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A lot of people think that only those with jobs on construction sites, or similar industries, are at risk from a manual handling injury; the truth is that everyone is at risk from such an injury!

Regardless of what job you have, or where you work, it is likely that you will be asked to lift an object during your working life.
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The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have created a number of guidelines and regulations to prevent workers becoming injured in horrific accidents at work. One of their guidelines state that a risk assessment should be carried out before an employee carries out work, and that everything should be done to make that risk as low as possible.

The Daily Mail reports of a man who has suffered horrific burns to his face after he was engulfed in a fireball at work.

David Lightfoot had been asked to do some welding work on a silo at a chemical plant. The silo contained 380-tons of highly inflammable Terephthalic acid, a raw material used in the plastics industry. The Daily Mail reported that as soon as Mr. Lightfoot began to weld, a fireball engulfed his head.
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Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 are designed to protect employees from any injuries caused by manual handling at work. Manual handling is not just specified to lifting but also to carrying, lowering, pushing and pulling. In order for employers to make sure their employees know how to do manual handling in a way they won’t injure themselves, they must provide manual handling training.

Records kept by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), state that the most common injury sustained by people carrying out manual handling at work is a back injury, although injuries to arms and feet are also fairly common. Records kept by the HSE also say that more than a third of all accidents at work that resulted in the person been injured for more than three days are related to manual handling at work.

A lot of us think that it’s only workers in places such as factories, building sites and farms that are at risk of having a manual handling accident. The truth is, regardless of where you work, whether it is an office, hospital or shop, etc, you’re still at risk.
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If you have an accident at work are you responsible or are your employer’s automatically responsible for failing to take “better care of you”?

This is difficult to answer with a definitive ‘yes’ or ‘no’… As every case has to be judged on its own merits and there are many aspects which can influence how successful your claim is likely to be.

The first point is to establish whether or not your employer owed you a duty of care in the circumstances. Did your accident happen in your workplace; this may be in an office or out on a site you are contracted to work on? Your van or truck may be your workplace for example? If this is the case and if you had an accident whilst in your workplace then it’s more than likely that your employer owed you a duty of care.
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Burns and scalding can be very nasty injuries often leading to permanent scarring. Many people who have suffered from either injury can often carry physiological injuries too, believing that in some way it was their fault that they sustained an injury but actually this is very often untrue.

People who work in an environment that uses hot substances are more likely to suffer from a burn or scald but your employer should provide suitable equipment to prevent this from happening such as protective clothing and gloves. Plus any equipment that the hot substance is kept in should aim to protect an employee as well.
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Choosing a solicitor is a big decision; and it’s a decision all claimants should take some time to consider. But there are certain alleys in road accident claims you should avoid – and now, this is even more important!

At the end of April this year, the protocol for road accidents changed. A road accident is submitted and dealt with through an online portal established by the Ministry of Justice that we solicitors and the insurers progress the claims through. Generally, it’s a great new system, as it makes the whole process a lot quicker. But we have found a significant flaw that we hope to be rectified shortly. According to the powers that be for the process, changing your solicitor part way through a claim, currently, cannot be done – So why is this a problem?
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Accidents at work are a very common occurrence, probably more so than people think. However it goes without saying that a lot of minor accidents at work are often unreported and even ignored.

This is often because employees are scared to make a fuss over such instances.
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Vibration White Finger is a work injury suffered by those who use vibrating machinery such as drills, chain saws or hand guided power tools. Miners, road and forestry workers are the main areas where Vibration White Finger injury is most common. However, anyone who works with heavy vibrating equipment for prolonged times especially in a cold climate are also likely to suffer from this work injury.
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