Offices can also be accident zones
Offices are usually considered to be fairly safe working environments, without many of the hazards associated with factories, construction sites, and other workplaces with machinery and manual workers. But every year there is a significant number of office work injury claims arising from accidents and bad working practices in office workplaces.
Office injury claims tend to arise as a result of inadequate workstations and seating arrangements - bad ergonomic planning for desk workers - and also from trips over trailing cables and other obstacles on the floor, slipping on worn or broken steps and injuries from inappropriate lifting. Just as with factories and construction sites, indeed with any working environment, offices are subject to Health and Safety legislation.
This puts duties on employers to make sure that the office is safe for employees, and that the way in which they are required to carry out their duties is also safe and complies with all relevant Health and Safety regulations. And as with all personal injury claims, if an employer has failed in a duty owed to an employee to comply with safety regulations and take all practical steps to ensure safe working practices and a safe workplace, and it can be proved that injuries have arisen as a result of this failure, then compensation may well be recoverable for an office work injury claim.
In fact slips and trips account for almost a third of the total of workplace accidents in the UK. Most of the time, the accident has occurred in wet or contaminated conditions and most trips are put down to bad housekeeping where substances left on the floor, obstructions, adverse weather and poor flooring have been the cause. To counter the possibility of a work accident claim arising out of such problems, employers should take care to ensure the flooring is suitable and worn flooring is replaced and areas that are temporarily wet or slippery are clearly marked.
Another persistent problem has been that of manual handling whereby people receive injuries or back disorders because of lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling, carrying, moving, holding or restraining an object, animal or person. Usually it is the scenario where heavy boxes need to be moved from one place to another. Yet if this is necessary as part of the work, employers should take care to ensure any carrying should not be over long distances and should not require extensive twisting, stooping or reaching upwards .
If you are an individual who, for instance, hurt your back lifting boxes do not assume any subsequent pain you might get will go away. It could be the precursor to a major back problem. Tell the manager immediately that you hurt your back lifting boxes. He/She should offer you a workmans comp form to fill out and they will send you their own doctors. If they do not offer it then you need to see a personal injury lawyer who works on contingency (free until settling) and then they will direct you as to what you should do. So definitely have your injury medically verified, any future claim of injury will be discounted if it is not medically verified at the time.
Updated on 29/06/2008