Accident at Work

When you’re getting on with your day-to-day job, the last thing you expect is to be injured. If you’ve suffered from a work injury due to somebody else’s negligence, then you shouldn’t be left to deal with the financial and emotional consequences on your own.

It’s likely you can make a work injury claim if:

• Your accident happened within the last three years (or it’s been three years or less since you first became aware of your injury or condition)
• It was somebody else’s fault – for example, if your employer failed to uphold their legal duty of care to you

The best way to find out whether you could make a work injury claim is to get in touch with a legal advisor for free on 0800 234 6438.

By law, all employers are legally required to make sure your working environment is as safe as possible. As part of this, they should provide you with the training and safety equipment you need for your role. They should also carry out regular risk assessments and take steps to avoid accidents from happening.

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 sets out rules which employers should follow to reduce the chances of accidents happening. For example, the very basics of this includes:

• Regular PAT testing of any electrical equipment you might use while at work
• Maintaining fire exists and escape routes
• Keeping on-site first aid equipment, and appointing first aiders

If your employer has failed to follow these regulations, then it’s likely you can seek help to sue for a work injury.

When it comes to making a claim against your employer, there are laws in place to protect you from being unfairly dismissed or treated differently, such as the Employment Rights Act 1996. Quite simply, it’s illegal for you to be fired or disciplined for making a claim against the company you work for. But in the unlikely event that you do lose your job, you’ll be able to take legal action against your employer.

It’s also important to remember that by making a claim for an accident at work, you might also reduce the chances of one of your colleagues being injured in the same way, as it’s likely your employer will make safety changes to avoid the same thing happening again.

All businesses should have liability insurance, which covers them if an employee is injured while at work. This means your compensation will be paid by their insurance company, not by your employer personally. This also means that you may still be able to make a claim if the company which caused your injury no longer exists – so long as the insurance company can be tracked down, then you can still make your claim.

In the shock of an accident, it can be difficult to remember what to do. If you have the chance, taking the steps below can help when it comes to making a compensation claim:

• Filling in the accident book – after an accident, the details of your injury (e.g. time, place, your contact details and a description) should be written in the accident book. If you can, we recommend that you get a copy of the page
• CCTV footage – depending on where your accident happened, your employer may have a CCTV camera. It’s best to get a copy of any footage of the accident if possible
• Collect witness accounts – unless you work remotely, it’s likely that one of your colleagues will have seen your accident. It might be helpful for your claim if you can get a statement from them as proof of what happened
• Take photos – if you can, take photographs of whatever caused your accident, as well as of the injury itself

A specialist solicitor will take all the financial costs of your injury into consideration when making your work accident claim, as well as the wider impact it’s had on your life. For example, they’ll take the following into consideration and more:

• Lost wages from time taken off work
• Costs of private medical treatment, alterations to your home, or even travel and accommodation costs
• The future impact your injury might have on your career prospects
• Any hobbies or social events you’ve missed out on
• Your general pain and suffering

For more information, you can speak to an adviser for free on 0800 234 6438, or enter your details into one of the secure forms on this page to request a call back.

In some cases, staff can be injured because of their own carelessness. But in other cases, an accident could be both the employee’s fault – and a result of the employer’s breach of health and safety rules. If you’re partly at fault, you might still be able to make an injury claim, but the amount of compensation you receive will be lower to reflect the extent to which you were to blame.

You have three years after an accident at work to start a claim, otherwise you may be out of time under the Limitation Act 1980. However, if you’re claiming on behalf of someone who has a mental disability – for instance, your spouse was seriously injured in a work accident and has lost their mental capacity as a result – this three-year period doesn’t start to run until they’ve regained their mental capacity. Also, any person who was injured while under the age of 18 has until their 21st birthday to start their claim.

Some work injuries don’t show themselves straight away, but that doesn’t make them any less harmful. Industrial diseases such as asbestosis, mesothelioma and bronchitis can take many years to develop – and you might not even be working at the same company anymore.

You can still make a personal injury claim for an industrial illness for up to three years after you first realised you have the illness (also known as ‘the date of knowledge’). This means you’ll still be able to receive compensation to help to cover the costs and effects of your condition.

The amount of compensation you receive can vary significantly from case to case, depending on the severity of your injuries and the effect your accident has had on your life.

No two work accident cases are the same, which is why your solicitor will look closely at the details of your case before settling on a compensation figure.

This does mean that it’s difficult for us to say exactly how much you could claim before starting your case. However, to get a guideline figure you can try our free compensation calculator.

After you’ve suffered from an accident at work, it’s likely you’ll need to take some time off work while you recover. If you need more than four days off sick in a row after your work accident, you should be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (£95.85 per week as of February 2021) as a minimum.

However, many employers are more generous than this and will pay more. It’s likely that your contract of employment will say what your entitlement is for sick pay – or your employer will be able to tell you if they use a sick pay scheme.

About the Author

Nicola Laver LLB

Nicola is a dual qualified journalist and former solicitor. She is a legal journalist, editor and author with more than 20 years’ experience writing about the law.

About the Author

Nicola Laver LLB

Nicola is a dual qualified journalist and former solicitor. She is a legal journalist, editor and author with more than 20 years' experience writing about the law.