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£202,000 Compensation Payout For Ministry Of Defence Back Injury Claim

Here at Legal Expert, we aim to bring you advice and guidance on personal injury claims, and here, we bring you some information about a case in the news relating to a compensation claim made by a Ministry of Defence civil servant against the MoD that resulted in a back injury compensation payout totalling £202,000. Within this guide, we discuss this case, as it was reported in the media, and bring you guidance if wanting to make a neck and back injury claim for yourself, if you’ve been injured in an accident at work that was not your fault. At Legal Expert, we have years of experience in helping claimants who have suffered an injury at work claim the compensation they deserve. To begin a claim or for free legal advice, you can contact us on 0800 073 8804. However, you might wish to read more about this case, and about back injury accident at work claims in general before giving us a call.

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How Did This Claimant Suffer Their Back Injury Working For The Ministry Of Defence?

Back injury

Back injury

According to media reports, an MoD civil servant was paid out £202,000 in compensation for a back injury at work. All employers have a duty of care towards their employees to protect their safety and their health at work within reasonable measures. If they fail to uphold legislative health and safety laws, and an employee suffers an injury due to this negligence, then they may be held liable for an employee’s injuries.

What Circumstances Caused The Claimant To Suffer Their Back Injury?

The case study we mention reported that the civil servant in question developed back injuries from lifting a printer at work. It was not known whether they were trained in manual handling techniques or whether the job was risk assessed before they attempted to move the printer.

How Common Are Back Injuries From Manual Handling Accidents?

Manual handling injury statistics from the HSE reveal that in 2017/2018, there were a reported 469,000 workers that were suffering either new or ongoing musculoskeletal disorders. In 2017/2018, 40% of these musculoskeletal disorders reported were related to the back. According to Labour Force Statistics work-related musculoskeletal injuries/disorders account for 29% of all working days lost due to work-related ill health.

What Back Injury Could This Claimant Have Suffered?

Work-related musculoskeletal injuries or disorders can cause injuries not only to the back but also other limbs such as arms, shoulders and neck as well as injuries to the lower limbs. These types of injuries can cause problems with muscles, joints and tendons. The majority of musculoskeletal injuries tend to cause issues with the back. The injuries can be episodic or chronic, some clearing up after a short space of time while others taking much longer. Some will heal with exercise and slight stretches while other sufferers may need rehabilitation and physiotherapy. Muscoketal disorders can be closely connected with work activity, so workspaces and tasks must be assessed to ensure that no avoidable injuries could be caused.

Symptoms That May Require Urgent Treatment

While many back injuries from manual handling could be quite painful, they are not often serious, but in serious cases of back injuries the following could happen;

  • Unexplained loss of weight
  • Chest pain
  • Swelling/deformity of the back
  • Loss of control of the bladder
  • Loss of control of the bowels
  • Tingling/numbness of the buttocks or genitals
  • Difficulty passing water
  • High temperatures

Preventing Manual Handling Injuries

There are certain ways in which you – and your employer – could help prevent manual handling related back injuries. Initially, it would be best to avoid manual handling unless it was strictly necessary. If it was, then you should be provided with relevant manual handling training in safe lifting techniques. Risk assessment of the manual handling job should take into account the load in question, the capability of the worker tasked with the job and the environment the task is to be performed in. If possible, the load could be broken down into lighter sections or moved for less of a distance at a time, or someone else could help lift the load.

If an employer does not train you in safe manual handling techniques or does not risk assess a manual handling activity you are tasked with, and you suffer an injury as a result of this, you could be eligible to claim compensation for your injury.

What Settlement Was This Claimant Awarded?

The claimant in this manual injury claim was awarded £202,000. It was not made clear in the report whether this included special damages for loss of income, medical costs etc. When a claimant is awarded a compensation settlement it is often made up of two key areas; general damages and special damages. General damages take into account the pain and suffering along with loss of amenity. Specials damages take into consideration any financial losses that the injury has directly caused.

Back Injury At Work Damages Calculator

Are you wondering how much compensation for a back injury would be appropriate in your case? Back injury compensation payouts vary wildly between cases, as there are so many different types of injury you could have received, from a sprain or strain, soft tissue injury, muscle injury, spinal injury and more. All of these could vary in severity, and this could affect back injury compensation amounts vastly. You may have sought information from a personal injury claims calculator to get an idea of how much your claim could be worth, but it is worth noting that the figure you would get out of one of these calculators would only be a rough estimate. Your claim would not really be valued until such time as medical evidence from an independent party was collected and assessed. With this in mind, what we have done here is put together a table listing certain back injuries and amounts taken from the Judicial College Guidelines for specific injuries.

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Back injury type Guideline Settlement Notes
Severe Back Injuries £85,470 to £151,070 The most severe types of injury that could involve damage to the nerve roots/spinal cord. This could lead to some serious consequences, including disability, pain, paralysis (incomplete), and significant impairment of sexual, bowel and/or bladder function.
Severe Back Injuries £69,600 to £82,980 Special features would take these out of the lower brackets for orthopaedic back injuries. There may be damage to the nerve root, with an impairment of mobility. Bladder and bowel function may also be impaired, as may sexual function and there may be scarring that is unsightly.
Severe Back Injuries £36,390 to £65,440 Where there may be fractures of the discs or the vertebral bodies. Soft tissue injuries that lead to conditions that could be considered chronic could also be included within this bracket. There would likely be severe continuing pain and impaired agility within this bracket. Work ability may be affected.
Moderate Back Injuries £26,050 to £36,390 Less residual disability than the brackets above. Crush fractures to lumbar vertebrae could be included here if they lead to a risk of osteoarthritis that is deemed to be substantial. Also, traumatic spondylolisthesis that would most likely require spinal fusion could also be included.
Moderate back injuries £11,730 to £26,050 Disturbed ligaments, and disturbed muscles could be included within this bracket. The calculation would take into account the effect on the claimant’s ability to work, and function in everyday life.
Minor Back injuries £7,410 to £11,730 Where full recovery or recovery that leaves only nuisance symptoms happens within 2-5 years.

If you don’t know which of the back injury compensation amounts listed above could be appropriate for your case, then we could help with this over the phone if you’d like to get in touch with our team.

No Win No Fee Claims For An Army Back Injury

Whether you have sustained a back injury at work from no manual handling training or you’ve sustained another injury at work from an accident that could have been prevented if your employer had acted more responsibly towards your health and safety, having a solicitor on your side could be useful. Not only could they help build a case against your employer on your behalf, but they could also help you get the right amount of compensation for your injury. Utilising the services of an experienced lawyer does not mean you would have to pay your legal professional upfront. With no win no fee claims, you would not pay your lawyer until such time as your compensation payout had been paid. At the start of your claim, you would sign an agreement, often referred to as a Conditional Fee Agreement CFA, which would promise your lawyer a success fee (a percentage of your back injury compensation amount) on successful completion of your claim. If your lawyer was not able to get you a back injury claim settlement, but your claim was valid, then you wouldn’t have to pay them any success fee. To learn more about this, simply call the Legal Expert team. We’ll be happy to explain how to make a claim of this type in more detail.

How Could Legal Expert Help Me Claim Against My Employer?

Making a personal injury claim could be stressful, especially if you have no prior experience of dealing with claims before. If you are making a Ministry of Defence compensation claim, or a claim against another employer, you may be worrying whether you could be putting your job at risk by making a claim against them. If so, why not get in touch with Legal Expert? We could help take the hard work of claiming compensation from your shoulders, by assessing your case to see if you could be eligible for compensation and providing you with an experienced personal injury lawyer to help you if we feel you could have a claim. Your solicitor would be able to talk you through the reasons why making a back injury at work claim in the UK should not lead to you putting your job in jeopardy, and could also help build a case on your behalf that would be hard for the liable party to refute.

All our advice is free of charge and doesn’t come with any obligation to use our services to make your claim. Whether you are ready to begin a claim, or would like to know more about how much compensation for a back injury could be achievable, or you’d simply like to have your position clarified, we’d be delighted to help you.

Start Your Claim

For a free assessment of your situation, to be provided with a personal injury solicitor who could help you start a claim, or for more information on back injury compensation payouts that could be achievable, simply call the Legal Expert team on 0800 073 8804. Alternatively, you could email the team on info@legalexpert.co.uk, use the live chat feature we have on the site, or fill out our contact form. We are looking forward to helping you with your back injury claim.

Essential References

Source; https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-536128/Soldier-fury-MoD-civil-servant-paid-202-000-compensation-office-injury.html

Back Injuries At Work Guidance – Our guide to back injuries at work could help you if you would like to make a claim of this nature.

Civil Service Claims – If you are attempting to claim against the civil service, then this guide could help.

Back Pain – HSE – Here, you can find out what the HSE says about work-related back pain.

HSE Statistics – Statistics from the HSE about work-related injuries could be found here.

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