Accident At Work And Injury Work Claims
If you have had an accident or personal injury at work and it wasn’t your fault, then you could be entitled to make a claim for compensation. You will receive 100% of your compensation with no deductions. So you won’t pay a penny, win or lose.
You may have been involved in an accident at work in an office environment, on a building site, restaurant, shop, warehouse, factory or a farm. If driving is part of your job, the work accident could be whilst driving a car, van, forklift or lorry. In this case your employer should ensure that the vehicle is safe and roadworthy.
Examples of compensation amounts awarded for injuries suffered from a work accident:
- Fractured finger with recovery within a few weeks - up to £1,750*
- Moderate injuries such as frozen shoulder - up to £6,000*
- Serious injury to ring or middle fingers - up to £7,750*
- Leg injuries including torn cartilage, weakness and instability - up to £13,000*
- Moderate back injury - up to £21,500*
- Complete loss of function in the wrist - up to £33,000*
- Severe injury to foot - up to £37,000*
Examples of compensation amounts awarded for injuries suffered from a car accident:
- Minor Whiplash Injury - up to £4,250*
- Moderate Whiplash Injury - up to £7,750*
- Severe Neck Injury - up to £82,000*
* Please note these figures are estimates of what is commonly awarded for similar work injuries.
For more information please visit the compensation guide to find out how much compensation you could expect for your injury at work.
Accidents or Injuries in the workplace can occur through many hazards. Some typical examples of work accidents include the following:
- Involved in a forklift truck (FLT) accident.
- Construction site accidents, including scaffolding accidents and ladder accidents.
- Slipping accidents at work, e.g. slipped on a wet floor with no warning sign.
- Tripped over a cable.
- Not been provided with protective equipment.
- Had a road accident whilst delivering goods.
- Used unsuitable or faulty equipment provided by the employer.
- Manual handling injuries, e.g. had to lift heavy objects which caused an injury.
- Been provided with inadequate training.
- Been injured as a result of mistakes made by other employees.
Some common accidents at work include:
Slip/Trip Injuries, Back Injury due to Lifting Objects, Forklift Truck Accidents, Scaffolding Accidents, Factory Accidents, Vibration White Finger, Asbestos Related Disease, Industrial Dermatitis Disease, Industrial Deafness, Accidents due to Inadequate Training.
All employers have to comply with strict health and safety legislation to ensure that their employees are not put at risk of being injured and that the work environment is safe. Despite this, many personal injuries at work or work accidents still occur – accidents which lead to injuries.
You normally have 3 years from when your personal injury at work occurred to start your compensation claim and you must claim within this time limit. If the work accident involved a person under 18, then the three years do not start until their 18th birthday. Industrial disease has slightly different rules – see our section on Industrial Diseases.
Injuries sustained from work accidents may mean you have to take time off work to recover which can lead to financial difficulties. Making a work accident claim will help ease the financial burden and also provide you with treatment to enable a full recovery.