Every day, there are 6,300 deaths caused by occupational accidents or work-related diseases, which is over 2.3 million deaths per year. There are 317 million annual accidents that occur on the job; a large portion of these lead to extended absences from work. This daily adversity has a vast human cost and it is said that the economic burden of poor occupational health and safety practices is estimated at whopping 4% of the annual global Gross Domestic Product and America’s GDP is barely up considering this ongoing recession. Due to work-related accidents and diseases, employers go through expensive absenteeism, loss of skilled staff, early retirements and high insurance premiums. A variety of work-related accidents can occur where there is a health and safety breach. The types of injury can range from bone breakages to work-related neck and upper limb disorders (WRULDs), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPDs), burns, industrial deafness, blunt force trauma, disability, and even death in severe construction accidents. Your occupation, your working conditions and the nature of the health and safety breach plays a large role in the type of injury that you sustain. Legally, it is a mandate for employers to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to protect employees. There should be regular inspections and repair of structures, tools, and machinery to ensure the prevention of any risk of injury to employees. In places where such precautions are not paid heed to, victims of resulting accidents have the legal right to make a compensation claim for health and safety.
Health and Safety Compensation Claims
Depending on your occupation, the scope for an accident at work can be huge. One occupation that is notoriously dangerous is construction work, while repetitive strain injuries and carpal tunnel syndrome are commonly involved in office work claims. No matter what your role is, it is your employer’s obligation to protect you by minimizing the risks and making sure that the remaining hazards in your workspace are clearly marked out. Your life can become difficult, frustrating and painful as any failure on their part can result in accidents at work. If you are in such an accident that is your employer’s fault, you should make a health and safety compensation claim. There are employers who intentionally neglect their duties in order to save money, or it may due to be a certain working culture. In other cases, employers are ignorant of their duty without meaning to be, while others simply forget the responsibilities they have to their employees. Regardless of their reason, existing legislation on health and safety has a clear definition of their responsibilities so that there is no excuse for any health and safety breach on their premises. Therefore, where an employee sustains an injury due to a breach of health and safety or lack of PPE, they are eligible to claim compensation for health and safety from their employer’s insurer. If you are injured due to your employer’s negligence in providing a safe work environment, you should seek the help of an experienced personal injury attorney at Rosenberg, Minc, Falkoff, & Wolff of RMFW Law at 212-344-1000. You can get a free consultation to find out if you have a viable claim. Let us hear what you have to say! We have won millions of dollars for past clients, you too can be on this special list.
