By Stephen Hudson. Last Updated 19th November 2024. An accident in the office could potentially cause serious injuries, which cause you pain and suffering. Such injuries could also affect your ability to work and lead to financial losses, such as loss of future earnings if you need to take time off work.
If you’ve been hurt in an office accident due to your employer’s negligent actions, then you may be eligible to claim compensation. In this guide, we’ll discuss office accident claims, including the eligibility requirements your case must meet, what evidence could support your case and the different forms of compensation you may be awarded.
We’ll also discuss the benefits of claiming with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors for your accident at work claim.
If you have any questions while reading this guide, our team of advisors could help. To get in touch, you can:
- Fill in our claim online form and an advisor from our team will call you back.
- Call 0800 073 8804
- Use our live chat feature.
Office Accident – Legal Advice Video
Select a section:
- Who is Responsible For Safety in an Office?
- Is the Employer Liable For an Office Accident Claim?
- How Do Accidents in an Office Happen?
- How To Begin Office Accident Claims
- Office Accident Claims Compensation Payout Examples
- No Win No Fee Office Accident Claims.
Who is Responsible for Safety in an Office?
Under health and safety legislation, employers are responsible for the health and safety of their employees, which can include mitigating the risk of office accidents.
Per the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, employers owe their employees a duty of care. Thus, employers must take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety and health of their employees when they are working. A breach in this duty of care that causes injuries is known as employer negligence.
Should you suffer injuries because your employer failed to adhere to health and safety legislation, you might be eligible to claim compensation. However, you will need evidence to do so. This evidence has to prove that you were owed a duty of care, and your injuries were caused by a breach of this duty.
Later on in this guide, we’ll take a look at examples of accidents that could occur as well as what you could do following an injury to strengthen your claim.
Please contact an advisor from our team to further discuss your eligibility to make an accident at work claim.
Is the Employer Liable for an Office Accident Claim?
The Health and Safety at Work Act places a duty of care on employers to take reasonable and practicable steps to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of all persons on the premises. The obligations can include:
- Carrying out a risk assessment to identify the specific hazards of the building or site.
- Eliminating or reducing hazards wherever possible.
- Providing safety equipment, fire drills, and trained ‘First Aiders’.
- Providing ongoing staff training on safety matters.
- Keeping records of accidents in the accident book and dangerous incidents and reporting these to the HSE as required by the RIDDOR Regulations.
- Having a written company health and safety policy and a “management plan” which sets out who in the company is responsible for making sure the plan is implemented.
To make a successful compensation claim for a workplace injury, you will need to prove that a party that owed you a duty of care (such as your employer) acted in a negligent manner. You also need to establish that this negligent behaviour directly led to the injuries you’ve suffered and are now claiming for.
How do Accidents in an Office Happen?
Injuries resulting from slips, trips, and falls make up the majority of compensation claims. Slip and fall compensation amounts may be higher than you would think, so if you’ve been injured in this way, then please contact us today.
Slips, trips, and falls in an office or shop are typically caused by preventable hazards, such as:
- Trailing electrical cables obstructing walkways.
- Boxes, rubbish, and clutter left lying on the floor.
- Damaged carpets and floor power outlet boxes which have been left open.
- Spillages on hard floors and poorly marked wet floors following cleaning.
A second significant category of injuries is those caused by manual handling: lifting and carrying objects around the office. Employers are legally bound to provide training and specialist equipment for workers who are regularly required to lift heavy objects.
There is also a high number of office accident claims for injuries resulting from electric shocks and burns. These are often caused by faulty electrical appliances and the burns from kettles and microwave ovens.
How To Begin Office Accident Claims
If you have been involved in an accident in an office, you may be eligible for compensation. However, you will need to prove that you were injured due to your employer breaching the duty of care they owe you. In order to successfully claim compensation, we would recommend:
- Collecting evidence about the accident to prove liability. This could include CCTV footage, eyewitnesses’ contact details and a completed accident report book (if your workplace has one on-site).
- Gathering evidence regarding your injury. This could be a copy of your medical records following a GP appointment or A&E visit, stating your injury and any treatment you received.
- Seeking legal advice from an experienced professional.
Contact our advisors today if you have any questions about office accident claims. Our advisors are available at any time to offer you free legal advice and help answer any of the questions you may have. They could also connect you with our solicitors if they believe that you could be eligible for compensation.
Office Accident Claims Compensation Payout Examples
If your potential office injury claim is successful, there are two heads of loss that could make up your compensation. These are general and special damages.
General damages awards compensation for the way you have been physically and psychologically affected by negligence. This head of loss is awarded in all successful office accident claims, and considers factors such as:
- Pain severity.
- Loss of amenity.
- How long recovery will be.
You could be asked to have an independent medical assessment during the claims process. Any reports from the assessment can be looked at with the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) by legal professionals to help them evaluate your general damages.
The JCG publishes guideline compensation figures for varying illnesses and injuries.
Guideline Compensation Table
Below are some injuries that could potentially be suffered after an accident in an office. We have taken their accompanying guideline compensation figures from the JCG (apart from the top figure).
Please remember that no specific amount of office accident compensation can be guaranteed, since all claims are unique.
| Injury | Severity | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple and very severe injuries and financial impacts. | Severe | Up to £500,000+ |
| Brain and Head Injury | Moderate (i) | £183,190 to £267,340 |
| Foot | Severe | £51,220 to £85,460 |
| Knee | Severe (ii) | £63,610 to £85,100 |
| Ankle | Moderate | £16,770 to £32,450 |
| Shoulder | Serious | £15,580 to £23,430 |
| Neck | Moderate (iii) | £9,630 to £16,770 |
| Elbow | Moderate or Minor | Up to £15,370 |
Office Accident Claims – Other Amounts You Could Be Owed
Special damages awards compensation for the way you have been financially affected by negligence. For example:
- Loss of earnings.
- Prescription costs.
- Travel expenses to hospital appointments.
This head of loss is awarded in only a few successful office accident claims. As such, keeping evidence of your financial losses is essential. Such evidence may be invoices, payslips, receipts, and bank statements.
Please contact us today to find out more about how office accident compensation is calculated.
How Long You Have To Make Office Accident Claims
The Limitation Act 1980 states that you have 3 years from the date your injuries occurred to start a claim. However, some office accident claims can be made on a date later than this.
For example, your injury may only have been diagnosed or detected later than the accident at work that caused it actually took place. The date that you are made aware of your injuries is known as the date of knowledge. If you can back up this date with proof such as medical evidence, then you could use this date of knowledge as the start date of your 3-year time window.
Child claimants and those with a reduced mental capacity can also have their time limit suspended completely. For children, it will only begin when they turn 18. For those with a reduced mental capacity, the time limit will only begin when and if it returns to how it was. If their mental capacity remains reduced, the time limit remains suspended.
In any of these instances, a litigation friend can pursue the claim for them on their behalf. This is a legal adult who must prove to have the best interests of the claimant at heart. For example, this could be a parent, guardian, family friend, or even a legal representative such as a personal injury lawyer.
No Win No Fee Office Accident Claims
Finding out if you have a valid office accident claim is easy and straightforward. All you need to do is call our claims team here at Legal Expert. They will assess the merits of your case for free, and should you have solid grounds to seek accident at work compensation, they could connect you with one of our specialist workplace injury solicitors.
All office accident claims are taken on by our solicitors via a No Win No Fee arrangement. The type of contract that we use is widely known as a Conditional Fee Agreement CFA. There are many benefits to making a claim with a solicitor under a CFA. For example:
- Claimants like yourself do not need to pay any upfront solicitor fees for them to begin the personal injury claim process for your office injury.
- As the case moves along you will still not be required to pay them any fees for the work they are doing on your case.
- Cases that are unsuccessful require no fee to be paid to the solicitor for the work they have carried out.
It is only when your case succeeds that the solicitor will require a success fee. This is a percentage of the compensation you are awarded. However, because of The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013, the percentage that the solicitor can take will be subject to a legal cap. Which ultimately means that you will retain the larger amount of the settlement.
You could receive free legal advice online without any commitment to claim with our solicitors. Our advisors can provide guidance that’s specific to your case, including an eligibility check and a potential compensation estimate. To learn more, you can:
- Call 0800 073 8804
- Fill out our claim online form.
Helpful Links
Health and safety in the office. Resources compiled by HSE to facilitate health and safety in office environments.
Do I need to go to A&E? If you’re unsure whether your injury requires a trip to the casualty department, this NHS guide should be helpful.
Reporting a health and safety issue. An HSE guide to reporting concerns around health and safety at work.
We hope this guide on office accident claims has proven useful. If you would like to speak to an advisor about making an injury at work claim, then you are welcome to get in touch with Legal Expert by using the contact details included in this guide.
