How To Sue A Workplace For An Accident Or Injury
This article discusses how to sue your workplace for an injury caused by your employer’s negligent actions. The steps involved in making a personal injury claim include ensuring you meet the eligibility criteria to be able to seek compensation, ensuring your legal proceedings are started within the relevant time limit, and collecting evidence to strengthen your case. We explore these further throughout our guide.
How To Sue A Workplace For An Accident Or Injury
Additionally, we provide examples of workplace accident and injuries as well as discuss how compensation is calculated and what a payout could consist of following a successful workplace accident claim.
Finally, we look at the benefits of making a claim with the help of one of our No Win No Fee solicitors and the terms under which they could offer their services.
Read on for more information on how to sue for compensation. Alternatively, you can reach out to our advisors with any questions you may have via the contact details below.
- Call us on 0800 073 8804
- Talk about your claim online
- Use the pop-up chat window
Select A Section
- How To Sue A Workplace For An Accident Or Injury
- What Reasons Could You Sue Your Employer For?
- Steps To Take If You Are Injured At Work
- What Payout Could You Be Awarded For An Accident At Work?
- How To Sue A Workplace With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
- Further Resources On Workplace Accident Claims
How To Sue A Workplace For An Accident Or Injury
An employer owes a duty of care to their employees with regard to their health, safety, and well being. This duty requires them to take all reasonable and practicable steps to prevent their employees from sustaining an injury at work as per the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
If your employer breached this duty, and you suffered harm as a result, you might wonder how to sue a workplace for your employer’s negligent actions.
In order to start a personal injury claim following an accident at work, you need to prove negligence. In tort law, negligence means:
- You were owed a duty of care at the time and place of your workplace injury.
- This duty was breached.
- You were injured physically, psychologically, or both as a result of the breach.
How To Sue A Workplace Within The Claims Time Limit
There is a time limit in which personal injury claims need to be started. As stated in the Limitation Act 1980, this time limit is generally 3 years from the date you were injured.
However, there are exceptions to this time limit that could allow legal proceedings to begin later than that, such as if the person was under the age of 18 or they lacked the mental capacity to bring forward their own claim.
Our advisors can tell you more about how to sue your workplace and whether you’re still within the time limit to do so. Reach out today to find out more.
What Reasons Could You Sue Your Employer For?
Below, we’ve provided some examples of how your employer could breach their duty of care and cause you injury.
- Slips, trips, and falls – For example, a broken bulb in a stairway could mean you lose your balance and fall due to inadequate lighting. An incident such as this could cause broken bones, head injuries, or even paralysis in extreme circumstances.
- Inadequate training – Jobs that require manual handling require specialised training on how to safely lift and transport heavy loads. If you are not supplied with this training, then you could sustain a back injury due to lifting items that are too heavy for you or through using the improper technique. Alternatively, if your colleague was not supplied with this training and failed to stack items correctly on a shelf, you could be hit by a falling object.
- Damaged equipment/machinery – It’s your employer’s responsibility to make sure any equipment you’re provided with is safe for use and in working order. If there is a failure to do so and you use faulty equipment, such as a power tool, it can lead to severe injuries such as the loss of limbs.
- Failure to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – If a risk posed by a hazard cannot be removed completely, your employer has a responsibility to provide PPE to reduce the risk of injury. For example, when working on a construction site, it may be necessary to provide you with a hard hat. If this isn’t provided, you could be hit on the head and sustain an injury.
If you’re unsure if you can claim for your injuries or want to know how to sue a workplace for injuries caused by your employer breaching their duty of care, reach out to our advisors today.
Steps To Take If You Are Injured At Work
One of the most important steps involved in making a personal injury claim is gathering evidence. The list below consists of some examples of how you could support your claim.
- Video evidence – If your workplace has CCTV, then there may be footage of the incident. If you appear in the footage, then you have the right to request a copy of it.
- Workplace accident book – There should be one of these in your workplace if their are 10 or more employees. You can request a copy of the incident report to provide details of your accident and injuries.
- Photographs – Document the hazards that contributed to your injuries and take pictures of any visible injuries you have.
- Witness contact details – You may have had colleagues who saw how you were injured. Keep hold of their contact information as they could be approached for a statement at a later date.
If you have a valid personal injury claim, you could instruct one of our solicitors to represent you. They have experience helping eligible claimants understand how to sue a workplace and seek compensation for the injuries they suffered in an accident at work caused by a negligent employer.
Our advisors can tell you more about how they could assist you, so get in touch using the number above today.
What Payout Could You Be Awarded For An Accident At Work?
Compensation for a workplace injury claim is calculated on an individual basis. This means the amount you receive will be unique to you. Generally, though, a settlement can consist of two heads of claim called general damages and special damages.
General damages are to account for your pain and suffering caused by the injuries. Those responsible for valuing this head of claim make use of resources, such as medical evidence and the Judicial College Guidelines to assist them. The latter is a publication that contains guideline valuation brackets for different types of injuries.
We’ve provided some figures from the latest edition of the JCG in the table below. The top figure is not taken from the JCG. You should also use the figures as a guide only because your own claim will differ in value depending on your specific circumstances.
| Injury | Severity | Notes | Compensation Bracket |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple severe injuries with financial losses | Severe | A payout comprising compensation for the pain and suffering of multiple severe injuries and financial losses incurred such as loss of earnings and medical expenses. | Up to £1,000,000+ |
| Paralysis | (a) Quadriplegia | There are various factors that come into consideration when a value is being settled on, including the person’s age. | £324,600 to £403,990 |
| (b) Paraplegia | The level of pain experienced as well as how badly the person’s mental health is affected is considered when valuing the award. | £219,070 to £284,260 | |
| Head | (a) Very severe | At the top end of this bracket, the person may have retained some basic ability to follow commands. However, a meaningful response to environment will be minimal, or there will be none at all. The person will need full-time care. | £282,010 to £403,990 |
| Arm Amputation | (a) Loss of both arms | The person is reduced to a state of considerable helplessness. | £240,790 to £300,000 |
| (b) Loss of one arm (i) | A single arm is amputated at the shoulder. | Not less than £137,160 | |
| (b) Loss of one arm (iii) | One arm is lost below the elbow. | £96,160 to £109,650 | |
| Eye | (b) Total blindness | Sight is completely lost in both eyes. | In the region of £268,720 |
| (d) Total loss of one eye | The award given will depend on age, mental impact and cosmetic effect. | £54,830 to £65,710 | |
| Chest | (a) Complete removal of one lung and/or serious damage to heart | Causing serious and prolonged pain and suffering with permanent scarring that’s significant. | £100,670 to £150,110 |
| (d) Simple injury | Lasting damage to lung tissue but with no significant long-term effect on lung function. | £12,590 to £17,960 |
Special Damages
Special damages account for financial losses caused by your injury in the workplace. It can reimburse you for various outgoings and losses, such as:
- Loss of earnings if you have been unable to work while you recover.
- Medical expenses. For example, prescription costs.
- Travel costs. For example, if you’re unable to drive due to your injury and require taxis to and from medical appointments
- The cost of adaptations to your property. For example, ramps may need to be fitted to your house if you need to use a wheelchair due to your injuries.
Make sure to keep hold of receipts, payslips, and other forms of evidence to aid in the support and calculation of your special damages.
Get in touch today if you’d like our advisors to provide you with a bespoke valuation of your claim overall.
How To Sue A Workplace With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
All of our solicitors work with their clients under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This is a form of No Win No Fee arrangement. A CFA allows you access to their services without the need to pay them anything upfront or as your claim proceeds.
If your claim is successful, your No Win No Fee solicitor will take a success fee from your compensation. The fee they’re permitted to take is a percentage of your compensation that is capped by law. However, this fee is not taken if your claim fails.
Contact Us
If you have any further questions on how to sue your workplace, get in touch today. Our advisors are available 24/7 to help you with your claim in any way we can. Getting in touch is free, and there is no charge for the advice you’re provided. Our advisors may also be able to connect you with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors to help you begin the process if it’s found your claim is valid.
To get in touch and discuss how to sue a company for an injury, you can:
- Call us on 0800 073 8804
- Talk about your claim online
- Use the pop-up chat window
Further Resources On Workplace Accident Claims
More personal injury claims guides from us:
- If you need more information about personal injury claims against employers, this helpful guide could help.
- Read this article to find out more about your employer’s responsibilities after an accident at work.
- We’re often asked, “Can I sue my employer for negligence at work?“. Find out by reading this guide.
Information from other sources:
- Helpful guidance on when you could be eligible for statutory sick pay from GOV.UK.
- The NHS has a helpful guide on the question of, “How do I know if I’ve broken a bone?“.
- Guidance from the Health and Safety Executive about your employer’s responsibility to report certain accidents and illnesses.
We hope you found this guide on how to sue your workplace for a personal injury helpful. If you have any other questions, contact our team on the number above.
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