The first question you will probably find yourself having to answer if you go to a specialist work accident solicitor is ‘tell me about your accident’. Your solicitor will need to know all about the circumstances surrounding the accident that led to you suffering your injury. In particular they will be interested to discover what was written in the accident book at your workplace, to see any photographs of the aftermath of the accident, to search through training records and to record not only yours but other eye witness accounts of the accident.
Your solicitor will be trying to find out who was to blame for your accident. It would for instance, not be possible to bring a claim for compensation against your employer, if your employer had completely and efficiently discharged their duty of care towards you, complying with all the numerous regulations pertaining to the workplace, work processes (including working from height) and your health, safety and welfare; they simply could not be blamed for the accident.
Who else might be to blame? Well, you yourself might be to blame if you were careless or negligent in carrying out your health and safety responsibilities as an employee. For the same reason a colleague might be to blame.
To determine who was to blame and whether or not a claim for compensations could be made, the solicitor would need to trace back the chain of consequences from your injury, i.e. you fell from the scaffolding due to the structure partially collapsing. It collapsed because it had not been erected correctly. It wasn’t erected correctly because the employee tasked to erect it had insufficient expertise and training for the task and had unknowingly used faulty or dangerously worn components. That worker was insufficiently trained because his supervisor had been told by his manager to restrict training to an absolute minimum to save time and cost. The manager’s actions were a reflection of a cost and corner cutting culture endemic within his company which was struggling to remain competitive.
The buck in this case stops firmly with the employer who had a legal duty to ensure as far as reasonably practicably to ensure their employees’ health, safety and welfare and to fully comply with the requirements of current health and safety legislation. They were negligent in carrying out this duty in failing to ensure adequate training was provided for their workers. There is also no doubt that they were aware of the possible adverse consequences of having an inadequately trained workforce but chose not to address the training shortcomings.
Your employer was thus to blame for you accident and injuries. In all probability it would then be possible to make your claim and for your solicitor to negotiate compensation reflecting in full your pain, suffering and financial loss.
Suffered a scaffolding accident? We could help you claim
If you have sustained injuries in a scaffolding accident through no fault of your own, our solicitors could give you expert advice on how to claim compensation.
- Send us an email via the contact form below, or
- Call us on 0800 1404544.
