Legal Advice

If you are employed

There is a variety of legislation that sets out the legal obligations for work place and construction site safety. These are :-

• Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations (1992/1999)
• Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare) Regulations 1992
• Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
• Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 1992
• Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
• Health & Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992
• Work at Height Regulations 2005
• Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007

If you are self-employed

Those responsible for the construction site are obliged, under common law, to :-

• Provide a safe place of work
• Provide a safe system of work
• Ensure the safe system is followed
• Provide safe equipment
• Provide safe fellow employees

A claim can be pursued under the Occupiers' Liability Act. As long as you had been invited on to the premises to carry out the work, you will be classed as a lawful visitor and the occupier of the premises owes you a duty of care. This duty of care is :-

“to take such care as in all the circumstances of the case, that is reasonable, to see that visitors will be reasonably safe in using the premises for the purpose for which they are invited or permitted by the Occupier to be there”

In other words, you do not have to be an employee of a company in order to pursue a claim for your accident.