If you have been injured in the workplace you could be eligible to claim accident at work compensation. In this guide we answer some of the most frequently asked questions about accident at work claims.
We look at what eligibility criteria you need to meet in order to make a claim for a workplace injury. To help illustrate this, we provide examples of when an employer is liable for an accident. Additionally, we examine what your rights are if you are injured at work and what you should do if you have been hurt at work.
This is followed by a look at how compensation could be awarded for an accident at work claim. Finally, we also look at how a No Win, No Fee solicitor could help you make a personal injury claim.
If you have any questions about making a workplace accident claim, please speak to an advisor. In addition to answering your questions about personal injury claims, they can help assess your case. To talk about employer liability claims:
- You can call us today on 0800 073 8804.
- Speak to one of our advisors by using our live chat feature.
- Begin your claim online by filling out our enquiry form.
What Is An Accident At Work Claim?
While you are at work or carrying out work duties, your employer must ensure that they take reasonably practicable steps to ensure your health, safety and welfare. This is the duty of care employers owe their workforce as set out in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA).
Employers must ensure that they comply with health and safety laws. They should take steps such as:
- Providing sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) if it is required to safely carry out your work duties.
- Ensuring that you are properly trained.
- Carry out risk assessments and provide you with a safe working environment.
- Ensure workplace equipment is properly maintained.
In order to make a personal injury claim after an accident at work you need to show that:
- You were owed a duty of care by your employer.
- Your employer failed to uphold this duty of care. For example, they may have failed to repair broken steps in your workplace.
- This breach of duty caused your injuries. For example, you slipped on the stairs at work and were injured because your employer failed to repair them.
Contact our team to find out how our solicitors could help you with a claim for accident at work compensation on a No Win No Fee basis.
Can I Claim Accident At Work Compensation?
There are several different reasons why an accident at work could happen. However, to have good grounds for a personal injury claim, your employer must be liable.
Examples could include:
- Where an employee worked on a construction or building site and no helmet was provided. They could suffer a head injury if struck by a falling object.
- When you have a change in duties at work but are not provided with the correct training or equipment to do so. Insufficient training could result in a finger amputation if your finger is caught in machinery you don’t know how to use.
- You could fall from a height at work if your employer has not properly maintained scaffolding or a ladder, causing serious injuries.
- Where your employer was aware of a spillage or leak and did not clean this up, leading you to slip over on the spillage, resulting in a herniated disc.
A solicitor from our team could help you to make an accident at work compensation claim. Get in contact with us using the information above.
What Are The Most Common Workplace Injuries?
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulates workplace health and safety in Great Britain. As part of this role, they collect information about certain reportable workplace incidents. These incidents are reported under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR). The HSE then publish statistics based on these reports. This can help employers and employees understand more about common workplace injuries. However, only certain injuries and accident types are reported to the HSE.
In our chart below, we use statistics collected by HSE to examine non-fatal work-related injuries from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, published on 22 November 2023. These injuries were reported under RIDDOR.
Contact us today to find out if you are eligible to make a claim for accident at work compensation.
How Long Do I Have To Claim Work Injury Compensation?
All workplace injury claims should be brought forward within the appropriate personal injury claim time limit. In most cases, the time limit in which to start an accident at work compensation claim is three years from the date of the incident. This time limit is set out in the Limitation Act 1980.
There are circumstances in which this time limit may differ from the standard three year claims period.
Can I Claim On Someone Else’s Behalf?
You could claim compensation on behalf of another person if they are unable to do so. You would have to apply to the court to become their litigation friend or be appointed to act on their behalf. In such cases, there are exceptions to the three year time limit to claim for a workplace injury. These include:
- If the injured person does not have the mental capacity, such as if they suffered a serious brain injury, to manage the claims process themselves. In such cases, the time limit is suspended for as long as they lack this capacity, perhaps, even indefinitely. During this time, the court may appoint a litigation friend to manage the work injury claim for them. However, if the injured person’s capacity to claim recovers, then they have three years to start one if the process wasn’t already started for them.
- If the claimant is under the age of 18. Minors are not able to act on their own behalf. A Litigation friend could claim for the child at any point before they turn 18. At this point, the claimant will have three years to start a claim if a litigation friend hasn’t already done so.
To find out more about the time limit for an accident at work claim, please contact an advisor.
Can I Claim For An Injury At Work That Was Partly My Fault?
To claim accident at work compensation, your employer must be liable for your injury (either through their actions or inactions). If you were liable for your injuries, then you do not have a valid reason to claim compensation.
However, if you were partially at fault you could be able to make a compensation claim. You will need to show that another person (such as a colleague or your employer) acted negligently.
However, in contributory negligence cases, any compensation awarded is reduced by the percentage you were considered to be at fault. For example, if you and your employer were both 50% at fault, your compensation would be reduced by 50%.
Check if you could make a contributory negligence claim for an accident at work by contacting an advisor.
How Much Accident At Work Compensation Could I Receive?
How much accident at work compensation you could receive will depend on the impact of your injuries. The more severe or long-term, the more you may be able to claim.
Your compensation claim payout may be made up of two parts. These are:
- General damages – awarded for pain and suffering caused by the workplace accident.
- Special damages – awarded for the wider financial effects of your injury, such as the costs of medical care or lost income if you were unable to work. We further explain this in the next section.
In order to determine what general damages you could be owed, solicitors and other parties responsible for valuing personal injury compensation could refer to the Judicial College guidelines (JCG). The JCG is produced by the Ministry of Justice and contains guidance on compensation amounts for different types and severity of injury.
In the table below, we have included examples taken from the JCG. Please note: figures in row 1 are not from the JCG and also include special damages. As all workplace accident claims are different, this table is only provided to act as a guide.
| Injury | Severity | Compensation Guideline |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple injuries and special damages | Serious to severe | Up to £1,000,000+ |
| Brain damage | Very severe (a) | £344,150 to £493,000 |
| Back injuries | Severe (a) (i) | £111,150 to £196,450 |
| Arm injuries | Severe (a) | £117,360 to £159,770 |
| Hand injury | Serious (e) | £35,390 to £75,550 |
| Leg injury | Severe (b) (iii) serious | £47,840 to £66,920 |
| Elbow injury | (a) Severly Disabling | £47,810 to £66,920 |
| Skeletal injuries | (a) Le Fort fracture of facial bones. | £29,060 to £44,840 |
| Knee injury | Moderate (i) | £18,110 to £31,960 |
| Toe injury | Serious injury (d) | £11,720 to £16,770 |
Can I Claim For The Long Term Effects Of An Accident At Work?
The second part of your settlement may consist of special damages. Special damages could compensate for a variety of short and long-term financial effects of having suffered an injury in an accident at work. You may claim special damages for costs and expenses such as:
- Lost income and earnings caused by taking time off work to recover from your injuries.
- Future lost income and entitlement to pension contributions or overtime.
- Changes to your ability to return to work. For example, only being able to return on a part-time basis when you were previously a full-time employee.
- Medical costs, such as medical treatment and medication.
- Care costs, either professional care or care from family and friends. This could include income they have lost.
- The cost of travelling to related appointments.
Contact our team to find out more about how we can help you.
Can I Claim If I’m Self-Employed Or A Contractor?
If you are self-employed, an agency worker or a contractor, you may still be able to claim compensation for workplace injuries. If you were asked to attend a particular location, such as working as a subcontractor on a building site, as an agency worker sent to workplaces or as a self-employed worker who is hired to carry out tasks on-site (such as an electrician), you are still protected by the same health and safety legislation.
Employers still have a duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 to ensure the safety of those on their premises.
Our team could help with self-employed and subcontractor accident claims. Talk to our advisor to find out how to begin your claim for accident at work compensation.
Why Would My Workplace Injury Claim Be Denied?
In some instances the defendant in a workplace accident claim may deny their liability for your injuries. Reasons for a claim to be denied could include:
- You do not have enough evidence to prove your claim for accident at work compensation. In order to make a successful claim you need to supply a strong body of evidence which shows when, why and how an injury at work happened.
- Where your employer denies their liability for an accident taking place. They may ask you to submit what is called a “without prejudice offer”. In these cases, the employer is offering to settle the claim without accepting liability for any injuries suffered.
- If you have missed the deadline to make a claim. As we looked at above, there are limitation periods which apply and within which the claim must be started.
If you work with a No Win No Fee solicitor from our team they will ensure that as much evidence as possible is collected prior to submitting your claim to the defendant. This will give you the best possible chance to make a successful claim. If your employer is denying liability or responsibility for your injuries, please contact an advisor to get started.
What Evidence Could Help Me Claim For A Workplace Accident?
As highlighted above, it is important that you have sufficient evidence to prove your workplace injury claim. You will need to prove that your injuries were caused by an accident in the workplace as well as your employer’s liability for them.
Evidence which could help you to make a successful workplace accident claim may include:
- Photographs or CCTV which captured the accident taking place or of the scene and cause of the accident. You may also submit photos of your injuries.
- Contact details from those who saw what happened so statements can be collected from them at a later date.
- A copy of the accident report book with details of the incident that caused your injuries.
- Copies of your medical records. This may contain records of hospital or GP treatment for injuries.
- Invoices and receipts for any expenses (special damages) which you are claiming for.
If you make an accident at work compensation claim, you may be asked to have an independent medical assessment. Your injuries will be independently assessed, and a medical report will be created. Check what evidence would support your claim by contacting our team.
How Long Does A Work Injury Claim Take?
Every case for accident at work compensation is unique and without assessing your individual claim, we can not say how long it will take. How long your work injury claim will take depends on various factors, including:
- Cases with multiple or serious injuries can take longer.
- If the HSE needs to carry out an investigation, the claim may take longer.
- If both the accident and injuries are minor and your employer does not dispute their liability, your claim could progress much quicker.
- Cases with strong evidence may settle sooner.
- If you wish to negotiate. For example, if you don’t believe the amount offered fully compensates you.
A solicitor could assess your case and estimate how long it could take to secure your compensation.
Why Claim Accident At Work Compensation On A No Win No Fee Basis?
If, after reading this guide, you would like to make an accident at work compensation claim, one of our No Win No Fee solicitors could help you. Our solicitors are experienced in successfully handling a variety of different types of workplace injury claims.
A No Win No Fee solicitor could handle your claim under a Conditional Fee Agreement. This is a type of contract between you and your solicitor. It is a type of No Win No Fee agreement. Under such an agreement, your solicitor will only charge a fee if and when your claim is successful. If it is not, there will be nothing to pay for their work on your claim.
If your claim is successful, you will pay a success fee. This is a legally capped set percentage of your award and will be deducted by your solicitor.
When you contact us, an advisor will assess your claim to see if you have grounds to claim compensation. If they think you do, they could connect you to a specialist solicitor. Find out how we could help you. To speak to an advisor about workplace accidents:
- Phone on 0800 073 8804.
- Use the live chat to speak to our team
- Start your claim online by filling out our enquiry form.
Learn More About Claiming Work Injury Compensation
Below we have included resources from across our site and further helpful references.
- If you have been injured as a new employee, this guide looks at whether you could make a successful claim.
- If you have been hit by heavy boxes at work, one of our solicitors could help you claim compensation.
- If you were injured lifting at work you could be entitled to seek compensation.
Helpful references:
- Information for self-employed workplace safety from the Health and Safety Executive.
- Learn more about workplace health and safety law in this HSE resource.
- Check your entitlement to statutory sick pay in this government resource.
To see if you can claim accident at work compensation, contact us for free using the above details.
