Starting your career is an exciting time. You’ve completed your studies, and now is the time to put everything you’ve learnt into practice and start building the life you’ve been working towards all this time.
However, what is often overlooked here is how things don’t always go to plan when you enter the workforce. That’s not to say you should expect things to go wrong, but be more aware that this is a possibility.
And sadly, for some, things go wrong due to an illness or injury within the workplace that can seriously impede their ability to climb the ladder and move forward, and the impact of this can be life-changing.
But what do you need to know in these situations? When a workplace results in an accident in the early stages of your career.
Here are a few things it’s worth knowing should this situation arise.
Your employer is legally responsible for your safety from day one
It doesn’t matter if you started yesterday or a few months ago; from the moment you become an employee, your employer has a legal responsibility to guarantee your safety when in your job role within your working environment.
This duty of care covers the physical environment, the equipment you use, the training you receive and the risks you are reasonably exposed to in the course of your work.
A new employee has exactly the same rights here as someone who has been in the role for twenty years.
But why does this distinction matter? Many young people entering the workforce don’t feel confident enough to speak up if they’ve been injured at work for various reasons. But the length of the service does not and should not affect your legal standing in this position. If your employer has failed to meet the duty of care, then how long you’ve been employed for has no bearing; their role in the incident does.
The same applies to your colleagues’ actions too. If they played a part in the injury through negligence and your employer failed to provide adequate supervision or training, liability can still rest with the employer, not the individual involved.
Workplace injuries cover more than you realise
What you need to realise is that there are many more injuries you can sustain at work aside from the big, dramatic ones you might instantly think about.
If your mind instantly goes to things like falling from a height or slipping on surfaces that haven’t had spills cleaned properly, then you need to open up to the different ways you can be injured in your working environment.
The category is far broader than you might initially realise. Injuries in the workplace can cover things like slips, trips, falls, on poorly maintained premises, it can be things like repetitive strain from incorrect working set-ups, it can be harm caused by improper training, exposure to hazardous substances or even accidents during work-related travel or at work events.
For graduates who are entering physical industries such as healthcare, construction, logistics, laboratory environments, etc., the risks are more immediately obvious. But office-based roles can also carry significant risks too.
Poorly set up workstations, inadequate equipment and training gaps can lead to preventable incidents, and all situations mean an employer’s duty of care is in play. Repetitive strain injuries, for example, are common outcomes of incorrect desk set-up and are entirely preventable with ergonomic assessments.
And it doesn’t matter here that the injury isn’t the result of a one time incident and it’s developed gradually, it’s still a workplace injury that’s impacting your life.
The key question here, however, is whether your employer took reasonable steps to prevent or reduce the risk of the incident occurring. If the answer is no, then your employer is legally responsible or the harm caused to you. But this is something that needs to be assessed properly to determine if it was their negligence that was ultimately responsible.
Raising a concern won’t automatically damage your career
This is something that catches many graduates out. The idea of making a claim in these situations can be worrisome in terms of career progression and your future.
The law protects employees from being treated detrimentally for raising health and safety concerns or pursuing a personal injury claim. Dismissing or penalising an employee for doing so exposes an employer to significant additional legal liability. That does not mean every workplace handles these situations perfectly. But if you do need to make a claim, you have legal protections in place to lean on.
The claim should not mean you need an adversarial relationship with your employer. For the most part, these are handled outside of the office through the employer’s liability insurance and resolved without any kind of direct conflict or confrontations that might be putting newer employees off making a personal injury claim.
However, it is still worth getting the right advice from an independent legal expert in the situation to ensure that you’re not doing anything that undermines your claim or your ability to continue working in your current position if you so wish.
The time limit for claims is three years
This is really important to know. Personal injury claims in the UK are subject to a three-year limitation period, which generally runs from the date of the injury or the date you became aware the injury was connected to your job role or workplace.
Three years sounds generous, especially for someone new to a job; the immediacy is removed, but three years can pass quickly particularly if you’re focusing on recovery, managing the practicalities of continuing to work or simply moving on from an unpleasant experience.
There are some exceptions to the three-year limit. If the incident occurred and you are under 18, then you get three years from your 18th birthday, giving you until your 21st birthday. And in cases involving industrial disease or conditions that develop gradually, the three-year duration may run from the date of diagnosis, not the date of first exposure. This is something you can confirm if you move forward with legal action.
Featured image: Miff Ibra
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