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cleaning in progress, and wet floor caution sign besides.
Workplace accidents happen all the time. Have you ever been injured at work? If you have, you know there is a process you go through to document everything that occurred and what treatment you received. Most employers care to make sure these steps are carefully followed and correct any problem that may have been the cause of the injury. What about those situations where the employer didn’t provide safe working conditions? Will they try and cover up the incident?
A responsible employer takes all necessary steps to ensure worker safety. If there is machinery involved in the workplace, these employers will have safety classes and precautions to take while operating these machines. Some machines require a safety guard to keep extremities from injury. Safety glasses will be required to keep a worker’s eye from injury. Harnesses and other means of securing a worker from harm are required when working high off the ground. Gloves are made available to workers who need protection from bodily fluids or other hazards. Instructions on how to use these safety items are provided to all employees who will be using them.
Sometimes accidents will still happen even though all safety precautions have been taken by an employer. Worker complacency can be at fault. Take police officers, for example. If a police officer is dispatched time after time to a business security alarm and it is always found to be faulty, they will start responding without a thought that this one time it may be sounding due to a break-in. Their employer has trained that officer to respond every time like it’s the real thing, but the officers have become complacent. That one time the alarm is real and there is a danger to the officer, has the possibility of injury to the unprepared officer. Using a machine over and over again without an injury happening can make an employee just as complacent and unprepared for that one time accident. Not following all the safety procedures put in place by your employer will make the employee at fault if injured.
There are employers that skip by the safety requirements. These employers may be trying to save money. If an employee is injured on the job due to the employer not providing a safe workplace, that employer will be held liable for injuries suffered by the employee.
When a workplace accident happens, document everything and seek advice from a personal injury lawyer. If proper safety procedures and equipment have not been provided to workers, they will be responsible for damages.