are that every day you will pick something up and move it from one place to another – for some people it might be something as simple and as stress free as a TV remote or a coffee mug, but for others a large part of their working life involves moving objects of various shapes and weights from one place to another.

If you are one of these people that have to deal with heavy or unusual objects as a part of your job then you will no doubt be aware that every time you lift a heavy item you are risking injury to some very important parts of your body.

The most common injuries involved in lifting accidents are injuries to the back but that doesn’t meant that other parts of the body cannot be affected and injuries to hands, the arms, your neck and your torso could all be related to the heavy objects that you have to lift at work. You can easily stretch or tear any number of muscles or ligaments and tendons when moving something.
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Factories can be fairly dangerous places to work – whether it is moving parts on machines, forklift trucks zipping from place to place or just things left laying around that you could fall over, the factory environment is not always a safe one.

There are many potential injuries in a factory and if you work in one your employers has a responsibility to keep you safe while you are there. Employers should provide their employees with the correct safety equipment and training that will allow them to work in as safe an environment as possible.

One of the measures that employers should use to keep you safe is “PPE” or Personal Protective Equipment. These are items provided to you by your employer to work with or use which should allow you to keep as safe as possible while in the workplace.
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Whatever your profession, the place where you work is likely to contain various hazards that may cause you to suffer an injury. Of course if you work with machinery there are the fairly obvious dangers of moving parts to watch out for and if you work in a place where vehicles are common place then you will need to watch out for traffic. However, there are many unobvious hazards in a workplace that you could fall foul of and a question that we at The Injury Lawyers are often asked is; “Can I claim against my employer?”

The answer is that while you are at work your employers have a responsibility to keep you safe from hazards that it is within their power to prevent – for instance, they should provide guards to cover the moving parts of machinery and therefore reduce the risk of you injuring yourself. So if you are injured as the result of an accident at work then yes you could be entitled to claim against your employer.

However, that is not the end of the story and for most people contemplating a claim against their employer they will be worried about losing their job or suffering at work as a result. In actual fact, employers have responsibilities in this respect as well. All employers are required to hold insurance policies that cover their employees under the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969.
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In this tough economic climate, many people have opted to volunteer at workplaces, perhaps with the hope that later down the line a job may become available for them. Others may volunteer as a personal choice as they may have retired and although are not interested in a wage paying job, still wish to go to work in the morning.

Unfortunately, just because you are volunteering does not exclude you from the possibility of sustaining an injury in the workplace. However, many may think that as you’re “just volunteering” you’re not entitled to make a claim – however this isn’t the case…
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A large chunk of the population work in the private sector and it is arguably one of the most thriving sectors at the moment in these dark economic times with the government encouraging employment growth. We depend upon private sector workers in our everyday life- however like any other type of employment accidents unfortunately do occur and therefore you may be entitled to claim compensation.

Accidents in the private sector could be arguably more common as the duty to impost health and safety in the workplace is left solely to the employer who may chose to run things inadequately.

We all rely on our jobs heavily- they give us our wage which consequently allows us to live comfortably and of course splash out on some treats every now and again. Therefore being involved in an accident which consequently leaves you unable to work can cause much more than financial worry and therefore here at The Injury Lawyers we fight to not only get you the compensation you deserve but also to recover any losses and help with any psychological injury.
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Being involved in an accident can be a stressful and confusing time and therefore many people often are left at a loss as to what to do next in relation to making a claim for compensation. This should not be the case as the Civil Procedure Rules (the legal rules that govern civil claims) are in place to ensure making a claim is as simple as possible.
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Working with hazardous substances can, as the name suggests, be hazardous. Extra caution should be taken and appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (known for short as PPE) should be provided. PPE could be in the form of gloves, overalls, goggles, masks or whatever other equipment is necessary to make the job as safe as possible and to protect workers from harm.

Governing this area of law is the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH).  Substances hazardous to health can include chemicals, products containing chemicals, fumes, dust, vapours, gases, germs etc. These substances are covered by COSHH but things like asbestos and radioactive substances are covered by alternative Regulations. COSHH is covered extensively by the Health and Safety Executive on their website.

Some substances have exposure limits. This obviously means that exposure to that substance whether it is through breathing in fumes or by skin contact etc is limited. With some tasks a permit to work may be required to carry out a certain task which involves some contact or potential exposure to hazardous substances. A permit to work would be based on a risk assessment to ensure that all potential risks and precautions are taken.
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Our society relies quite heavily on oil production, but it can be a dangerous industry for employees. There are a great number of day to day risks for oil workers whether it be cleaning up oil spills or working around refinement machinery. It is not actually oil itself that is the main danger it is more the environment in which oil workers work in, such as an offshore oil rig.

The machinery used to try and refine the oil can be dangerous. An oil rig is a dangerous place to be. Cleaning up oil spills can be dangerous as people could be exposed to toxins in the air and many of the dispersants used to clean up oil can be dangerous to humans. When used correctly dispersants can be an effect method of response to an oil spill. Dispersants are capable of removing large amounts of certain oil types from the sea, but that is a science in itself for which the details are quite technical.

Dispersants pose a risk to the health of humans as well as to the life of animals including fish, birds etc. One of the dispersants used at the BP oil spill was Corexit 9527A which contains the toxin 2 Butoxyethanol which can cause injury to red blood cells, kidney or the liver with repeated or excessive exposure. Past exposure to Corexit 9527A has led to health problems including blood in the urine and kidney/liver disorders. Unsurprisingly this has led to compensation claims.
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If you work in a commercial kitchen environment then you may be well aware of the dangers. There are dangers in the kitchen at home but in a commercial environment the risks are likely to be greater.

First of all, the risks in a commercial kitchen are likely to be greater due to the equipment and the scale or size of it. Knives for example are likely to be bigger and sharper in a commercial environment; ovens are likely to be bigger and hotter, there are likely to be numerous people in the kitchen meaning that people may bang into each other. At busy times people are likely to be rushing and this is another factor. These are just some of the reasons why a commercial kitchen may be more dangerous than a residential kitchen.

Knives are one of the most obvious dangers that could cause injury. However heat is another danger from ovens, deep fat fryers, boiling water etc. Burn injuries are common in the kitchen as are cuts and slices of the skin. Kitchen equipment can cause severe injuries. Only recently I was working on a case where the Claimant was burnt from boiling water from a large industrial kettle. Everything in a commercial kitchen is bigger and more powerful and the risk of serious injury is increased.
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