Garage and motor vehicle repair (MVR) workplace injury claims

The motor vehicle repair or MVR industry refers to garages, auto body repair shops and other businesses which carry out MOTs, mechanical and electrical repairs, maintenance and servicing to cars and other vehicles. There are around 43,000 MVR businesses in the UK, employing more than 200,000 people. Most of these are small to medium-sized businesses which serve their local area.

Mechanics, welders, technicians and other garage staff have an increased risk of injury from vehicle repair, maintenance and other MVR work.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has estimated that the annual death rate in the MVR industry is four times the average fatality rate across all industries. Unsafe garage, workshop or vehicle repair working environments are also responsible for many non-fatal accidents with life-changing injuries to their workers and visitors each year.

Many of these accidents are avoidable and are the result of the employer’s negligent failure to comply with the health and safety legislation, regulations and HSE guidance that are designed to keep vehicle repair workers and their customers safe.

Vehicle maintenance, servicing and repair workshop employers must take all reasonable steps to protect their workers, customers and other visitors from injury. This means that they must demonstrate their commitment to their employees’ safety by providing a safe working environment and by planning and enforcing safe systems of work.

Employers must take all reasonable steps to reduce the risk of accidents and injury by carrying out careful risk assessments, providing adequate training and supervision and the necessary equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE) for their workers to do their job. They are also responsible for their employee’s actions, so they should ensure that their employees maintain a safe working environment for their co-workers by removing or clearing up spillages and other hazards, such as trailing wires. The employer’s health and safety responsibilities also apply to motor vehicle repair which is taking place in other industries or working environments, such as the repair and maintenance of HGVs in transportation or tractors and agricultural vehicles on farms.

These important principles and ways of working are based on a combination of health and safety statutes and regulations.

These include:

• the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 – relating to general workplace safety;
• the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 – relating to safe facilities;
• the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 – about tools, equipment and machinery;
• the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 – requiring assessment of risk and identifying hazards;
• the Work at Height Regulations 2005 – about preventing injury from falls from height;
• the Lifting Equipment and Lifting Operations Regulations 1998 – about safe lifting;
• the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) – relating to safe storage and use of products containing chemicals.

HSE provides additional support to employers through its own, easily accessible guidance on specific issues, such as how to work safely on farm vehicles or electric and hybrid vehicles.

Common accidents in MVR workplaces which cause serious injury and lead to compensation claims include:

• falls from height - from ladders, raised storage areas, vehicles, trailers, inspection pits;
• high voltage electric shock – from electric and hybrid vehicles;
• fire and explosions - from petrol, chemicals, paint thinners;
• being struck by moving vehicles – reversing or rolling vehicles, roadside RTA collisions;
• being struck by falling objects – vehicles falling off ramps, lifts or blocks, falling tools;
• manual handling or heavy lifting;
• slips and trips – trailing cables, wet or oily or damaged floors, unsuitable footwear;
• asbestos-related disease – exposure to asbestos dust from brake linings, clutch plates.

Compensation claims for serious injury caused by motor vehicle repair workplace negligence often involve one or more of the following negligent mistakes:

• failing to risk assess or provide safe systems of work;
• failing to comply with H&S legislation, regulations, or guidelines;
• failing to provide, maintain and repair or replace machinery, equipment, ramps, tools;
• failing to provide protective clothing or safety equipment;
• failing to provide adequate training and supervision;
• failing to put safety guards around hazards (pits, rooftops, machinery, dropping hazards);
• toppling hazards (unsafe storage, faulty ramps and lifts);
• failing to warn/sign or remove slipping hazards (oil, water, slippery floors, stairs);
• failing to remove, repair or warn about tripping hazards (wires, raised flooring);
• exposing workers to hazardous or toxic substances (asbestos, chemicals, flammables);
• vehicle collisions (RTAs) and driver negligence;
• failing to safeguard pedestrians (safe walkways, MOT viewing areas);
• co-worker negligence.

In some cases, the injured employee’s own actions may have contributed to their injury, such as by failing to wear a hard hat or to follow workplace procedure. Where serious injury has occurred, we strongly recommend that the injured person (or their family) seek our advice before assuming that their own actions rule out the possibility of making a claim. Our solicitors are highly skilled, with extensive experience of securing rehabilitation and compensation in claims that are complicated by the injured person’s own contributory negligence.

Where the injured person’s own actions contributed to their accident or injury, they will usually still be entitled to compensation as long as their employer or another defendant, such as a driver, was partly at fault. In these circumstances, their compensation may be reduced in proportion to their own contributory negligence.

Our personal injury solicitors specialise in compensation claims and rehabilitation for clients who have suffered severe, life-changing injury or permanent disability as a result of someone else’s negligence. We can help clients, and their families, after an MVR accident has caused one or more of the following injuries:

• head injury;
• spinal cord injury (SCI) - paralysis, paraplegia, tetraplegia or spinal fracture;
• major trauma or multiple injuries;
• amputation;
• burns and scalds;
• crushing injury or damage to internal organs;
• degloving injuries (needing skin grafting);
• scarring and disfigurement;
• severe lacerations and nerve injury;
• sensory impairment (sight loss, hearing loss);
• CRPS and chronic pain conditions;
• mesothelioma and other asbestos-related disease;
• PTSD and psychological injury;
• death or fatal injury (claims for the bereaved, dependant family).

Each injured person’s claim is carefully calculated to compensate them for their injury and its impact on their life and to meet the needs that arise as a result of that injury now and in the future. In most cases, we can also secure early, funded rehabilitation for our severely injured clients, in addition to their compensation.

Depending on the client’s injury and circumstances, their claim may include compensation for:

• pain, suffering and disability;
• care and case management costs;
• rehabilitation, often funded directly by the employer’s insurer;
• therapies, such as:
  • occupational therapy (OT);
  • physiotherapy;
  • speech and language therapy (SALT);
  • pain management;
• psychological treatment and counselling;
• prostheses (if needed after amputation);
• financial losses, such as earnings and pension;
• specialist wheelchairs, vehicles, equipment and assistive technology (IT);
• additional costs of accommodation or home adaptations;
• medical or surgical treatment or immunotherapy (for mesothelioma);
• Court of Protection deputyship costs (where needed).

Where an MVR workplace accident causes fatal injury, the deceased’s family and dependants may be able to claim funeral costs, the statutory bereavement payment and compensation for their loss of the deceased’s income and ‘services’, such as childcare, housework, DIY and gardening.

Employers and owners of garages, workshops and other vehicle repair businesses are required by law to have insurance in place to cover claims against them relating to injury and death.

Employers and their insurers are also responsible for injuries that are caused by the negligence of their employees. This means that, depending on how the accident occurred, the injured person’s compensation may be paid by their employer’s liability insurers, public liability insurance or motor insurance.