PERSONAL INJURY LITIGATION

Transcription

1 PERSONAL INJURY LITIGATION Accidents at Work Industrial Disease Public/Occupiers Liability Clinical Negligence Republic of Ireland Claims Holiday Claims

2 LEGISLATION Health and Safety at Work (NI) Order 1978 Manual Handling OperaPons RegulaPons 1992 Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) RegulaPons (NI) 1993 Provisions and Use of Work Equipment RegulaPons (NI) 1999 Personal ProtecPve Equipment at Work RegulaPons (NI) 1993 Management of Health and Safety at Work RegulaPons (NI) 2006

3 Employers responsibilipes DUTY OF CARE (Duty- Breach- Damage) This includes making the workplace safe PrevenPng risks to health InspecPng and maintaining work equipment Providing relevant training for employees Providing suitable protecpve clothing

4 RISK ASSESSMENTS This is a key responsibility and applies o^en where employers fail in their duty to employees by not carrying out suitable risk assessments. This should start with a risk assessment to spot potenpal health and safety hazards and idenpfy preventapve or protecpve measures to control the risk

5 MAKING THE WORKPLACE SAFE DuPes include:- Ensuring adequate venplapon Sufficient lighpng Keeping the workplace clean Suitable workstapons Making sure floors are suitable and kept free from obstrucpon Safe equipment

6 SAFE MANUAL WORK Risk assessments should be carried out for manual work This should include whether the load needs to be moved or how the load could be reduced Manual handling should be reduced to the lowest level Training should be provided

7 WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOU HAVE AN ACCIDENT AT WORK? Make sure you record any injury in the accident book. Your employer should have an accident book that all accidents are recorded in. If needs be make sure your employer has reported it to the Health and Safety ExecuPve. This must be done in instances of death, major injuries, dangerous incidents or any other injury which stops and employee from carrying out their work for more than three days.

8 INDUSTRIAL DISEASE This can include:- Asbestos Related Disease Noise Induced Hearing Loss VibraPon White Finger RepePPve Strain Injury

9 PUBLIC LIABILITY One of the most common types of Public Liability claims are tripping claims. These can occur on defecpve kerbing or where there is a tripping hazard. Most commonly these are against the Department for Regional Development. There must be a minimum of a 20mm tripping point and therea^er the Defendant must prove that their system of inspecpon and maintenance is adequate to sapsfy a Court that it has met its obligapons to the general public. It must be menponed that the DRD is not under any obligapon to grit in icy condipons and those types of cases can be problemapc. Other common public liability claims are accidents in supermarkets and shopping complexes where there have been spillages that have not been cleaned up in a Pmely manner.

10 Clinical Negligence Elements of Clinical Negligence In order to be successful in a clinical negligence case there are certain elements that must be established: That a Duty of Care was owed to the claimant by the hospital or health care provider; a legal duty exists whenever a hospital or healthcare provider undertakes care or treatment of a papent That there was a breach of the Duty of Care i.e. that the hospital or healthcare provider failed to provide a reasonable standard of care or they acted in a manner contrary to the generally accepted standard. That the breach of Duty of Care has caused harm to the Claimant and that the breach of duty was a direct cause of the injury. That damage or other losses have resulted from the injury. Without damage (losses which may be physical, emoponal or pecuniary) there is no basis for a claim irrespecpve of whether the medical provider was negligent. Likewise damage can occur without the Treatment provided being negligent.

11 Republic of Ireland Claims If you are injured in the Republic you will need to take a case in the South as this is a different legal jurisdicpon Damages are much higher in the Republic but you may be responsible for your own fees Injuries Board v Court Proceedings

12 Holiday Claims Relevant LegislaPon is the Package Travel, Package Holiday and Package Tours RegulaPons 1992 Heads of damage will include: Loss of value, this is the difference between the value of the holiday Out- of pocket expenses any reasonable expenses you incurred as a result of the breach of contract Loss of enjoyment compensapon for disappointment and distress Personal Injury damages for pain and suffering