Last Updated On 17th June 2025. This guide aims to explain complaints to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Great Britain’s workplace health and safety regulator. If you have never had to raise concerns about an employer before, you may be wondering how to make a complaint to the HSE after an accident at work.
We will start this guide by discussing the complaints process for issues in the workplace. This section will look particularly at complaints to the workplace health and safety regulator, the HSE.
Also contained in this guide are sections about making a personal injury claim following an accident in the workplace. These will include looking at the eligibility criteria, examples of workplace accidents, as well as compensation guideline figures for workplace injuries.
Finally, we will touch on the benefits of getting No Win No Fee representation from our personal injury solicitors.
For more information on how to make a complaint to the HSE after an accident at work, please read our guide or reach out to our dedicated advisors for a free consultation on your potential accident at work claim. You can:
- Call 0800 073 8804;
- Use our contact us form to make a query.
- Choose the live chat option at the foot of the page
Browse Our Guide
- How To Make A Complaint To The HSE After An Accident At Work
- Could I Take Legal Action Against My Employer And Claim Compensation?
- Examples Of Accidents At Work You Could Claim Compensation For
- Examples Of Compensation Payouts For Accidents At Work
- Check If You Can Claim For A Workplace Accident On A No Win No Fee Basis
- Learn More About How To Make A Complaint To The HSE After An Accident At Work
How To Make A Complaint To The HSE After An Accident At Work
In this section, we are going to look at how to make a complaint to the HSE after an accident at work or about any other workplace issue you are having.
Employee safety in the workplace is essential. If an employer falls short in their duties, you can alert the HSE to health and safety risks, as it is the health and safety regulator for Britain’s workplaces.
Firstly, it is worth confirming that the HSE is the right party to complain to. In some cases, a complaint may need to be directed to the local council or another authority.
You can make your complaint to the HSE online, you will go through a questionnaire that will ask which country your place of work is, and your contact details, and then it will ask you what kind of issue you have had.
The HSE will review your concerns and issue, if further investigation is needed, they will communicate this with you.
Making A Complaint To The HSE After An Accident At Work
It is worth noting that as well as having the right to make a complaint about your place of work, you may have the right to seek compensation for an injury caused by unsafe health and safety practices. In the following sections of this guide, we are going to discuss not only the eligibility criteria for those injured in a workplace accident to make a claim, but it will also provide advice on what accidents could lead to a claim and compensation guidelines figures for different injuries.
Our advisors can give you a free assessment to see if you have grounds to make a personal injury claim. If you do, you could then be connected with one of our accident at work solicitors as well as providing representation for your case, they can also help with the complaints procedure.
Could I Take Legal Action Against My Employer And Claim Compensation?
There are eligibility criteria which must be met for a personal injury claim after a workplace accident, you must prove that:
- An employer owed you a duty of care at the accident time and location;
- They breached their duty of care; and
- This caused an accident which led to your physical and/or mental injury.
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 applies a duty of care on employers, stating in Section 2 that they must take reasonably practicable steps to ensure employee safety in the workplace.
An employer could be in breach of their duty if they do not take reasonable and practicable measures to prevent avoidable injuries, such as:
- Keeping floors and walkways free of unnecessary obstructions.
- Giving necessary training to employees.
- Providing PPE to employees that need it to do their job safely
- Carrying out regular risk assessments and paying attention to any warnings that assessments raise.
You can speak to us for advice on making a claim if an employer’s negligence has caused you harm.
How Long Do I Have To Make A Claim?
A claim must also start within the time limit. The Limitation Act 1980 states that, in most cases, a personal injury claim for an accident at work must be initiated within three years of the accident date. However, some exceptions could apply.
If you are not sure about time limits or what applies to your workplace accident claim, our advisors can provide the answer as part of a free consultation.
What Evidence Do I Need To Claim For An Accident At Work?
You will need to supply evidence of your injuries and the incident that caused them. Once you have made an accident at work HSE complaint, you should start gathering some of the following pieces of evidence if you wish to claim compensation:
- A copy of your medical records
- A copy of your accident report
- Photos of your injuries
- Videos of the incident (such as CCTV footage)
- Bank statements and payslips (this can show expenses related to recovery or lost income due to time taken off work)
You may also require an independent medical assessment to prove the full extent of your injuries. The conclusions that medical professionals draw could lend support to your case. If you are eligible to work with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors, they can organise an independent medical assessment for your case. It is important to note that they will not arrange this without your prior consent.
Our advisors are available 24/7 to discuss the specifics of your case and explain what evidence you will need to strengthen your specific claim for compensation. You can also get in touch with any general enquiries you have about how to make a complaint to the HSE after an accident at work.
Examples Of Accidents At Work You Could Claim Compensation For
Accidents could happen in any workplace, no work environment is 100 per cent safe. As we have discussed, in order to be eligible to make a workplace injury claim, you must establish negligence. We have provided some examples below for which an accident at work claim could be made:
- A slip, trip or fall on a spillage that has not been cleaned up in a timely manner or no warning signage has been used. This leads to an arm injury like a broken forearm.
- Because of insufficient training in manual handling, a load that is too heavy to be lifted without apparatus is carried physically across the warehouse floor, causing a back injury.
- A shelving rack is overstocked with heavy items. An item from the top shelf comes loose and causes a traumatic head injury.
- A crushing finger injury is caused by defective machinery that has been brought to the employer’s attention but not repaired or replaced.
If you have been hurt in an accident at work due to employer negligence, please get in touch with our advisors for a free case assessment.
Examples Of Compensation Payouts For Accidents At Work
A personal injury settlement can consist of up to two heads of claim. One head of claim is special damages, where you can claim for costs incurred due to an injury, such as a loss of earnings or prescription fees.
The head of claim compensating you for pain and mental suffering brought about by injuries is general damages.
You can see some example compensation brackets for various injuries in the below table. These figures are from the Judicial College Guidelines, which legal professionals often use along with medical evidence to value injuries. Also we’ve included a figure in the top row, not from the JCG, to illustrate for you how settlements could include compensation for multiple injuries as well as related costs, such as nursing care and lost wages.
This table is only a guide.
Compensation table
| INJURY | SEVERITY | COMPENSATION | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple injuries with the associated financial costs | Severe | Up to or more than £1million | Settlements could compensate for multiple severe injuries and related costs. |
| Brain and head | Very severe | £344,150 to £493,000 | Some ability to follow basic commands, recovery of eye opening and return of sleep and waking patterns. |
| Brain and head | Moderately severe | £267,340 to £344,150 | In this bracket, the injured person will suffer a serious level of disability. |
| Back | Severe (i) | £111,150 to £196,450 | The injured person will experience disability and pain to a severe level, alongside significantly reduced bladder, bowel and sexual function, and incomplete paralysis. |
| Neck | Severe (i) | In the region of £181,020 | Injuries are linked to resultant permanent spastic quadriparesis or incomplete paraplegia. |
| Neck | Severe (ii) | £80,240 to £159,770 | Serious fractures or damage to discs in the cervical spine. |
| Arm | Loss of one arm (i) | Not less than £167,380 | The arm is amputated at the shoulder. |
| Leg | Severe (i) | £117,460 to £165,860 | This bracket acknowledges injuries which fall short of amputation but are so severe that damages will be similar to amputation cases. |
| Hand | Amputation of index and middle and/or ring fingers | £75,550 to £110,750 | Any remaining grip in the hand is especially weak, meaning that the hand does not hold much use. |
Check If You Can Claim For A Workplace Accident On A No Win No Fee Basis
Our solicitors could provide their services under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA.) A CFA is a form of a No Win No Fee contract.
The benefits for you are:
- You do not pay upfront for the solicitor’s services.
- There are no solicitor fees during the process.
- You will also not have to pay for their services if the case fails.
Should your claim win, your solicitor will collect a success fee. This is a percentage of the compensation and is capped by the Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013, ensuring that the majority of the compensation goes to you.
To find out and learn about your options for free, please get in touch with our dedicated team of advisors today.
You can reach us by:
- Calling 0800 073 8804;
- Enquiring about a claim online by filling out our contact us form;
- Visiting the live chat feature.
Learn More About How To Make A Complaint To The HSE After An Accident At Work
You can see some more useful guides here:
- Information on how to claim after an office accident.
- Details on factory accident claims.
How To Contact The HSE:
- HSE – Raising A Concern
- HSE – Health and Safety guidance.
- HSE – Contact Us
Thank you for looking through our guide on how to make a complaint to the HSE after an accident at work and how to seek work injury compensation.
