The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has said that the incoming government must provide employees injured in the workplace with improved access to compensation.

The Law Society Gazette reports that the government consultation Accessing Compensation – which closed on Wednesday (05/05/10) – seeks to establish an Employers’ Liability Tracing Office (ELTO) and an Employers’ Liability Insurance Bureau (ELIB).

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) launched the consultation into creating ELTO and ELIB in February.

ELTO will collate an electronic database recording details of employers’ liability insurance policies. The present tracing system administered by the Association of British Insurers does not give injured employees access to a database that would help trace employers or their insurers. The tracing system in place by insurers is also voluntary and in 2008, as many as 3,210 injured workers remained without compensation, according the DWP figures.

The president of APIL Muiris Lyons said that employees needed to be able to trace employers or their insurers – but in cases where the company had gone out of business, for example, or when policy information had not been recorded, this was not always possible.

‘We have a similar system in place for the millions of drivers on our roads – there is no excuse for failing to treat workers in the same way,’ said Mr Lyons.

‘Many of the worst-affected people have asbestos-related diseases and die without receiving the compensation which could provide some comfort in their last months of life.

‘All employees have the right to go to work and come home unharmed – but when they are injured or made ill by their employers, they must be able to claim fair compensation for their injuries,’ he added.

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