HAVE YOU BEEN INJURED AT WORK?

DO YOU HAVE A WORK-RELATED INJURY?

In 2022/2023 an estimated 1.8 million people were suffering from a work related ill health (long standing as well as new cases).

Many of these people are entitled to compensation from their employer, to various state benefits, or both.

You may be one of those people. If so, then the initial advice and information in this booklet should help you. Please note that you should seek medical and legal advice if you think you are entitled to compensation. You also need to consult your GP if you think you can claim state benefits because of injury or illness.

What does the law say about workplace injuries and diseases?

The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA) is the primary piece of legislation that makes everyone - employers and employees, responsible for their own and other people’s safety in the workplace.

The Personal Protective Equipment at Work (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (PPE) makes employers responsible for providing protective equipment, such as appropriate clothing in certain situations. This was amended in April 2022 to extend employers’ and employees’ duties regarding PPE to limb (b) workers (workers who generally have a more casual employment relationship and work under a contract for service).

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR), places a legal duty on employers, self-employed people and people in control of self-employed people and people in control of premises to report work-related deaths, major injuries or over-seven-day injuries, non-fatal accidents to non-workers (e.g., members of the public) work-related diseases and dangerous occurrences (near miss accidents) to the appropriate authorities. Gas Safe registered fitters must also report any dangerous gas fittings they find, and gas conveyors/suppliers must report flammable gas incidents. You can download a PDF version of the publication - ‘A Guide to Reporting Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013’ - from the RIDDOR website.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (MHSWR) requires employers to give employees information about the risks to their health and safety as identified through risk assessments. Employers must advise employees about the preventative and protective measures they have implemented.

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) gives employers guidelines for protecting people in the workplace. They cover most substances that are hazardous to health, although lead, asbestos and radioactive substances have their own specific regulations. The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 came into force in April 2012 and applies to the new use of asbestos. These bring together the three previous sets of regulations covering the prohibition of asbestos, the control of asbestos at work and asbestos licensing.

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 apply to a wide range of manual handling activities, including lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling or carrying. The load may be either inanimate - such as a box or a trolley, or animate - a person or an animal. The Regulations require employers to avoid the need for hazardous manual handling, so far as is reasonably practicable; assess the risk of injury from any hazardous manual handling that can’t be avoided; and reduce the risk of injury from hazardous manual handling, so far as is reasonably practicable.