Injury Claim for Accidents at Work Guidelines

It is your employer's duty to ensure that you are safe in the workplace. In fact, your employer is legally responsible for health and safety issues that are faced by every employee in the company. As per law, employers should pay contractual sick pay, in case you meet with an accident and had to stay away from work for some time.

As an employer, he has the responsibility of reporting accidents at work and dangerous incidents, diseases and any other health and safety related issues to the Health and Safety Executive. Regardless of the seriousness of the injury or disease, all such incidents have to be reported including:

- Minor or major injuries that has happened due to an accident at work.

- Fatalities

- Hazardous incidents

- Spread of disease

- Injury at work which has forced the employee to take off work for over 3 days.

The health and safety department expects the employer to report it immediately and at the same time to be recorded in the Accident Record Book.

Risk assessments should be conducted in the premises frequently to make sure that all safety measures are in place. Based on the size of the organisation, the employer can decide on the size of the medical team, medical equipments or any other medical facilities required for first aid. Just because an employer is responsible, it does not mean that an employee can act careless. As an employee, you should be responsible and take care of your own health and safety, and also make sure that you do not put your co-workers at risk because of your insensitivity.

Accident Record Book

All companies are expected to maintain an accident record book which records everything right from a minor injury to a major accident which results in fatalities or serious injuries. The incident should be immediately recorded and it serves well for both the employer and the employee. In case of an injury claim, this acts as one of the main records. Apart from that, it also serves the purpose for analysing the situation and checking for repetition of accidents. This can help implement more safety measures in the future.

Statutory Sick Pay:

Statutory sick pay is something every employer provides to the employees who meets with an accident at work or is down with a disease. It is a scheme in which a certain percentage is paid based on the seriousness of the injury.

Things to do after an accident at work:

- After seeking medical attention, you should see that the accident is recorded in the accident record book.

- If you're involved in the accident, check with your employer if it has been reported to Health and Safety Executive.

- Check details on statutory sick pay and your sick pay rights. Always try and sort out any dispute with your employer regarding it immediately.

- If the accident has happened due to the callousness of the employer or an issue with the health and safety in the infrastructure, you should request your employer to take action.