Guest writer Gina Gough adds it up:
I’ve never thought of myself as a person who needs to point the finger, to blame other people for my own misfortunes. Accidents happen, right, and there isn’t always someone to blame. Well, that’s how it’s supposed to be, isn’t it. Unfortunately, what I’ve discovered is that many of those ‘accidents’ didn’t need to happen at all. That many are entirely preventable, but only if you have a boss who cares as much about the workforce as he does about the profit margins.
I understand that it can be expensive to keep up with all the Health and Safety rules and regulations which, let’s be honest, sometimes seem like they change on a weekly basis. And often it’s hard to understand why a new regulation has been put in place, after all things have been done a certain way for years and no one’s been hurt before, have they? Or have they?
Recently I’ve heard about some new research, following the launch of the personal injury solicitor’s new interactive injury compensation calculator, which has been done by personal injury solicitors, Hayward Baker which indicates that 69% of British workers claim their workplace to be a health hazard. That’s 21 million of them! 39 percent have suffered an injury at work, and two in ten Brits have been to hospital due to a work-related illness or injury.
And often when we think about ‘Accidents at Work’ we’re only thinking about physical injury caused by unsafe equipment or dangerous machinery, whereas often it’s the invisible that needs to be looked out for – the unsanitary conditions and unhealthy environment which can spread disease and cost us hundreds if not thousands of pounds in lost earnings. 35% of those asked claimed to have contracted an illness from their place of work, and 18% have contracted a stomach bug while in the office.
And what’s the answer from the bosses? Sadly, almost half (46 percent) of those polled had complained to their boss about the state of their place of work, with a further 21 percent saying their manager did nothing to rectify the situation. These are shocking statistics that show how our managers are failing to protect us, and that’s what really concerns me. After all, I expect my line manager to have my back.
What Hayward Baker has done is to create an interactive compensation calculator. It’s really easy to use, and with it you can see how much compensation you might receive. How much that little twinge or that recurring ache you’ve been ignoring could actually be worth because you might be able to ignore the pain now, but what about next week, next month or next year?
All I’m talking about here is my right to be safe at work. And making sure that what’s happened to me isn’t ever allowed to happen again.
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