Advice On Making A Personal Injury Claim After An Accident At Work

You might be able to make a personal injury claim if an accident at work has left you injured. However, you would need to show that it happened because your employer breached the duty of care that they owed you, leading to an injury.

Personal injury claim accident at work guide

This guide will explain what makes an injury eligible for a claim as well as give you an idea of what compensation you might be awarded. We will also explain the different steps that make up the accident at work claims process.

Our advisors can speak with you and listen to you about what happened. Then, they can assess whether or not your claim has a good chance of success and, if it does, could connect you with a solicitor from our panel.

To see if you have a valid personal injury claim, contact our advisers today by using:

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What Are Personal Injury Claims After An Accident At Work?
Potential Accidents That Happen At Work
How Do I Make Personal Injury Claims After An Accident At Work?
Adding Up Compensation For An Accident At Work Claim
Do I Need A No Win No Fee Agreement?
More Guidance About Personal Injury Claims After An Accident At Work

What Is A Personal Injury Claim After An Accident At Work?

A personal injury claim after an accident at work can be made if you can show that:

You were owed a duty of care;
This duty was breached, and;
You sustained an injury as a result

Employer negligence is the term used when an employer breaches their duty of care. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA) outlines the reasonable steps your employee should take to ensure a safe working environment.

If your employer fails to take these steps, and you are injured as a result, you may be eligible to make a personal injury claim for the injuries you sustained.

There are other considerations, including starting your claim within the appropriate time limit. This is generally three years, but some exceptions can apply; speak with our team for more information.

The Key Takes From HSE Statistics

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publish statistics based on reports made under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR).

The most commonly reported accident leading to non-fatal injuries in the year 2020/21 was slips, trips and falls. This led to 6,740 specified injuries

Potential Accidents That Happen At Work

There are certain steps your employer is expected to take in order to reduce the risk of workplace accidents. This includes:

This includes:

Risk assessments. These can apply to workspaces, tools and equipment or duties themselves. Your employer should look at an aspect of your work, consider whether any hazards are present, and take steps to reduce or remove the risk to safety.
Providing training. If workers are undertaking activities that could pose a risk to employees health, such as manual handling or operating machinery, their employer should provide the training needed to do this safely.
Good housekeeping. Walkways should be kept free of clutter. Spills should be cleaned up in a reasonable timeframe to reduce the risk of slips and trips.

If your employer breached the duty of care that they owed you, and this contributed to your accident and subsequent injury, then you could be eligible to make a personal injury claim.

For example, if an employer had not performed a risk assessment, and so did not discover a fault in a machine that led to an accident and injury, then they could have breached their duty of care and be responsible for the accident.

If an employee sustained a manual handling injury and they had not received manual handling training, then an employer could be found at fault for not providing training to help reduce the risk of injury.

You can contact our advisers for any more information about liability in a personal injury claim for an accident at work.

How Do I Make A Personal Injury Claim After An Accident At Work?

You do not need a solicitor or representative at any point of the claim. However, the advice, experience and guidance of a lawyer will be very valuable when you make a claim.

One of the things accident at work lawyers can help with is the collection of evidence. Some of the evidence you might collect could include:

Photographs of your injury, or of the hazard that led to your accident. For example, if you tripped over a piece of loose flooring, you could take a photograph of this.
Medical records. It’s always a good idea to seek medical attention when you’ve been in an accident because your injuries might be more serious than they initially seem. You might also be invited to an independent medical assessment as part of the process of claiming.
Collect witness statements. If anyone saw the accident happen, you could take their name and contact details. They may be able to be contacted for a statement further down the line.
Obtain CCTV footage. Many workplaces have CCTV on site. If your accident was caught on this, then you could request the CCTV footage to support your claim.

As we have already mentioned, a solicitor can help you ascertain the evidence you need to collect. There are other benefits to working with a lawyer, too. Why not speak with a member of our team about your claim? If valid, you could be provided with a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel.

Adding Up Compensation For An Accident At Work Claim

If your claim were to be successful, you would be awarded compensation that can be made up of up to two heads. The first head of compensation you could receive is called general damages. General damages cover the pain, suffering and loss of amenity caused by your injuries

Solicitors use a publication called the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help value personal injury claims. These are a collection of guideline compensation brackets, and they cover a wide range of different injuries and ill-health conditions.

We have used the JCG to create the table below:

Injury	Notes	Award
Moderate Brain Damage: (i)	Cases in which there is moderate to severe intellectual deficit, change in personality and no employment prospects.	£150,110 to £219,070
Moderate Brain Damage: (ii)	Cases in which there is a moderate to modest intellectual deficit, and an ability to work that is reduced if not non-existent.	£90,720 to £150,110
Moderate Brain Damage: (iii)	Cases in which concentration and memory are affected and there's a reduction in the ability to work.	£43,060 to £90,720
Neck Injuries: Severe (i)	Neck injury associated with incomplete paraplegia despite wearing a collar for a period of years.	In the region of £148,330
Neck Injuries: Moderate (i)	Dislocations or fractures which may necessitate spinal fusion	£24,990 to £38,490
Neck Injuries: Minor (i)	Full recovery within 1 to 2 years	£4,350 to £7,890
Fracture of Clavicle	Depending on extent of fracture	£5,150 to £12,240
Severe Fractures to Fingers	These may lead to partial amputations and result in deformity, impairment of grip	Up to £36,740
Moderate Hand Injury	Crush injuries, penetrating wounds	£5,720 to £13,280
Fracture of Index Finger	For injuries where a fracture has mended quickly but grip has remained impaired	£9,110 to £12,240

The other head of compensation you could seek is for the financial effects the injury has had on your life. This part of the claim is called special damages.

For example, you could claim special damages for:

Loss of earnings
Cost of medical care
Adaptations to your vehicle and home (for example, if you were left with serious injuries that have left you disabled)
Travel costs relating to medical appointments

It is important to keep financial records of how the injury has affected you for your claim. Otherwise, your settlement might not encompass all of the costs and losses that you’re entitled to claim back.

For more information on how much your claim could be worth, speak with an advisor today.

Do I Need A No Win No Fee Agreement?

You might want to make a claim with the support and guidance of a solicitor. However, this is traditionally an expensive prospect, as you will be asked to make upfront payments or payments as the claim progresses, without any guarantee that you’ll be compensated at the end.

In a No Win No Fee agreement (also referred to as a Conditional Fee Agreement) your solicitor will not charge you an upfront fee, nor will they charge you any ongoing fees for their services. If your claim succeeds, your solicitor will take a percentage of your award as their success fee.

This percentage will be agreed upon before you start your claim. If your claim is not successful, you will not have to pay this fee to your solicitor.

Talk To Us About Work Accident Claims

Our solicitors can work on your claim on a No Win No Fee basis. To see if they could represent you, you can contact our advisors via;

The number at the top of the screen
Our contact page
The live chat feature

More Guidance About A Personal Injury Claim After An Accident At Work

The NHS offers guidance on when to go to A&E

You can visit the HSE website for information on reporting health & safety concerns

If you would like to see if you could receive Statutory Sick Pay, this government page could help.

Outside of this guide for a personal injury claim after an accident at work, we also offer guides on:

If you have any more questions about making a personal injury claim for an accident at work, speak with an advisor today.

Writer

Publisher Lewis Joust

Writer Fern Styles

Making A Personal Injury Claim After An Accident at Work