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Accidents at work are worryingly common, and it is important that employers are held accountable if they fail to adequately protect their staff. Making a personal injury claim for an accident at work can be surprisingly easy. Your employer has a statutory duty of care, meaning that they have a legal obligation to look after your welfare. If you have suffered an accident at work and you think that it was the result of your employer’s carelessness or negligence, call us on 0121 565 4317 or use our online claims form to arrange your free, no-obligation consultation. Read Public Liability Claims guide.
Common Reasons Why Accident At Work Claims Are Made
1. Burns And Scalds
Many workplaces require that you use or interact with hot equipment, from the oven in a commercial kitchen to parts of an engine in a garage. If you are not given adequate protective equipment, sufficient training and if all relevant safety measures are not taken, you may be eligible for compensation for any accident or injury you sustain. Burns can be painful but superficial or they can be serious, even life threatening. It is also essential that your employer has made the correct first aid equipment available, to ensure that you receive immediate treatment to minimize the damage done.
2. Falls And Slips
In almost all workplaces, it is reasonable to expect that most areas are kept clear and tidy and free of trip hazards. Any hazards that are unavoidable must be made highly visible to help you to avoid an accident, for example by the presence of a bright ‘Wet Floor’ sign. If these expectations are not met and you fall and injure yourself as a result, this could be the responsibility of your employer and you may be able to make a work injury claim. Similarly, if there is a ledge or drop you could fall off, it is the responsibility of your employer to put up signage or some form of guard rail or protection if appropriate. Falls from a height can cause life changing injuries and it is important that your employer takes their responsibility in this area seriously. If your injury could have been prevented, you may be entitled to compensation.
3. Chemicals And Substances
Contact with chemicals or other noxious substances. Whenever you are working with any kind of hazardous materials, whether chemical, biological or anything else, you should be provided with appropriate equipment and protection. This could include anything from steel toe capped boots when dealing with syringes full of chemicals to respirators and other appropriate PPE when dealing with asbestos or other high-risk materials. If you have come into contact with any substances that have cased you an injury, you may be entitled to compensation.
4. Lifting Injuries
Back, shoulder and hip injuries are common if you are required to lift heavy objects without correct assistance or without sufficient training. For men, you should not be expected to lift anything above 25kg without assistance, while for women this is reduced to 16kg. These amounts are based on optimal lifting conditions, where the weight is held close to the body and is not lifted too high. If the circumstances make the lift more difficult, these maximums must be adjusted. For the most difficult lifts, these maximums may be reduced to 5kg for men and 3kg for women. In addition, repetitive lifts and twisting movements must be avoided or minimised. If you have suffered a lifting injury at work, you may be entitled to compensation.
If you have suffered these or any other accident at work, call us on 0121 565 4317 or use our online claims form to see whether you can make an accident at work compensation claim.
How Do I Make An Accident At Work Claim?
Making a work injury compensation claim follows the same pattern as making any personal injury compensation claim. Once you have signed a no win no fee agreement with us, we are able to act on your behalf. This means that we can:
1. Notify your employer and their insurance company that you are making a work injury compensation claim following your accident or injury at work.
2. Ask your employer to accept liability for your accident or injury. This is the legal term for them accepting the blame for what happened and is the basis of your work injury compensation claim.
3. Gather evidence to support your claim that your employer did not take sufficient care to protect your health and safety and that they should, therefore, accept liability.
4. Negotiate on your behalf to agree the compensation amount once liability has been agreed. It is important to know that, although we conduct these negotiations for you, we are doing them on your behalf and you remain in control at all times. We will let you know each time the other side makes an offer of compensation, even if our advice is going to be that you should refuse it. We will give you our expert opinion based on our years of experience working on work injury compensation claims as to whether the offer of compensation is fair or not. Although we will give you our advice and recommendations, the final decision is, and will always be, yours as to whether to accept or reject any offer of compensation.
How Much Compensation Will I Get For My Work Accident Injury Claim?
It is not possible to give estimates for how much compensation you can expect to receive following your accident at work compensation claim without knowing the unique details of your case. This is because only part of the compensation you receive is based on the nature of the injury you receive.
Compensation in all personal injury claims is made up of several factors. The first relates to the nature of the injury itself and is designed to compensate you for the pain and suffering you have experienced as a result of your injury. The amount of compensation you might receive for this is set by the Judicial College (a national governing body) and is in broad ranges. The ranges are deliberately very wide, to allow for the huge variation in injuries and prognosis (the likelihood of getting better).
The other part of your compensation claim comes from the costs and losses you might have suffered as a result of your accident and injury. These might include having to make changes to your home (or even having to move to a new, more accessible home), employing a carer to look after you and any other costs associated with your care and rehabilitation. If you are unable to work as a result of your work accident and injury, or if you have to change careers, you may also be able to claim for loss of earnings and loss of potential future earnings.
Will Making A Personal Injury At Work Claim Cause Trouble At Work?
We appreciate that it can be nerve-wracking making an injury at work claim. In essence, you are telling your employer that they did not fulfil their duty of care towards you. It is important that you make a claim if you have been injured at work, though. Firstly, it is important that you receive the compensation you need to get yourself back on track. Compensation isn’t there to punish your employer. It is there to help you get your life back to where it would have been if the accident had not occurred.
It is also useful to be aware that your employer is not allowed to punish you in any way for bringing a personal injury at work claim. This is illegal and would be grounds for a further claim, which employers are usually extremely keen to avoid.
Finally, it worth considering that your claim will often encourage your employer to make your workplace safer for yourself and your colleagues. Many employers allow accidents to happen because they had not fully considered the ways in which their employees have to work. Your claim will hopefully reduce the chance that anyone else has to suffer the same pain that you have.
What If I Can’t Afford To Make An Accident At Work Claim?
We believe that justice should be available to all, not just those who can afford to pay for legal advice up front. This is why we offer our services on a no win no fee basis to the vast majority of our clients. We want to take the stress and worry out of making a work accident and injury compensation claim, and this includes the worry that you might be racking up unaffordable legal bills.
No win no fee means that you do not need to pay anything up front to begin your claim. In fact, we won’t take a penny until you have received your compensation. If we are not able to get you the compensation you deserve, you won’t owe anything. This means that you are never left out of pocket for seeking justice for what happened to you.
We also cap our fees as a percentage of your compensation payment. Using a traditional payment model for legal fees can easily result in the costs of making a claim taking most or all of the compensation awarded. Our no win no fee claims funding agreements mean that you can be sure that you will always receive the lion’s share of your compensation payment.
Although we do our best, we are not able to offer our services on a no win no fee basis to all our clients. There are a few circumstances, such as medical negligence claims, where we are not able to use this funding model. If we are not able to offer you a no win no fee agreement, we will tell you that straight away and discuss possible alternative funding options with you. We will do our best to help find the right funding option to help you get the justice you deserve.
No Win No Fee Personal Injury Claims - Call us on 0800 567 7173 or 0121 565 4317
- No Win No Fee
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If you’re looking for JUSTICE – Then contact Claim Justice and we can start your compensation claim straight away. It’s No Win No Fee! Call our specialist personal injury claims team on 0800 567 7173 or if using a mobile then 0121 565 4317. We are open 24 hours 7 days a week. If you want us to call you back then please click here
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