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Work accidents in hospitals

If you work as a nurse, doctor or other member of the medical profession you will be only too aware of the risks you face in your day to day job. The nature of your job means that on a daily basis you come into contact with physically and mentally ill patients and you should be properly protected against the risk that this entails. It is the duty of your employer to do as much as they possibly can to protect you from these risks and to provide a safe working environment.

Accident and injuries sustained by medical professionals working in a hospital environment include:

• Lifting injuries – for example, where a member of staff is required to lift a heavy patient and there are not enough resources available (i.e. not enough members of staff or no lifting equipment) to enable them to do this safely and without risk of injury.
• Untrained staff – this can put pressure on other, qualified, members of staff and can lead to stress and being overworked which can ultimately lead to risks being taken.
• Dangerous patients – assaults on hospital staff by dangerous patients are very common and it is important that the hospital has measures in place to protect staff and enable them to be able to deal with dangerous patients in a safe manner.
• Injuries arising from faulty hospital equipment – this can include trapping fingers in faulty machinery, electrical faults, old and inadequate bed frames, and inadequate/faulty lifting equipment.
• Slips and trips – for example on spillages which have not been cleared up.

These are just some examples of how members of the medical profession are being injured and made ill by their working environment. The NHS do go to great lengths to protect their staff and contract works from contracting diseases from patients with, for example, HIV and other infected blood diseases, however , it is often instances that are seen as less as a threat that end up rendering the employee unfit to work.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 are in place to ensure that employers, such as the NHS, have a duty to keep their staff safe and minimise the risk of them sustaining illness or injury in the course of their work. However, if you feel that you have sustained an injury or illness in your work at a hospital due to your employer failing to adequately protect you then it is important that you seek legal advice as soon as possible to find out whether you could be entitled to compensation.

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