Work Accident Claims

What Is A Work Accident Claim?

A work accident is any accident that occurred at work, or as a result of doing your job. A work accident claim is the legal process that you follow to make a compensation claim for the injuries that you have sustained during your work accident.

All of us have the right to be safe and secure at work. We should never have to worry that we will be physically harmed as a result of doing our jobs. In some cases, however, accidents do happen in the workplace, and it is important that you obtain the compensation you deserve following this.

Some of the most common accidents at work that our clients make a work accident claim for include:

• Falls at work
• Office accidents
• Forklift accidents
• Back injuries
• Slips, trips or falls
• Burns or scalds
• Lifting injuries

We know that a work accident can be an incredibly stressful experience. They can be very painful and take a considerable amount of time to heal. If you are unable to work during that time, you might find that you are under a significant financial strain as well as the pain and discomfort of your injuries. Our work accident claims specialists are here to help you get the compensation you deserve following your work accident.

Many of our clients worry that making a compensation claim for their work accident will be stressful, time-consuming or difficult. With our help, it doesn’t need to be any of these things. Our work accident claims specialists have years of experience helping people just like you to get the compensation they deserve.

If you would like to discuss the possibility of making a work accident claim, or if you are ready to begin the process, call us on 0800 567 7074 or 0121 565 4317 or claim online today to arrange your free, no obligation consultation.

How To Respond Following A Work accident

It is absolutely vital that the first thing you do following your work accident is to protect yourself. Make sure that you are safe from further harm and that you have access to the medical assistance that you need as an absolute priority. Once this has been done, there are a few additional steps you may wish to take to help with your work accident compensation claim.

The first thing anyone who has experienced a work accident should do, once they are safe, is to make a written record of what has happened. This should include any details that you can remember. The more detailed your account is, the better it will be as evidence. You should try to include details, even if they seem irrelevant, as they may help you remember more later.

Take Witness Statements And Details

You might also want to make sure that you have the names and addresses of anyone who saw what happened. This is important as it will help us to have evidence to support your description of what happened, and can be vital in making a strong case. You are welcome to get a written statement from them, but we are also able to do this for you if you would prefer.

Photographs or videos of the place where your work accident happened can also be very helpful, especially if you are able to highlight anything that made the area unsafe and made your work accident more likely. Obviously, it is essential that you are careful when trying to obtain pictures and that you don’t put yourself at risk to get them.

Whilst these can all help to support your claim later, none of them is essential and you are still able to have a successful work accident compensation claim, even if you have not been able to achieve any of them. The most important thing you can do to help guarantee the success of your claim is to call our expert team on 0800 567 7074 or 0121 565 4317 or claim online to see how we can help.

How Much Compensation Am I Likely To Receive For My Work accident?

Although we understand the desire to know the average compensation payments for a work accident, every compensation payment is different, and the ranges can be very wide indeed. This is because the compensation you receive is directly related not just to the injuries you have received but also to the impact this has had upon your life.

Compensation claims can be thought of in two parts. The first part is to compensate you (as far as this is possible) for the pain and suffering that you have endured. This is done via guidelines produced by the Judicial College (a governing body) which set ranges of payments that should be expected for each specific injury. These ranges can be very broad, making it hard to know where in this range your personal experience is likely to fall. Our years of experience allow us to give you a more accurate estimation, based on the precise nature of your injuries.

Special Damages For Your Work Accident Claims

The second part of your work accident compensation claim is the more variable part. This is designed to make sure that you are not left financially worse off as a result of your work accident. Ideally, this should mean that you are left in the same position as you would have been if your work accident had not happened. This includes compensating you for the loss of earnings if you are unable to work for a period while you recover, and even for the loss of potential future earnings if your injuries mean that you are unable to return to your former line of work. Additionally, you can claim for any expenses you might have incurred as a result of what happened to you, including any additional transportation costs, care you may have had to pay for and rehabilitation help that you have needed to access privately, such as physiotherapy. In the case of very serious injuries, you may also be able to claim for modifications to your home and vehicle to allow you get your life back as close as possible to where it was before.

It can be difficult to be sure that you are claiming the right amount of compensation for your work accident, and many of our clients are initially offered compensation payments that are far too low for the specifics of their case. Our expert team of experienced personal injury claims solicitors work hard to get you the full payments you deserve to help you get your life back on track after your work accident.

How Can Free Legal Justice Help you for your work accident claims?

We want to take as much of the stress out of the period following your work accident as we can. This is why we have our lines open 24/7. You can call us at any time on 0800 567 7074 (best for landline calls) or 0121 565 4317 (best for calls from mobiles). If you prefer, you can claim online and we will arrange a call back for you at a time to suit you. This means that you know that you have access to expert legal advice, whenever you need it.

During this short conversation, our dedicated team of personal injury claims specialists will make sure that we understand the full details of your work accident. This allows us to provide you with the best possible advice. We will need to understand the circumstances surrounding your work accident, the full extent of your injuries and the ways in which it has impacted your life. This will allow us to give you personalised guidance as to the likelihood of your work accident claim being successful and also how much compensation you can expect.

We Do All The Work For You

We are also able to handle all of the admin and paperwork involved in making your work accident compensation claim. All legal action can require a significant amount of paperwork, including letters and forms that must be submitted within strict deadlines. Once we are employed as your solicitors, we are able to complete almost all of this. We are also able to offer free home visits, to help you complete any of the paperwork that we can’t fill out on your behalf.

Our team of personal injury solicitors are ready to help you. Call now, to begin your claim.

What If I Can’t Afford To Pay Upfront For My Work accident Compensation Claim?

Will I Lose My Job If I Make A Work accident Compensation Claim?

It is illegal for any employer to fire an employee for making any kind of accident at work compensation claim. They are not allowed to take any kind of action against you, or to punish you in any way. This includes reducing the opportunities available to you or changing you job in a way that you do not like, unless this is absolutely required as a result of your injuries.

Most employers would not want to punish their employees for claiming the compensation they need to look after themselves following a work accident. They understand that this money is needed to help you with your recovery and to ensure that you are able to continue with your life as before.

Making A Work Injury Claim Helps Keep The Workplace Safe

Making a work accident compensation claim doesn’t just help you. Your colleagues can also benefit from you making a work accident claim, as it will often encourage an employer to be more careful with their health and safety rules and can improve overall safety and working conditions.

You may also be relieved to know that the business you work for will not have to close down as a result of your work accident compensation claim. Even for very large claims (where the business may not be able to afford these payments), the payments themselves will be covered by the Employers Liability Insurance, which all employers are required to take out.

If you are wondering whether you can make a work accident compensation claim, or if you are ready to begin the process, call us on 0800 567 7074 or 0121 565 4317 or claim online. Our dedicated team of claims specialists are here to help, 24 hours a day.

What Is The Work accident Claims Process?

Making a compensation claim follows the same process for all kinds of personal injury claims, including work accident claims

The first step in making a work accident compensation claim should be to make sure that you have the best possible legal advice. We are here 24/7 to help you. Call our dedicated team of personal injury claims solicitors on 0800 567 7074 or 0121 565 4317 or claim online to secure the assistance you need to get the compensation you deserve.

As your solicitors, we are able to write to the person you want to take legal action against on your behalf. We notify them that you are making a work accident compensation claim and that they are considered at fault. We ask them to accept that this is true and give them a deadline by which they need to respond.

If Your Workplace Denies Fault.. Then?

If the person at fault in your work accident denies that they were to blame, we will collect all of the evidence we can find and present them with a strong case as to why they are liable. This can include pictures, videos and statements, as well as more technical and legal backing documents if needed. Once presented with this evidence, almost all employers will accept that they are liable.

When liability has been agreed, we are then able to begin negotiations to agree the compensation amount that you will agree. The other side will often put forward a ‘lowball’ offer, which is far less than you are entitled to, in the hope that you will either accept it, or that you will reduce your expectations of the amount you are likely to accept. Our years of experience mean that we are able to identify these kinds of techniques and make sure that you don’t fall for them. Although we will offer you guidance, we will always follow your lead. We will notify you of every offer that is made (even those we think you should reject) and the final decision over whether to accept or reject any offer will always be yours.

Will I Need To Go Court For My Work Accident Claim?

It is almost always possible to reach agreement for compensation, especially with accidents that took place at work. If we are unable to convince the other party to accept liability, or if it is impossible to agree on compensation, your case may have to go to court to have a judge decide how much should be paid.

We only take our fees once compensation has been agreed and is being transferred to you. Our fees are a minor percentage of your compensation payment, meaning that you will always receive the bulk of your compensation payment directly into your bank account. This allows you to have the financial support you need and lets you concentrate on your recovery.

How To Start Your Work accident Compensation Claim

We understand that they idea of making a compensation claim can seem daunting. Many people are unsure as to whether to go ahead with a work accident compensation claim, worried that it could be time-consuming and difficult. Our experienced team of personal injury claims solicitors are here to help. We have helped hundreds of people to get the compensation they deserve, just like you do.

If you are ready to make a work accident compensation claim, the first thing to do is to call our dedicated team of personal injury claims solicitors. We are available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, ready to help you begin your claim. Call us free on 0800 567 7074. If you are calling from a mobile, please use 0121 565 4317, which is included in the free minutes if you have a contract. Alternatively, you can claim online and we will call you back at a time of your choosing.

We Listen To You

We want to make sure that we fully understand what has happened to you. This means that we will listen to all of the details of your work accident, including the ways that your work accident has impacted your life, the full extent of your injuries and all of the circumstances surrounding your work accident, including who you believe was to blame. This information is essential if we are to give you accurate estimates of the amount of compensation that you are likely to receive, as well as the likelihood of winning your case.

How Long Will It Take To Receive My Compensation As A Result Of My Work accident Claim?

Work accident compensation claims can take very different amounts of time to complete, which reflects the unique nature of each case. We appreciate that you shouldn’t have to wait for the compensation you deserve, so we work tirelessly to ensure that you get the payment you need to put your work accident behind you as quickly as possible.

At the very fastest, cases can be resolved in just a few months, and some can even take just a matter of weeks. For a case to be settled this quickly, the other side will have accepted liability very quickly, without the need for lengthy investigations and evidence-gathering. They will usually be claims for smaller amounts of money, and so associated with less severe injuries. With less money at stake, the other side is less likely to consider it worth their while to string out the negotiations to encourage you to accept a lower offer.

Work accident claims in which the other party does not accept liability, or if there are other complications, can take significantly longer than a simple case. If you have to go to court to have a judge decide how much compensation you deserve following your work accident, your claim may be delayed even longer.

What If My Work accident Wasn’t Written In The Accident Book?

Your employer is required to keep an accident book, which is used to record all accidents that happen at work. These should be recorded as soon as possible after your work accident, to make sure that the information is clear in your mind. Near misses, where an injury could easily have occurred but thankfully did not, should also be recorded in here. This allows the accident book to provide an accurate record of a company’s health and safety practices.

In some cases, you might realise that an accident has not been recorded in the accident book. If your work accident is very serious, the person responsible for filling out the accident book might be more focused on looking after you and may forget about the accident book until much later. More malicious employers might deliberately neglect to record your work accident in the accident book, in the hopes of denying liability later on.

Was Your Accident Not Written In The Accident Book?

Although the accident book can be valuable evidence in making a work accident compensation claim, it is perfectly possible to make a successful claim without your incident having been recorded. There are many other kinds of evidence we can use to support your account of what happened, including statements from people who were there and saw what happened or your medical records, for example. We will still be able to get you the compensation you need.

If you notice that your work accident has not been recorded in the accident book, it is much better to deal with this in email, as opposed to a conversation. Sending an email to an appropriate person (maybe your manager or a member of HR) allows you to have written proof that you have notified your employer of what happened and that you have asked that it be written into the accident book. If they fail to do this, your emails can be used as evidence, and they will have to explain to the court why they did not fulfil their legal obligations.

Can I Make a Claim For My Work accident?

Following a work accident, many people just like you are left unsure as to whether they should make a work accident compensation claim. There are a few conditions that are required before you are entitled to make a compensation claim, but they are very simple and most people will be able to claim.

All work accident compensation claims require that you actually experienced a work accident, and that you sustained some form of damage or loss as a result. You are only able to claim compensation for damage that you have actually sustained, not for damage that you were lucky to avoid. Similarly, you are not able to make a claim for an accident that almost happened.

Was Someone Else To Blame For Your Work Accident?

The next consideration when wondering whether you are able to make a work accident compensation claim is to think about who is responsible for your work accident. There must be someone else to blame for what happened to you, and this is the person or organisation that you will claim against. In the case of an accident or injury at work, your employer will almost certainly be the person at fault. This is because they have a legal responsibility to keep you safe and your injury demonstrates that they were unsuccessful in this task.

The person or organisation at fault in your work accident claim must have been able to anticipate, at least to some degree, what happened to you. They do not need to have actually predicted it, but it should have been something that was sufficiently plausible that a reasonable person in the same position could have anticipated it.

Finally, they must not have taken sufficient measures to protect you. This could be in terms of putting in measures to avoid your work accident, or in terms of making sure that the consequences are as mild as possible.

Contact Our Work Accident Claims Team Today

If you have suffered a work accident and believe that you fit these criteria, or if you are unsure and would like to discuss it further, call us on 0800 567 7074 or 0121 565 4317 or claim online today to arrange your free, no obligation consultation.

Useful Links

Health and Safety
This website gives free advice on health and safety at work

HSE
This website gives the legal requirements for the workplace to be safe and risk free.