I've been involved in an accident or been injured

As a member of Accord, you have access to legal advice including personal injury claims, will writing and general legal services. The providers of these services vary based on your location in the UK.

If you're unfortunate enough to be injured in an accident, legal experts on our personal injury claim line can help. They can advise on any type of injury and will ensure you receive 100% of any compensation you're awarded - other no-win-no-fee solicitors will take as much as 25% from your award as their fee.

You can use this service for accidents or injury that take place in public places, and in your workplace. If you've had an accident at work, there's more we think you should know so carry on reading.

Accidents or injury at work

If you have an accident at work, you must make sure you take steps to report the accident:

• Ensure your manager is aware of the accident and your injury
• Your manager will normally take responsibility for making a Health & Safety report, but we would advise you to follow this up to ensure its reported. If you're unsure, document what happened including the date/time of the incident, any witnesses that were there and email it to your manager.
• Talk to one of our Accord union reps, or your local officer. Most office-based accidents are slips, trips and falls, but if there was a wider hazard, the union will undertake a full inspection of your workplace and follow-up with the business with our findings.
• If you're off work as a result of a workplace accident, ensure this is included in your conversations with your manager and keep them informed.
• Make contact with our personal injury claim line to investigate whether you've got a claim.

Responsibility for health and safety in the workplace

Your employer has two main responsibilities when it comes to preventing accidents in the workplace:

• They should take measures to protect anyone in the workplace from harm (including visitors and customers)
• They should inform the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) (or in certain situations, the local authority) in the case of specific incidents including accidents that prevent workers from returning to work for seven days or more.
  

It is an employer’s duty to conduct risk assessments, offer appropriate health and safety training, conduct emergency planning and provide adequate first aid. We ask our union representatives to get involved in risk assessments to help ensure hazards are identified and addresses.

All workers are also responsibility for health and safety at work and must make sure they work safely and do not put themselves or others at risk.