Accidents at Work for Seasonal Staff

The run up to Christmas is always the busiest time of year with a surge of demand for temporary staff particularly in the retail department but also for factory work. The issue we at Rogers Solicitor have witnessed come up time and time again is the amount of workplace accidents that occur at this time of year.

Due to the short staffing for many businesses and the increase in custom, many seasonal staff is employed on short notice. The issue with this is that there may be many temporary employees who are not receiving the proper training in order to carry out their jobs. If you have been hired for seasonal work then you are entitled to a reasonable standard of training that will ensure you can carry out your responsibilities safely. Unfortunately, we have came across many cases where client’s have been hired as seasonal staff without adequate training or no training at all and have been involved in accidents at work. Your employer owes you a duty of care and because of this, it is legally required that you undergo some form of training. So if you have had no training or feel that you did not get as much as you were required to and you suffer an accident at work, there is a strong chance you may be able to claim compensation for your injuries.
Seasonal staff in factories boasts a very high chance of injuries due to the equipment employees must use and the increased volume of work they must carry out over the Christmas period. Turkey factories, tree warehouses and toy factories are some of the most common jobs where seasonal staff may suffer an accident at work. There is a great need for large numbers of temporary staff in these types of factories and due to deadlines, they may employee you and not provide you with any training at all. If this is the case and you suffer a workplace accident, it is very possible your employer has been negligent and you may be able to sue them for the injuries you sustained. In addition, for factory work, seasonal staff must also be provided with protective work equipment and this is the responsibility of the employer. Therefore, even if you have undergone training but were not provided with protective equipment and still suffer an accident at work, you may still be entitled to compensation.
If you have been hired to work in retail such as a department store, these jobs are subject to long hours with short breaks. While you may not need much training to operate a till or sort through products, you may suffer an accident at work that could have happened to anyone. Due to the large volumes of customers entering stores over Christmas, there can be quite a lot of mess with people dropping litter and items on the ground and not picking these up. If you are an employee or simply a visitor in a store, you may be able to claim against the employer/owner of the store for occupier’s liability. What this means is if you sustain a personal injury, you can claim compensation for the owner failing to have the store in a clean and safe condition.

For more information on accident at work claims* please review our accidents at work page.