Injury at Work Claim UK
Welcome to the website of Boris Kremer, a UK personal injury lawyer.
If you would like an initial free assessment of your potential UK injury at work claim, please either:- Click Free Assessment and complete the online questionnaire, or
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Injury at work claim FAQs
What is my legal position if I get dismissed following my workplace accident?
If I make a claim, will I suffer victimisation?
Is my employer always responsible if an accident at work has caused my injuries?
If a fellow employee causes my injury, will my employer still be liable?
What steps should I take following my accident?
What happens if my injuries were partly my own fault?
What legislation is there to protect people in the workplace?
What is my legal position if I get dismissed after my accident at work?
Not infrequently an accident leaves the person unable to continue in his or her job. The employer will then often decide to terminate that person's employment on the grounds of incapacity.
In those circumstances there is little that can be done to prevent the employment being terminated. It is however advisable in such cases for the injured person to seek advice from a specialist employment lawyer as quickly as possible.
If liability for the accident is good, then a loss of earnings claim can be advanced in respect of the medically supportable period of absence from work. Such claims involving more serious injuries will often contain a substantial loss of earnings claim.
If I make a claim, will I suffer victimisation?
People often worry whether they will suffer retribution from their line manager or from fellow employees if they decide to seek injury compensation.
In the occasional case, realistically this does happen. However in most cases there is no difficulty and workplace victimisation as a result of the legal claim is rare.
Most employers will simply refer the matter on to their insurers when a letter of claim is received. After that, all the correspondence is with the insurers and not the injured person's employers.
Is my employer always responsible if an accident at work has caused my injuries?
A common law, the employer owes his employee a non-delegable duty of care. The legal meaning of this is that the employer is ultimately responsible to ensure that the workplace is safe.
Even if the accident is caused by faulty machinery or equipment supplied by third parties, responsibility will remain with the employer.
In addition to the common law duty of care, the employer must also comply with extensive statutory duties to prevent injuries.
If another employee causes my accident at work, will be employer still be liable?
Under the legal doctrine of "vicarious liability", if a fellow employee causes your accident at work, the employer would normally still be liable to pay you damages for your resultant personal injuries.
The main exception to this is where your injuries resulted from horseplay or an assault by a fellow employee. If a personal injury claim was made, then the employer would probably say that this was outside the scope of the employment and so deny liability.
What steps should I take if an accident at work has happened?
Although not always possible, especially if the injuries are serious and require immediate attention, the first sensible step will be to report the matter, and to make sure that an entry is made in the accident book.
If an injury claim is later to be made, then it helps if a contemporaneous record has been made of the reasons. Details of witnesses should also be obtained.
One important line of enquiry is always previous similar accidents and/or complaints. The existence of these would normally be sufficient to put the employer on notice that an accident at work was likely to happen and accordingly steps should have been taken to prevent this.
What happens if my injuries were partly my own fault?
Sometimes it is possible that your accident at work was caused partly by your own negligence. One example of this would be where training had previously been provided, but this was ignored.
If an accident takes place consequently, then the defendants will legitimately be able to raise an allegation of contributory negligence.
Sometimes the parties will negotiate a suitable reduction in correspondence, but if this were not possible then ultimately a judge would decide the appropriate deduction.
Expressed simply, it was established that your injuries resulted 50% from your own negligence, then your damages would be reduced by 50%.
What legislation is there to protect people in the workplace?
When a workplace injury claim is made, the injured person can make use of extensive European Union legislation, which covers areas as diverse as unguarded or dangerous machinery, personal protective equipment, and also back injuries caused by unsafe lifting.
We have handled a number of workplace accident compensation claims on behalf of individuals who have suffered lacerations, scalds and burns due to inadequate gloves, and also eye injuries, where goggles or visors were inadequate or not provided.
Under the relevant regulations, the employer is required to assess whether protective equipment or clothing should be provided, and if so then to enforce the correct use.
Injury at work claim