Fall From Height Accidents at Work Claims

Fall From Height Accidents at Work Claims

Some jobs involve working at height, either occasionally or regularly, and with that comes the risk of a fall, often with severe consequences. Fall from height accidents are responsible for more fatal injuries at work than any other type of workplace accident. They are also one of the biggest causes of serious injuries.

The most recent set of statistics produced by the Health and Safety Executive in their annual report for 2021/2022 reveal that falls from height accounted for 24% of all fatal accidents at work.

You may be able to make a fall from height claim against your employer if you’ve sustained injury as a result of falling from height. At Mooneerams Solicitors, we are award-winning personal injury claims solicitors and experts in accident at work claims.

Call us on 029 2048 3615 for free and confidential initial advice about claiming compensation if you have suffered injuries sustained as a result of a fall from height at work. There will be no obligation to go ahead after your initial chat with one of our specialist personal injury solicitors. However, if you decide you would like us to handle your accident claim, we’ll be pleased to help.

What do we mean by a ‘fall from height at work’?

Some jobs involve working at height every day. In other occupations, you might only work at height occasionally. You are working from height when you climb a ladder to get something off a shelf in an office or a warehouse. Scaffolders, of necessity, work from height as a matter of course; both are examples of falls from height.

Whether the fall from height is six feet or sixty, if you suffer injury due to something your employer should or should not have done, you will have reasonable prospects of bringing a successful claim for personal injury against your employer.

How should my employer protect me from a fall if I get asked to work at height?

We have already noted employers owe a duty of care to protect their employees by doing all they reasonably can to keep them safe at work. This is an unwritten rule and is known as common law. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAW) backs up this common law rule by describing in written detail the duties employers owe to employers (and the general public).

However, the company’s management must also comply with specific rules regarding working at height contained in the Act of Parliament called the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

The regulations apply to employers to ensure they take the necessary steps and precautions to prevent their employees from suffering injury or death in a fall from height accident.

The regulations advise the best course of action  training

(except where they specify a course the employer must take).

Before any work starts, the management should carry out a thorough risk assessment and, first off, ask themselves:

• Can working from height be avoided? If not,
• Can you prevent a fall from occurring? if not,
• Can you minimise the distance and consequences of a fall?

If working from height is a necessity, then the employer must ensure their workers:

• have received the proper training to enable them to work at height safely,
• are provided with suitable personal protection equipment (PPE)
• are supplied with the tools to enable them to do their job safely and to ensure those tools are in good working condition.

In addition, any surfaces on which the employer will work must be dry, firm, and free from obstacles.

Under what circumstances can I make a fall from height claim?

Working at height carries a high degree of risk, which is why this kind of work is heavily regulated. As the HSE statistics show, however, fall from height accidents in the workplace still happen regularly, even though the HSE carry out inspections and prosecute firms where they find evidence of unsafe work at height.

If you have suffered injury caused by falling from height whilst at work, you may be eligible to make a compensation claim. The key to bringing a successful fall from height at work claim is proving your employer took insufficient steps to ensure you were safe.

Why should I ask Mooneerams to handle my fall from height injury claim?

At Mooneerams Solicitors, we only handle personal injury claims. We are experts in all types of accident at work claims, including fall from height injury claims.

Accident at work claims

If you ask Mooneerams to handle your claim, as part of the claims process, you can expect us to thoroughly investigate all the circumstances leading up to the accident. This will include looking at what steps, if any, were taken by your employers to prevent an accident. In most cases, fall from height accidents are due to a failure on the part of an employer to:

1. Conduct a thorough risk assessment.
2. Put in place a safe system of doing the work at height.
3. Make sure the people required to work at height are trained.
4. Ensure there is appropriate supervision of the employees who will work at height.
5. Provide employees with the right and adequate equipment that works.

If we can prove your employer was negligent or in breach of their statutory duty to keep you safe from harm, we will probably be able to make a successful accident at work claim against your employer on your behalf.

What are the more common types of falls from height accidents?

1. Falls from Ladders – due to poor ladder maintenance, faulty ladder, unstable ladder, or overreaching at the top of the ladder.
2. Falls from Scaffolding – often due to insecure safety railings or incorrect erection of the scaffold.
3. Falling from a Cherry Picker ( a hydraulic crane fitted a basket or platform at the top to enable work at height, e.g., on cables, tall buildings etc.
4. Falling from or through a Roof
5. Fall from a Tree – Tree surgeons and tree trimmers risk falling from the trees they are working on.
6. Vehicles – particularly HGVs. Lorry drivers are at risk of falling from their vehicles whilst fixing loads or unloading their vehicles as a result of losing balance or falling off the vehicle in strong winds
7. Fall from machines – whilst carrying out maintenance
8. Falls from mobile warehouse steps
9. Fall from height can include falling down wells, underground tanks, or chambers, from ground level.

What injuries are most likely to result from a fall from height accident?

Serious injuries of a life-changing nature often result from a fall from height accident. More fatal accidents at work are caused by falling from height than is the case for any other type of workplace accident.

Some of the more frequently recorded injuries after a fall from height accident include:

• Head injuries, including severe traumatic brain injuries
• Spinal cord injuries resulting in severe disability
• Broken legs, arms, hands, feet, back or anywhere in the body.
• Internal organ damage
• Fatal accidents

How much compensation will I get for a fall from height accident claim?

The range of injuries caused by falls from height accidents is so broad it is impossible to say how much compensation you would receive for injuries suffered in an accident of this kind. Valuing a claim for an injury sustained due to fall from height accident only becomes possible once the full extent of the injuries becomes clear. In the case of serious injury, it can take months or even years to reach this point.

It is important to note that in almost every claim for personal injury, there are two types of compensation (or damages). These are;

General Damages: compensation for personal injury, loss and amenity; the latter is the effect the injuries have on your daily life.

Special Damages: all other losses you have already suffered, e.g., loss of earnings and possible future losses you may suffer. In serious injury claims, future losses can be sizeable and may amount to more in value than the general damages claim.

The complex nature of the injuries often sustained by victims of fall from height accidents at work is another reason for making sure you ask an experienced workplace accident solicitor to manage your claim for you.

Our compensation calculator can give you a very rough guide as to how much some individual types of injury claim may be worth.

If you have suffered an injury due to falling from a height at work, call us on 029 2048 3615. Alternatively, if you prefer, you can contact us online, leave your details, and we will call you back promptly.

At Mooneerams, we handle most accident at work claims for our clients on a No Win No Fee basis.

The benefit of a No Win No Fee claim is there will be nothing to pay, either to us or the other side, should your claim not be successful.