All employers have a responsibility to protect their employees, contractors and visitors from accidents and injury in the workplace.

It is estimated that one million people suffer injury in the workplace every year and the vast majority of these are generally avoidable. Even with huge improvements in health and safety and an increasing list of safety rules/measures many workplace environments remain dangerous and accidents are work still happen.

Employers should carry out risk assessments of the workplace to ensure that any measures to improve safety are being used. Even without these risk assessments there are still a number of precautions that need to be present in the workplace such as your employees should be provided with the correct safety wear, which for the building trade includes goggles, hard hats, ear defenders, gloves, boots and high visibility jackets. As well as being provided with the correct safety wear, employees should also have the correct machinery and tools that they need to carry out their job. These tools and machinery should be checked regularly to ensure that they are in the best condition to carry out work.

If you unfortunately do suffer from an accident at work, you need to report it to your employers as soon as possible and make sure that the accident is recorded in the accident book. If the accident isn’t placed in the accident book or the company doesn’t have an accident book then you should write down brief details of the accident and send it to your boss, as well as keeping a copy for your own reference. If you can't report the accident because you are too ill, try to get someone else to do this.

If the accident at work involves any of the following:

• Death
• Disease
• Major injury
• Dangerous incidents

Any injury that stops an employee doing their normal job for three or more days
Then your employer has a responsibility to report the accident not only in the accident book but also to the Health and Safety Executives.

One last procedure that is advised if you have suffered from a work place accident is going to see your doctor. You should do this even if your injury doesn’t seem too serious. The reason why this is so important is so that a doctor can record details of accident in case you wish to pursue a compensation claim later on.

If you are looking to pursue an accident compensation claim after suffering an accident at work then get in touch with a legal team today as they will be able to help you through what is involved in a compensation claim and they will give you the best possible chance of winning a compensation claim.

You have every right to put in a compensation claim if you have suffered an accident at work due to someone else’s negligence. Every year thousands of people receive the compensation they deserve after suffering an accident at work, now it’s your turn so get in touch with a legal team today.

Helen is the web master of Accident Claim Aid, who are specialists in all aspects of making a compensation claim, including Workplace Accidents.