Personal Injuries Claim: Accident in the Workplace
A workplace accident can be described as an occurrence in the course of work that leads to a physical or mental injury.
In many cases, the employee who suffered the injury may be entitled to pursue legal action, if it can be proven that the accident is a result of an unsafe working environment. Accidents at work can occur in any premises that an employee is legally required to be during the course of their working day. It is also important to maintain whether the environment was unfit or hazardous, even in the case of human error. Particularly ascertaining the details of how the accident occurred is very important for an accident at work claim.
Before any legal proceedings begin, there is a general order incidents must follow.
Firstly, A medical assessment must be undertaken by a qualified practitioner.
Secondly, The incident must be reported back to the injured party’s superior.
Thirdly, Legal advice from a personal injury solicitor should be sought.
The Safety, Health and Welfare At Work Act of 2005. establishes the main provisions for securing health and safety in all workplaces. This applies to all workplaces, at all times and all employers irrespective of risks, size or operations.
All employees must have a safe work environment. A health and safety breach in these responsibilities may lead to an accident.
The Act assigns responsibilities and duties to all parties involved in workplace safety and health. The employers, who have the greatest influence on risk, have the greatest range of duties to satisfy, but employees, designers, manufacturers, owners and occupiers also have duties under the Act.
In addition to establishing these new duties for workplace safety and health, the 2005 Act also provides for a maximum penalty of €3 million and, or up to two years in prison for breaches of the health and safety legislation.
Similarly to a standard Personal Injuries Claim, there is a two year less one day deadline for proceedings to begin. An accident at work claim must be passed through the Injuries Board for assessment before proceeding to settlement or to court.
Job security legislation provides protection for employees against dismissal if a claim is brought forward after an injury in the workplace.
