Accident in the factory: three proceedings at once and a single account
Nextica Law & Tax represents industrial companies from the first hour of an accident: internal investigation and its documentation, appearance before the Labour Inspectorate, defence against a proposed surcharge on benefits for lack of safety measures, the civil damages claim from the worker or their family, and the criminal front where offences against workers' health and safety are alleged. With one principle that orders everything else: the three proceedings run in parallel and what is stated in one weighs in the other two.
After a serious accident three proceedings open at once, and what is said in the first weighs in the other two.
What's included
1. Immediate care and notification, and from then on preserving the scene
not modifying the machine or the workstation before documenting them with photographs and measurements.
2. Assembling the technical file
equipment manual and markings, maintenance, prevention plan, workstation risk assessment and the record of protective equipment issued.
3. Evidencing the training and information received by that specific person, dated before the accident and in a language they understood.
4. An internal investigation written knowing that the Inspectorate, the court and the insurer will read it.
5. Appearing before the Labour Inspectorate and defending against the proposed benefit surcharge.
6. Coordinating with the subcontractor where the injured person is not your own employee, and reviewing the coordination of activities paperwork.
7. Civil defence and, if one opens, criminal, with a single coherent account across all three proceedings.
THREE PROCEEDINGS AT ONCE AND A SINGLE ACCOUNT
What is stated before the Inspectorate weighs in the civil and criminal cases, and there is no way to correct it later without it showing.
Benefit surcharge
imposed on the employer where the injury occurs on machinery or installations lacking the regulatory safety devices, or through failure to observe safety measures. The company pays it directly, it is legally uninsurable and, where there is permanent incapacity or death, it is paid as an annuity for years at the percentage the rule itself sets.
art. 164 of the consolidated General Social Security ActModifying the machine before documenting it
it is done with the best intentions —so it does not happen again— and it destroys the evidence of how it was at the moment of the accident, which is the only thing that can support the defence.
Training signed for by someone who could not read it
in workforces with high turnover and several languages, a signed document without evidenced comprehension does not prove the risk was communicated, and that does get checked.
Frequently asked questions
What is the benefit surcharge and why does it worry employers so much?
It is an increase on all the cash benefits arising from the accident, imposed on the employer where the injury occurs on machinery or installations lacking the regulatory safety devices, or through failure to observe general or specific safety measures. It worries employers for three reasons: the company pays it directly, it is legally uninsurable —no policy covers it— and, where there is permanent incapacity or death, it is paid as an annuity for years. On top of that, the decision imposing it becomes the best evidence in the civil case.
What do I do in the first 24 hours?
Look after the person and notify, and from then on preserve the scene and the information. In practice: do not modify the machine or the workstation before documenting them with photographs and measurements; gather the equipment manual and its markings, the prevention plan, the workstation risk assessment, the training and information given to that specific person, the record of protective equipment issued and the maintenance logs. And one decision often made badly in haste: the internal investigation has to be carried out, but written knowing the Inspectorate, the court and the insurer will read it.
Cases we have worked on
- industria
Reestructuración de un grupo familiar sin conflicto
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