How to Prove An Accident at Work Claim
By Danielle Jordan. Last Updated 18th August 2023. Welcome to our guide on making an accident at work claim. On this page, you will find advice and information on how to prove an accident at work and then claim compensation for the injury it caused.
However, if you are over the personal injury claims time limit of three years, you won’t be able to make a claim. Every employer is expected to maintain a healthy and safe working environment. When they don’t, an employee may be able to claim compensation, and this guide is about proving the liability of the employer and making a claim.
If you would prefer that somebody explain the process to you personally, rather than reading this guide, then this is no problem at all. Whatever the circumstances, if an accident occurred and you weren’t at fault, call Legal Expert on 0800 073 8804 today, and one of our team will give you all of the information you need.
If you have further questions, such as “what are some compensation examples for accidents at work ?”, you can also contact us through our website or write to us using the Live chat bubble now onscreen. Read on to learn more about how you could receive compensation.
Select a Section:
- A Guide To How To Prove An Accident At Work
- Why Is It Important To Know How To Prove Liability For Your Accident At Work
- How To Show Your Employer Was At Fault
- Demonstrating Breaches In Workplace Health And Safety
- What Are My Rights If I Have An Accident At Work?
- Proving Your Workplace Accident – Recording Your Accident At Work
- Proving Your Workplace Accident – What Is A Work Accident Questionnaire?
- Proving Your Workplace Accident – The Role Of Health And Safety Reports
- What Is A Claim Letter For A Workplace Injury?
- What Can I Claim In Work Accident Compensation?
- Accident At Work Claims – How Much Your Settlement Could Be Worth
- Start An Accident At Work Injury Claim With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
- Useful Links
A Guide To How To Prove An Accident At Work
Accident at work claim
Throughout our guide to making an accident at work claim, you will find advice and information intended to teach you about the process of proving your employer’s liability. Once you have proven liability, a personal injury solicitor will be able to help you make a workplace accident claim. Therefore, this guide will also outline the claims process that they will follow on your behalf. It covers all of the most useful information, such as RIDDOR statistics and any other applicable Health & Safety legislation. The information you will find below includes:
- The importance of proving that your employer was liable for the accident and subsequent injury, and how lack of liability will likely mean you cannot make a compensation claim.
- Basic information on how you can show that your employer was responsible for causing your work-related injury.
- Information on the implications of employee training when it comes to making workplace accident claims.
- How a Health & Safety report is a leverageable resource when it comes to proving liability in workplace accidents.
- A description of a workplace accident claims letter, what it is, and what its purpose is.
- A table that shows some of the historical amounts of compensation that have been paid for a range of injuries caused by workplace accidents. This provides compensation examples for accidents at work to give you a better idea of what you could receive.
- A general introduction to the way that Legal Expert offers a claims service driven by a comprehensive Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) as the best way to make an injury claim against your employer in a financially risk-free way.
- Show how an accident at work claim calculator could help provide you with a compensation estimate for your injury.
You are probably going to have a few questions you will need answers to when you reach the end of this guide to making an accident at work claim. To have them all answered, call Legal Expert on the number at the end of this page.
Why Is It Important To Know How To Prove Liability For Your Accident At Work?
Source – http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/oshman.htm
In this section, we’ll discuss some relevant statistics that relate to accident at work claims. The graph above shows many useful statistics about workplace accidents in the UK, as well as what the UK Government has done to lower the volume of accidents. In order to make a work injury compensation claim, you will have to prove that the liability for the accident at work rests with your employer.
There are a number of legal frameworks in place in the UK to protect employees from the negligent acts of their employer. Every company in the UK is required by law, to comply fully, at all times, with all Health & Safety legislation pertaining to their core business and the type of work their employees carry out. This means that there are multiple tools that a personal injury lawyer can use in an attempt to prove that your employer is liable to pay compensation for an injury caused by an accident in the workplace.
Legal Expert is successfully won many work-related compensation claims in the past, and we can help you too. Call us at the number at the bottom of this guide to get started with your claim today. We can provide you with compensation examples for accidents at work and tell you quickly and easily if you’re eligible to claim.
How To Show Your Employer Was At Fault
As mentioned above, there are a number of tools that can be used to prove liability for an accident at work claim. Once you have proven the legal responsibility of your employer to pay damages, you can proceed with a compensation claim. The main ways that your employer can be proven to have put your health at risk are:
- Negligence – if your employer has failed to provide proper training or has failed to make the correct safety equipment to carry out a task, then they could be classed as having been negligent, and a valid reason to make a claim will exist.
- A failure in Health & Safety protocols – if your employer has failed to comply fully with all relevant H&S legislation, then a valid reason to make a claim will very likely exist.
- Unsafe manual handling procedures – if you are required to carry out manual handling tasks as part of your job, and your employer does not conform with all Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 regulations, a claim will be viable.
- Contractual errors – if there are mistakes made in your actual employment contract, for example, that you are actually employed when your contract stipulates self-employment, you could be able to claim.
- Liability of the occupier – if your employer fails to comply with all requirements that building owners must meet with regards to the Occupiers’ Liability Act. 1957, then you should be able to claim.
You can use our accident at work claim calculator to give you a better idea of what you could receive. If you need any information on how to prove liability in an accident at work claim, then call Legal Expert on the phone number at the end of this guide.
Demonstrating Breaches In Workplace Health And Safety
When it comes to an accident at work employers responsibilities, your employer is bound by law to ensure that you are provided with the safest materials, equipment and environment to carry out your daily job. UK Health & Safety Standards are used as the measure of compliance, and your employer must comply with them.
In many accidents at work examples, the employer has failed to either comply with these standards or has failed to train employees to a level where they can work within the guidelines set out by the Health & Safety Executive. If an employee comes to harm due to any kind of failure in compliance, then the employer will be seen as being liable to pay damages.
What Are My Rights If I Have An Accident At Work?
A partial answer to the question ‘I had an accident at work what are my rights?’ or ‘I was dismissed after an accident at work what are my rights?’, could be; if your employer failed to provide you with the right safety equipment for the task or has failed to train you how to do the task safely, your rights will include suing the employer for damages. in other words, you could be entitled to make an accident at work claim for compensation.
However, it’s important to note, when answering questions like “what are my rights if I have an accident at work?”, you need to consider the ramifications of the accident. You would only be able to claim if you’re able to prove that you’ve suffered an injury from employer negligence.
Your employer must legally provide you with a safe environment, adequate safety equipment, safe materials and the proper level of training to manage your own safety at work. If there has been a failure in this requirement, then Legal Expert should be able to help you claim compensation for your work-related injury.
Proving Your Workplace Accident – Recording Your Accident At Work
One of the accident at work employers responsibilities UK residents need to understand is that a vital part of the accident at work procedure is to record every single accident and injury, no matter how trivial, in the company accident book.
Your employer is required by law, as part of their compliance with Health & Safety protocols, to keep an accident book. This book is used primarily during H&S audits but can also be used to prove an accident took place in claims cases.
Legal Expert could help you claim compensation even if you failed to enter the accident in the company accident book. Call us at the number down at the bottom of this page to find out how you could make an accident at work claim today.
Proving Your Workplace Accident – What Is A Work Accident Questionnaire?
When you are reporting a work accident, you may be required to fill in a questionnaire about the accident, and how it happened. This questionnaire will be used as part of the subsequent health and safety report for the accident.
Both you and your immediate supervisor will have to fill in the questionnaire, and it is recommended that you check over what your supervisor has written to ensure that the information is correct. Otherwise, your claim could be threatened at a later stage if the information is wrong. Both reports can be used as evidence during the claim.
Legal Expert can help you claim for accidents at work, call us on the number at the end of this guide to learn how. Alternatively, please continue reading to learn how to make an accident at work claim. Furthermore, you can also learn more about how to use our accident at work claim calculator below.
Proving Your Workplace Accident – The Role Of Health And Safety Reports
Under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) the employer is responsible for reporting workplace accident by creating a Health & Safety report. The first stage of creating this report is holding a meeting, to get the main facts of the accident. The report, once completed, outlines the risks that cause the accident, and plans for mitigating them in the future.
If you need to claim work accident compensation, then Legal Expert can help you. Call us on the telephone number at the bottom of this guide to proceed with your accident at work claim or continue reading to learn more.
What Is A Claim Letter For A Workplace Injury?
When a claim for an accident at work claim, the first thing that your personal injury lawyer will get you to do, is to send a claim letter to your employer. This letter needs to contain your name and address, as well as your National Insurance (NI) number.
It will then detail the accident that caused the injury, as well as the details of the injury itself. You will have to include a list of any financial losses the injury has caused as well. While we provide some compensation examples for accidents at work below, by claiming for financial losses, you may receive an even higher amount of compensation.
What Can I Claim In Work Accident Compensation?
Something an accident at work compensation claims calculator won’t give you is an idea of the types of damages you might claim. It will only be able to provide you with an estimate of what you could receive for general damages. To answer the questions ‘I had an accident at work do I get paid?’ – yes – as long as you win your accident at work claim. What you get paid will depend on the types of damages you are awarded, such as:
- General damages – all the purely physical aspects of the injury; permanent disabilities, long-term loss of quality of life, psychological injuries, pain, suffering, etc.
- Special damages – of the purely non-physical aspects of your claim; future loss of earning potential, loss of current income, care costs, travel costs, specialist medical attention or prescriptions, etc.
Accident At Work Claims – How Much Your Settlement Could Be Worth
Now that we’ve discussed the accident at work claim procedure, you might be interested in finding out how much compensation you could be awarded. We can give you an idea of what general damages you might receive using the figures from the April 2022 updated version of the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG).
Legal professionals will use the JCG to value compensation in accident at work claims. The JCG includes figures that are influenced by settlements awarded in previous personal injury claims. Although we have taken compensation brackets from the JCG to create the table below, please only use the figures as guidelines.
| Injury | Compensation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Severe (i) neck injury | In the region of £148,330 |
Incomplete paraplegia or spastic quadriparesis, resulting in little or no movement of the neck. Collar required to be worn at all times. |
| Moderate (i) neck injury | £24,990 to £38,490 |
Fractures or dislocations causing severe symptoms immediately, requiring spinal fusion. |
| Minor (i) neck injury | £4,350 to £7,890 |
Full recovery within 1-2 years. |
| Amputation of index middle and/or or ring finger | £61,910 to £90,750 | Little use of hand remaining with extremely weak grip and dexterity. |
| Serious hand injuries | £29,000 to £61,910 | 50% reduction of hand capacity, with examples including loss of grip and dexterity. |
| Severe shoulder injury | £19,200 to £48,030 | Significant disability caused, typically indicated by symptoms in the neck and arm. |
| Serious shoulder injury | £12,770 to £19,200 | Shoulder dislocation causing neck and shoulder pain, as well as weakened grip. |
| Moderate shoulder injury | £7,890 to £12,770 | Frozen shoulder with limited movement and pain. Lasts around 2 years. |
| Minor (i) shoulder injury | £4,350 to £7,890 | Soft tissue injury with immense pain but complete recovery within 2 years maximum (or almost complete). |
| Amputation of ring and little finger | In the region of £21,810 | The ring and little finger may be amputated. |
| Amputation of little finger | £8,640 to £12,240 | Little finger is amputated. |
If you would like to connect with our expert solicitors and find out a more accurate value of your claim, message or call us at any time.
Make An Accident At Work Injury Claim With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
If you are wondering ‘Can I claim for an accident at work was not my fault with a No Win No Fee solicitor?’, we could help. Provided you meet the eligibility criteria for personal injury claims one of our solicitors could help you with your case. They usually offer their services under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This is a type of No Win No Fee arrangement.
If you make your claim for an accident at work with a No Win No Fee solicitor, they usually don’t request that you pay upfront for their services. There aren’t any ongoing fees for their work either. Additionally, you won’t be asked to pay for your solicitor’s work on your case following an unsuccessful claim.
However, if your claim is successful, your solicitor will deduct a success fee from your awarded compensation. This fee is taken as a percentage that is subject to legal limitations.
To see if you are eligible to claim for workplace injuries, speak to one of the advisors from our team. If it seems like your claim is eligible, you could be passed onto one of our solicitors.
To speak to a team member:
- Contact us online for a call back.
- Ask a question in our live chat.
- Call 0800 073 8804
Useful Links
Below, you can find a list of guides which may tell you more about accident at work claims:
- Discover more answers to your queries on our accident at work FAQs page
- Can I claim compensation if I’ve left the company?
- Can you lose your job if you claim against your employer?
- Injured due to tiredness or fatigue – can I claim?
- I hurt myself at work, can I make a claim?
- What to do if you cut off your finger at work
- I suffered a burn injury at work, how much could I claim in compensation?
- How to claim compensation for industrial dermatitis
- I was injured at work – what are my rights?
- Is my employer liable for an accident at work?
- What should I do if I hurt myself at work?
- Who pays my medical bills if I’m injured at work?
- Can I make a claim if injured in my probation period?
- Who pays damages in an accident at work claim?
- I slipped on water at work, can I make a claim?
- Does my employer pay my medical bills if I’m injured at work?
- Can you still claim compensation f you didn’t take time off work?
- Do you have to be an employee to make a workplace injury claim?
- I am a new employee, can I make a claim?
- Do you need to be an employee to make a workplace accident claim?
- What happens if you do not report an injury or accident?
- Can I make a claim if I’m an agency worker?
- I was dismissed after an accident at work, what should I do?
- If I was partly at fault for an accident can I still make a claim?
- I am self-employed and had an accident at work, can I make a claim?
- I had an accident at work due to no safety boots – can I make a claim?
- Can an apprentice make an accident at work claim?
- I suffered a head injury due to no helmet – can I make a claim?
- Can I claim if injured because of no safety goggles?
- What is the time limit for an accident at work claim?
- What are my employers’ responsibilities after an accident at work?
- Will suing my employer create problems?
- How to make a claim for inadequate tools and equipment
- What is the maximum weight I can lift at work?
- I had an accident at work, what are my rights?
- Who has the overall responsibility for recording injuries at work?
- How long after an injury at work can I make a claim?
- I fell down the stair at work, can I make a claim?
- Learn more about accident at work claims here
Thank you for reading our guide on how to prove an accident at work claim. We hope you’ve found it useful. Whether you have queries about using an accident at work claim calculator or would like to know how much you could receive, contact us at a time that works for you.
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