Workplace Injury Compensation UK
Welcome to the website of Boris Kremer, a UK personal injury solicitor specialising in workplace injury compensation claims.
If you would like an initial free assessment of your potential workplace injury compensation claim, please either:- Click Free Assessment and complete the online questionnaire, or
- Telephone Boris to discuss your claim personally, on 0845 021 2222. Your call will be charged at the local rate. Our hours of business are 9am to 5pm.
Workplace Injury Compensation FAQs
What are my legal rights if my employment is terminated following my workplace accident?
If I make a personal injury claim, will I risk being victimised?
Is my employer always blameworthy if I suffer an workplace injury?
If another employee was to blame for causing my injuries, is my employer still liable?
What steps should I take after suffering a workplace injury?
What happens if my accident was partly my fault?
What health and safety law is there to protect people at work?
What is my legal standing if I get dismissed as a result of my workplace injury?
Sometimes a workplace injury leaves the person too unwell to continue working. The employer may then decide to end that person's job on the basis of incapacity.
If so then not much can be done to prevent the employment being terminated. However it is advisable for the accident victim to obtain legal advice from an employment solicitor as quickly as possible.
If the case has good prospects of success, then a loss of earnings claim can be advanced for the medically justifiable period of absence from work. Workplace injury claims involving more serious injuries will often contain a sizeable loss of earnings element.
Do workplace injury compensation claims ever lead to victimisation?
Injured people frequently worry that they will suffer retribution from senior staff if they decide to seek compensation.
Sadly, this does happen occasionally. However in the great majority of cases there is no difficulty and workplace victimisation as a result of a legal claim is quite rare.
Most employers will refer the claim over to their insurers upon receipt of the letter of claim. After that, all the correspondence is with the insurers of the employers, and not the employers direct.
Will my employers be able to avoid all blame for my workplace accident?
A common law, the employer owes his employee a non-delegable duty of care. This means in effect that the employer is ultimately responsible for the workplace being safe.
Even if your accident was caused by defective machinery, or equipment supplied by other parties, the responsibility still lies with your employers.
In addition to the basic legal duty of care, the employers must also observe the wide ranging statutory duties to prevent workplace injury.
If another employee causes my accident, will the employer still be responsible?
Under the principle of vicarious liability, if a co-worker causes your workplace accident, then your employer may still have to pay you compensation.
The main exception is where your injuries stem from horseplay or a physical assault by another employee. If a compensation claim was made, then the employer would probably try to prove that the conduct complained of was outside the scope of the employment and so deny liability.
What steps should I take in the aftermath of my accident at work?
Although not always easy to do, especially if the injuries are serious and require hospitalisation, the first step should be to report the matter, and to make sure that an entry is logged in the accident book.
If a personal injury claim is made later on, then it will assist if an accurate record was taken at the time, stating the causes of the accident. Witness details should also be obtained.
An important line of investigation will be to see whether there have been previous similar accidents and/or complaints. If these have occurred, then the employer would struggle to maintain the at the accident was not foreseeable.
What happens if my injuries were my own fault, at least partly?
Sometimes it happens that a workplace accident was contributed to by someting you did, or did not do when you should have done. One example of this would be where proper training had been given, but this was not followed.
If an accident takes place as a result, then the defendants' insurers will be likely to make an allegation of contributory negligence against you.
Sometimes the parties' representatives will be able to agree a suitable reduction on an out of court basis. However if not then ultimately a trial judge would decide the appropriate discount.
Expressed simply, if your injuries resulted one third from your own conduct, then your damages would be reduced by one third.
What law is there to protect employees at work?
If a personal injury claim is made, an accident victim can make use of extensive European Union legislation, covering areas as varied as unguarded or dangerous machinery, personal protective equipment, and back injuries caused by unsafe lifting procedures.
We have handled a number of accident at work claims on behalf of individuals who have suffered lacerations and burns due to inadequate protective gear, eye injuries, where goggles were not provided, and also back injury compensation claims.
Legally, the employer must consider whether suitable protective equipment or clothing should be provided, and if so then to insist upon their correct use.