Any occupation in which you work at a height is hazardous and presents the risk of a fall. This is especially true when you work on a roof – whether constructing it, repairing it or cleaning it – and where you are exposed to the elements. Employers have an obligation to protect their employees from accidents on roofs as much as anywhere else in the work environment, and if you – or a family member – have had a fall from a roof where sufficient protection has not been provided, you are entitled to make a roof fall injury claim.
In 2009, 5% of all workplace accidents reported to the Health and Safety Authority involved falling from a height, with five fatalities directly attributable to falling from a roof on a construction site where measures should have been in place to prevent them. Falling from a roof is the most common reason for death or serious injury in the construction industry and can be caused by workers moving from one surface to another, losing their grip, bad weather conditions, surfaces being unable to support a person´s weight, and fall prevention systems being incorrectly used or not being used at all.
Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2006, an employer should perform a risk assessment to ensure that these causes of roof falls are removed, or adequate protection is provided for employees working on a roof. Even when under pressure of time and money to get a job done, employers should not cut corners and put the safety of their employees at risk. Where there is evidence to suggest that they have, and you – or a family member – suffer an injury because of their “lack of care”, you should speak to a solicitor about making a roof fall injury claim for compensation.
Making a Roof Fall Injury Claim
Due to the serious nature of injuries sustained in a non-fatal fall from a roof, it is more than likely that you will be attended at the site of your accident by an ambulance and taken to hospital. Making a roof fall injury claim will come second to ensuring that your health is properly taken care of, and it may be some months before you are in a position to speak to a solicitor about this. Because of the complexity of making a roof fall injury claim for compensation, it is not advised that you should attempt this by yourself.
Amongst other things, a successful roof fall injury claim for compensation is going to depend on the employer´s willingness to admit liability for your injuries, the terms under which you were employed on the construction site, the level of contributory negligence you may yourself be responsible for and the interpretation of your application form for compensation by the Injuries Board Ireland.
As each individual scenario is different when it comes to making a roof fall injury claim, we have set up a legal claims advice helpline to enable you to speak with an experienced personal injury claims solicitor and discuss your own particular circumstances – or those of a family member, if they are badly injured. You will be able to ask questions relating to your eligibility to make a roof fall injury claim and receive helpful and practical advice to help you get through this traumatic period.
Call us now or if you cannot speak now please fill in the form below and we will call you back.
What You Can Expect When You Call
We have many years experience of working with people who have suffered injuries in work-related accidents and appreciate that you will going through a difficult period. No doubt your injuries will have caused a tremendous amount of physical pain, and you may also be wondering how you are going to be able to support a family if you are unable to work.
We are here solely to help, and you will find us sympathetic and resourceful when it comes to providing advice, and helpful yet impartial when offering further information to you. A number of clients have told us that they were initially apprehensive of dealing with a solicitor for their roof fall injury claim, but were surprised at the level of support they were given and how it made life easier for them.
To help us make a preliminary assessment of your roof fall injury claim, we would like to know how your accident happened, what injuries you sustained and how they were treated. We also need to know how your injuries have affected your ability to work in the future and also how they have affected your quality of life and interaction with family and friends.
We will try to assess, wherever possible, if you have a roof fall injury claim which is worth your while to pursue, advise you of the likelihood of your success and how long the claim is likely to take to process. If we can, we will offer a general figure that we would anticipate you would receive as an award of compensation but, in cases of serious injury, this is often hard to quantify immediately.
We usually end our initial conversations with a list of suggestions and options which are available to you. You are under no obligation to act on any of these and no pressure will be put on you to proceed with a claim. However, we would advise you to act sooner rather than later if you choose to make a roof fall injury claim, as it is possible that your right to claim could be time barred after a while.
Therefore, please give our legal claims advice helpline a call at your earliest possible convenience. Our lines are open seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, and if it is not a suitable time to call us right now, please leave your contact details in the call-back box below and one of our helpful team will get back to you when it is more convenient.