Workplace Accidents

Making a claim for a workplace accident:

A personal injury claim for compensation can be made if you have been injured in a workplace accident. We at McMahon Goldrick Solicitors represent clients who have specifically sustained catastrophic injuries in workplace accidents e.g. spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, limb amputations etc.

Duty of care:

In Ireland, employers are statutorily obliged to provide a safe and conducive work environment for their employees. Additionally, various regulatory bodies, such as the Health & Safety Authority (HSA), are responsible for workplace health and safety laws to minimise workplace accidents.

However, there is no replacement for employers establishing all the checks and balances to ensure that accidents do not happen. Workplace accidents, and in particular catastrophic accidents, result in enormous consequences, such as financial costs.

Negligence:

When an employee is injured in the workplace due to a failure of the employer to take proper care to ensure a safe working environment, then the employer will be deemed ‘negligent’ for the injuries the

employee has sustained. The injured employee will be able to bring about a claim for compensation against his/her employer.

If it was a co-worker who negligently caused the employee’s injuries, the personal injuries claim is still made against the employer. This is called ‘vicarious liability’. In other words, the employer is liable for the work of the negligent co-worker.

What to do next:

1. Seek medical attention

2. Notify your employer of the incident. If you miss more than three consecutive days at work due to the injury, your employer must report the accident to the HSA. The three days does not include the day of the accident.

3. Make a note of everything that you remember about the accident. It is beneficial to do this as early as possible, to ensure no details are forgotten.

4. When you are well enough to do so, contact a suitable solicitor to chat about whether it might be appropriate to make a claim for compensation. 5. If you decide to proceed with making a claim, it will first have to be submitted to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) for an assessment. PIAB was established to facilitate personal injuries claims outside of the Courts. However, due to the complex nature of catastrophic injury claims, PIAB automatically releases the claim back to the solicitor, so that it can be dealt with through the High Court.

Our role:

McMahon Goldrick Solicitors have settled many catastrophic injury cases involving workplace accidents in excess of millions of Euro.

These cases are assigned a team of experts, including a forensic engineer, to establish liability. Incident reports, emergency services reports, CCTV footage, and the accident location itself are all analysed.

Once the basis for bringing a claim is established, then we will bring in many other experts to establish what your ongoing & future needs are as someone with a life changing injury. For example, amongst instructing the relevant doctors to prepare reports, we will also likely instruct a nursing expert, a housing expert, an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist, an assistive technology consultant etc. Due to the specialist nature of the firm, we have established an excellent working relationship with leading experts in their respective fields.

Some of our workplace accident success stories: • €3,000,000 for a man who sustained a spinal cord injury. • €750,000 for a man who sustained a traumatic brain injury.

If you wish to find out more about workplace accidents, and specifically catastrophic injuries caused by workplace accidents, please feel free to contact us here at McMahon Goldrick Solicitors.

Related topics:

Types of workplace accidents & injuries

We commonly see workplace accidents occurring in the manufacturing industry, on construction sites, with manual handling jobs, and with farming.

Some of the most common workplace injuries include:

• Over exertion injuries
• Fall injuries
• Slip and trips injuries
• Falling objects injuries
• Repetitive motion injuries

Most workplace injuries are caused by external factors that employers can quickly correct to avoid accidents, however, some injuries like repetitive motion injuries can be caused by intrinsic factors. Some of the factors that contribute to workplace injuries include:

· Exposure to hazards e.g., falling objects, frayed electrical cables, unstable rooves, unstable ladders, fire, bacteria etc.
· Not adhering to safe practice guidelines.
· Inadequate or no staff safety training.
· Inadequate or no provision of staff safety clothing and equipment.
· Insufficiently maintaining machinery, rendering it unsafe to use.
· Employee fatigue, which affects the individual’s mental, physical and emotional capabilities to function effectively.
· Employee stress. Stress is an intrinsic factor leading to workplace injuries since it is mainly psychological. Stress has emotional mental and physiological impacts that can cause workplace injuries. Stress can cause repetitive motion injuries over exertion and slips or trips.

Sick pay

Prior to 1st January 2023, an employee had no legal right to sick pay, even in the case of a workplace accident. This changed on 1st January 2023, when the Sick Leave 2022 Act commenced. An employer is now obliged to pay 70% of the employee’s normal pay up to a maximum of €110 a day. Of course, an employer can pay up to 100% of the employee’s pay, if they so choose to.

The entitled statutory sick pay is being phased in over 4 years:

· 2023 – minimum 3 days sick pay
· 2024 – minimum 5 days sick pay
· 2025 – minimum 7 days sick pay
· 2026 – minimum 10 days sick pay

Furthermore, there are a number of social welfare payments that you may be entitled to while you are out sick when making a personal injury claim. It is important to have an experienced solicitor in that regard.