When I used to work in finance in an office, I remember having to sit and watch the Health and Safety at work video every 6 months as part of our CPD. For us it was bit of a skive and we never really paid attention to it. I knew we had a Health and Safety officer and I knew that my chair and computer had to be at certain heights to ensure I was sitting correctly...but I never actually bothered with it. And they probably didn't reinforce the Health and Safety guidelines as much as they probably should.
New research by personal injury solicitors, Hayward Baker, reveals the unsafe and unsanitary working conditions that are putting the health of millions of British workers in serious danger. The in-depth study discovered a staggering 69% of British workers - 21 million of them - claim their workplace to be a health hazard. The research was commissioned following the launch of the personal injury solicitor’s new interactive injury compensation calculator, which provides workers with an estimate of how much compensation they would be entitled to following an accident or injury at work. The results of their research can be found in the below infographic.
It's scary to think, in a place where you spend the majority of your day, you could be at risk of injury or falling ill if your workplace don't have the proper Health and Safety guidelines or policies in place or if you or your employer don't follow them. It can have serious consequences of your future health or ability to work. I remember Husband had an accident at his work when they failed to fix a machine he had reported as being faulty. He really hurt his back and it continues to give him problems to this day.
When he had his accident, he did actually claim for his injury and he was awarded a sizable amount in compensation. It didn't cure his back but it offered some comfort in terms of loss of earnings for the time he had to take off work (cause sick pay isn't great!), with the help of a personal injury solicitor. It was easy and they handled everything. Hopefully nothing like that will happen again but it's good to know that there are the facilities and the expertise available to help should anything happen in our workplace.
Now they just need to come up with a way to claim for standing on Lego pieces when you work from home!