Does the insurance company reimburse damages when an accident occurs on the farm? And can the driver pay for the financial loss in the event of an industrial accident? These are questions that forklift drivers often ask during their training. In this article, the answer to these questions and five tips to avoid a workplace accident not being insured because you are accused of gross negligence.
In principle, the employer is always liable in a workplace accident. After all, he is responsible for a safe working environment where drivers are not at risk of injury or other damage. Does this happen anyway? Then the employer is obliged to pay compensation. There is an exception when the forklift driver acted recklessly on purpose or caused an accident on purpose.
Careless handling due to routine
What about when the driver caused an accident because he acted somewhat carelessly? Then the employer is liable. He must ensure that drivers' attention does not wane due to routine, for example. An employer must therefore see that there is no risk of accidents in routine work.
An example can be found on the website Judex.co.uk. In this example, a temporary worker was operating a packaging machine that jammed. The temporary worker then tried to loosen the packaging, but did not turn off the machine in the process. As a result, he was injured. The court ruled that the company should have taken into account the carelessness of the temporary worker, who worked with the machine on a daily basis. Thus, it could have better secured the machine.
Warning stickers and a stop button are not always enough to hold the employee liable in this case. Indeed, in another example, the court ruled that warning of dangers through stickers, written and oral instructions, for example, was not sufficient in all cases. The employer should have taken into account that, due to daily handling of a machine, an employee does not always observe all caution.
Read also: 'Cool boss' determines safe warehouse
5 tips to avoid 'gross negligence'
To prevent companies from incurring heavy costs in the event of an accident, there is liability insurance. This insurance pays out when employees suffer damage due to an accident. According to the Dutch Association of Insurers, in principle, this insurance always pays out, except in cases of intent or gross negligence. But when is that the case?
- Risk Inventory & Evaluation (RI&E). Companies are legally obliged to identify risks with an RI&E, but figures show that only 40 per cent of SMEs have the RI&E in order.
- Inspecting trucks and racking. Forklifts and other work equipment such as warehouse racking should be inspected periodically. The best proof is to have the inspection carried out by a certified organisation, think BMWT-Keur or VA-Keur.
- Training drivers. According to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, forklift drivers should receive thorough instruction. Forklift training is not mandatory, but it is the best proof of that thorough instruction.
- Healthy and Safe Warehouse Code. A company that really wants to work on safety needs to do more than identify risks, inspect tools and train people. The Healthy and Safe Warehouse Code provides a good toolkit for this. On www.cgvm.nl you will find the ten most important risk hotspots in warehouses with the measures companies can take to mitigate those risks.
- Turn to Inspectorate SZW. And if an accident does occur, contact the Inspectorate SZW (formerly Labour Inspectorate). This is especially important in the case of a serious accident, such as a death or hospitalisation. Better that you contact it yourself than someone else.
In short: employees and companies can do a lot to ensure that they do not pay for the financial damages of a workplace accident. The question remains whether all damages will be compensated by the insurer. Just think of the reputational damage an accident can cause. Finally, of course, financial compensation never alleviates all the suffering an accident can cause.
Tom van BLOM - Material handling expert
