|
Ladders - Personal Injury Compensation Claims with clickandclaim's Personal Injury Solicitors
Ladders often cause accidents in the workplace, and often it is not the employees fault. Compensation can be awarded to employees who were not properly trained or were using faulty equipment.
Ladders (including step ladders and trestles) are the most useful and commonly used equipment for gaining access to a different level. On average there are between 3,000 and 4,000 serious accidents each year, involving ladders. Only about 10% of these accidents are caused by the ladders themselves being faulty. The vast majority of the accidents are caused by human error. The main causes of accidents include:- ladders slipping; erection at the wrong angle; over balancing/over reaching; slippery rungs; overloading; ladders resting against fragile or movable structures; materials falling; ladders being too short; use in adverse weather; contact with electric wires; defective condition of ladder.
The Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 apply to employers and contractors whose employees work on a construction site. They provide that a ladder is not to be used as a place of work or access to or egress from such a place where that place would involve a fall of 2 metres or more, unless it is reasonable to do so having regard to (a) the nature of the work and it’s duration; and (b) the risks to the safety to any person arising from the use of the ladder. These Regulations also require any surface upon which a ladder rests to be stable, level and firm, of sufficient strength and of suitable composition safely to support the ladder and any load intended to be placed on it. A ladder has to (a) be suitable and of sufficient strength for the purpose or purposes for which it is being used; (b) be so erected as to ensure that it does not become displaced; and (c) where it is of a length when used of 3 metres or more, be secured to the extent that it is practicable to do so and where it is not practicable to secure the ladder a person shall be positioned at the foot of the ladder to prevent it slipping at all times when it is being used. All ladders used as a means of access between places of work have to be sufficiently secured so as to prevent the ladder slipping or falling. The top of any ladder used as a means of access to another level should, unless a suitable alternative handhold is provided, extend to a sufficient height above the level to which it gives access so as to provide a safe handhold. Where a ladder or run of ladders rises a vertical distance of 9 metres or more above its base, there has to, where practicable, be provided at suitable intervals sufficient safe landing areas or rest platforms. The 1996 Regulations also require ladders to be properly maintained.
The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (the application of which is not confined to construction sites) also apply to ladders.
These regulations require employers, amongst other things, to ensure that work equipment (including ladders):-
Employers, amongst other things, also have to ensure that:- where there are specific risks, the use of work equipment (ladders) is restricted to those employees given the task of using it and who have been adequately trained:
-
Adequate health and safety information and written instructions are provided
-
Adequate training is given
-
Exposure to specific risks in using work equipment is prevented or adequately controlled (e.g. falls from the ladders)
-
Work equipment is stable
If an employer does not comply with the regulations relating to work equipment then action may be taken against him/her by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). In the case of serious accidents, an employer may be prosecuted by the HSE and may face a heavy fine or even imprisonment.
If an employer does not comply with the requirements of the regulations and as a consequence, an employee sustains injury then that employee would have a valid claim for compensation against his/her employer. In reality, such a claim would be dealt with by the employer’s insurance company.
Compensation claims for accidents at work would include compensation for the pain, suffering and loss of amenity (known as General Damages) as well as other specific items of expense or loss (known as Special Damages) such as lost earnings whilst off work injured, cost of medication/prescriptions, travel expenses, the cost or value of care and assistance provided by others whilst incapacitated etc.
|
|
