Personal Trainer Injury
Carrie Tennick explains what to do if you have been hurt in an accident.
If you are a personal trainer who has been injured in an accident at work, you might feel like you have no choice but to work through it. After all, in many cases, you will not get paid to sit on the couch, resting your injury.
But you do have options. If you have been hurt in an accident that was caused or made worse by the negligence of your employer, you will likely be able to claim compensation. This could help you get back on your feet, as well as help prevent the same accident from happening to someone else.
You are at risk too
You may know of gym clients who have been hurt and gone on to make claims for compensation against the gym. You may not be aware that if your gym employs you, you can likely make a claim when you are injured in an accident on the premises. And even though there is more chance of your clients hurting themselves due to their lack of familiarity with the gym, you could very easily find yourself in the same situation.
Everyone should be safe at work. This is the minimum you should expect when you show up for work every day. However, some workplaces can pose more risks to employees than others.
These include environments with a large amount of machinery – such as factories, with manufacturing equipment, or gyms, which hold dozens of exercise machines. These machines can prove to be significant hazards, particularly when they may have exposed cables and moving parts.
Whose fault is your injury?
Not all injuries can be compensated. If you hurt yourself during a workout – for example, you pull a muscle or sprain your ankle – you will not be able to claim as the fault will lie with you.
But if you trip over a power cable that has been left exposed or hit your head on a lifting machine that has been left on the wrong setting, any resulting injuries could be your employer's fault. You may also suffer an injury as a result of a poorly maintained building – such as slipping on a rug or carpet that has not been secured to the floor.
There are plenty of other ways you can injure yourself in a gym, including slipping on a wet floor, using faulty equipment, or receiving the wrong training. If you have not been provided with the right training on how to use specific machines, you should not use them. But if you have been trained incorrectly on the use of these machines and you have then been injured while using them, the blame will typically lie with your employer. That is because they should have given you explicit instructions on how to use these machines.
Is a claim worth pursuing?
Suffering an injury can make it difficult for a trainer to keep working, meaning that your livelihood could be under threat. Although you may have some reservations about taking legal action against your employer, you are protected from recrimination. If your employer were to end your employment after you make a claim, for example, you would be able to claim unfair dismissal.
Drawing attention to the hazard that caused the injury can also help your employer address the problem. For example, if a machine was left on when it should not have been, causing you to injure yourself on it unexpectedly, your employer can start conducting spot checks to ensure everything is off until needed.
It may take something as serious as facing a compensation claim for your employer to handle the problem seriously. So please do not underestimate how powerful an act can be to make a claim.
Page Reference
If you quote information from this page in your work, then the reference for this page is:
- TENNICK, C (2019) Personal Trainer Injury [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article483.htm [Accessed
About the Author
Carrie Tennick is a content specialist at First4Lawyers, who helps people hurt in accidents get justice. The company works to claim compensation for injuries suffered through accidents that were not their fault.