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Personal Injury Claims Against Your Employer – A Guide To Claiming Compensation

By Stephen Hudson. Last Updated 5th September 2024. In this guide, we provide tips and guidance on making personal injury claims against employers. If you have been injured at work, you may be able to claim against your employer if it can be established that negligence on their part caused your injuries.

Within this guide, we’ll discuss the potential ways accidents and injuries at work may occur. We’ll also go through the key steps of starting a valid claim against your employer and potential compensation payouts.

Our No Win No Fee solicitors can take on your case for your personal injury claim against your employer. Call our advisors today to receive free advice through a no-obligation consultation where you can ask as many questions as you need to. Call 0800 073 8804 for more information about personal injury claims against employers.

A worker lying under a box following an accident

Select a section:

  1. What Are Injury Claims Against Your Employer?
  2. Claiming Compensation For An Accident Caused By Your Employer
  3. How Long Do I Have To Make A Personal Injury Claim Against My Employer?
  4. Injuries That Could Lead To Claims Against Your Employer
  5. How Much Compensation Will I Get From My Employer?
  6. Accident At Work Solicitors – No Win No Fee Claims

What Are Injury Claims Against Your Employer?

Employers owe their staff a duty of care while they are at work and performing their duties. This duty is set out in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA). It establishes that employers must take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees. For example, any training that is required to safely complete work-related tasks must be provided free-of-charge.

If you have been injured at work, you may be eligible to make a personal injury claim against your employer. To bring forward such a case, you will need to be able to prove the following with evidence:

  • Your employer owed you a duty of care. For example, risk assessments should be carried out.
  • This duty was breached. For example, a risk assessment was not carried out before you were asked to use a ladder.
  • You suffered injuries because of this breach. Due to a lack of appropriate risk assessments, the ladder was used over uneven ground. When it fell, you sustained back, neck and head injuries.

If you have any questions about the eligibility requirements for personal injury claims at work, please speak to an advisor from our team.

Claiming Compensation For An Accident Caused By Your Employer

If you are considering making a work accident claim against your employer, your ability to claim compensation for your accident is intrinsically linked to the concept of negligence.

While the amount of compensation you could receive as the result of your claim depends heavily on the severity and the type of your injury, whether your claim can be considered legitimate depends on how responsible your employer was for your accident. This, in turn, depends on whether the employer acted negligently.

For your employer to act with negligence to instigate personal injury claims against employers, they must have failed to adhere to health and safety standards. The Health and Safety Executive, a UK government agency, essentially governs workplace safety. This, in turn, not only encourages employers to act responsibly but enforces workplace safety legislation.

This duty of care covers measures such as;

  • Completing risk assessments of your task,
  • Providing training to complete tasks, and
  • Clearly defining the limits of your job.

If your employer has failed in any of these responsibilities, they could be considered responsible for any injury resulting. Contact us today to learn more about personal injury claims against employers.

How Long Do I Have To Make A Personal Injury Claim Against My Employer?

As well as ensuring that a personal injury claim against your employer meets the eligibility criteria, you must start the claim within the time limit set out by law. The Limitation Act 1980 establishes that you have three years from the accident date to submit your case.

While that is the general limitation period for a personal injury at work claim, some cases might call for an exception. Key examples are:

  • Minors under 18 years old cannot claim by themselves. Unless a trusted litigation friend handles the legal action for them, their limitation period covers the time between their 18th and 21st birthdays.
  • People who don’t have the mental capacity to claim have an indefinitely frozen time limit. Unless a litigation friend intervenes, the three-year limit only begins from their recovery date, if a recovery happens.

Because of this time limit, it is a good idea to discuss your legal options as soon as possible. You can discuss time limits for employer negligence claims with our advisors by calling the number above.

Injuries That Could Lead To Claims Against Your Employer

Here are some example scenarios that could lead an injured employee to make a personal injury claim against an employer:

  • An employer does not regularly check or maintain machinery. Due to this employer negligence, an employee gets their arm trapped in the machinery and it is crushed.
  • Because of a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) an employee using a table saw suffers a serious eye injury caused by flying splinters.
  • A worker gets a broken bone injury from tripping on wires left trailing along the floor that had not been signposted or tidied away..
  • Employees are not given necessary manual handling training. This leads to one employee experiencing significant back pain due to carrying a heavy load.
  • The area below work on a roof is not cordoned off and employees are not warned. One worker suffers a severe brain injury when bricks fall off the roof and onto their head.

If you’ve suffered unnecessary harm in a workplace accident because of employer negligence, you may be able to seek compensation. Call today if you have any questions regarding personal injury claims at work.

The Process Of Making A Claim Against Your Employer

When making a personal injury claim, you’ll need to demonstrate that your employer acted negligently and you were injured or suffered harm as a result. Therefore, as part of the personal injury claim process, you should gather as much supporting evidence as possible.

To give you an idea of how to prove a workplace accident claim, we’ve listed a few examples of evidence below:

  • You should record details of the incident in your workplace accident book. Any workplace that has more than 10 employees are required to have an accident book by law.
  • Collect the contact details of any witnesses who can provide a statement on your behalf.
  • If your workplace has CCTV, request the footage.
  • Take photographs of your injury and the accident scene, including any hazards that caused you harm.
  • Gather medical evidence, such as a diagnosis from a medical professional or your hospital records.

Continue reading to find out what personal injury compensation you could be awarded following an accident at work. Alternatively, get in touch whenever is most convenient for you. We offer free no-obligation legal advice around the clock.

How Much Compensation Will I Get From My Employer?

Following a successful personal injury claim, you will be awarded general damages. This compensates you for the pain you have experienced due to your personal injury at work.

When valuing your claim, a legal professional may refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This document lists compensation guidelines for different injuries at various severities. For the table below, we have listed some of the amounts stated in the most recent edition of the JCG. We’ve also provided a figure in the top row (not from the JCG) that shows you how compensation could be awarded if you suffer multiple severe injuries and significant financial losses.

However, it is important to note that compensation tends to reflect the specific details and circumstances of each claim. The table should only be used as a form of guidance.

Type of InjurySeverity of InjuryCompensation
Multiple Very Serious Injuries And Significant Costs Or LossesSeriousUp to £500,000+
Brain Damage Very Severe£344,150 to £493,000
Brain Damage Moderately Severe£267,340 to £344,150
Back InjuriesSevere (i)£111,150 to £196,450
ArmSevere Injuries£117,360 to £159,770
Injuries Affecting SightTotal Loss of One Eye (d)£66,920 to £80,210
Chest InjuriesDamage to chest and lung(s) (c)£38,210 to £66,920
Psychiatric Damage GenerallyModerately Severe£23,270 to £66,920
AnkleModerate£16,770 to £32,450
Injuries to the Pelvis and HipsLesser Injuries (i)£4,820 to £15,370

Special Damages For A Personal Injury Claim Against Your Employer

You could also be eligible for special damages. This head of your claim that allows you to recoup the financial losses caused by your injuries.

For example, if your injuries prevent you from working, this could lead to a loss of earnings. In this case, you could potentially recoup these losses under special damages. This heading can also include:

  • Travel expenses.
  • Childcare costs.
  • Prescription costs.
  • The cost of a mobility aid.

You must be able to provide evidence of your losses in order to claim them back, so keeping any relevant documents, such as bank statements or receipts, could be beneficial.

Contact our team of advisors today to learn more about how to make a personal injury claim against your employer.

Accident At Work Solicitors – No Win No Fee Claims

Our No Win No Fee solicitors can support a personal injury claim against an employer under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). If one of our solicitors does support your case under such an agreement, you won’t have to pay them for their work before the claim has begun or while it is underway. You also normally don’t need to pay for your solicitor’s services if the claim fails.

If your accident at work claim is successful, then your solicitor will take a small and legally capped percentage from your compensation. This is known as a success fee and the legal cap ensures that you get to keep most of your compensation.

Contact us for free today to learn more about working with a No Win No Fee solicitor. Our advisors can also answer any other questions you may have about claiming for work injuries. To speak to our team, you can:

A work accident claim solicitor sat at a desk and reviewing a contract agreement form

Other Guides You May Find Helpful

We have lots more guides on personal injury claims which you can browse below: 

Thank you for reading our guide to claiming against an employer. We hope you now know more about how personal injury claims against employers work.