How To Claim Cut Finger At Work Compensation
By Lewis Cobain. Last Updated 19th July 2023. If your employer failed to uphold their duty of care, and this resulted in you suffering a finger injury at work, you may be wondering if you could make a claim. In this guide, we will discuss the criteria for making an accident at work claim, what a duty of care is, and how a breach of this duty could cause an injury in the workplace.
Following this, we discuss what to do when you cut your finger, and the kinds of evidence that you could collect to help strengthen your claim. We’ll also discuss the different kinds of compensation that you could pursue in a personal injury claim, and how solicitors and other legal professionals value these different areas.
Finally, our guide will explore the benefits of working with a No Win No Fee solicitor on your personal injury claim. Our solicitors have years of experience in handling personal injury claims and could use this experience to help you through the process.
Read on to learn more, or contact our team of friendly advisors to get started if you’ve suffered a laceration or cut on your finger:
- Call on 0800 073 8804
- Contact us online
- Use the live chat feature
Cut finger at work guide
Select A Section
- When Could I Claim For A Finger Injury At Work?
- What Is A Cut Finger At Work Compensation Claim?
- Employers’ Liability For Cut Finger At Work Compensation Claims
- Accidents At Work Compensation Examples UK – Finger Injury
- What Other Compensation Could I Receive?
- Finger Injury At Work – Claim With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
- Start Your Claim
- Learn More
- Cut Finger At Work FAQs
When Could I Claim For A Finger Injury At Work?
Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA), employers owe their employees a duty of care. This means that they have a legal responsibility to take all reasonably practicable steps to keep their employees safe while working.
In order to make a claim for a finger injury at work, you must be able to prove that your injuries were caused as a result of your employer breaching their duty of care. This is also known as negligence.
Another important part of claiming is ensuring that you are within the relevant time limit. According to the Limitation Act 1980, the time limit for beginning a personal injury claim is three years from the date of the accident. However, there are some exceptions to this.
To learn more about the exceptions to this time limit, or to find out if you are eligible to make a finger injury claim, contact our team today.
What Is A Cut Finger At Work Compensation Claim?
When discussing cut finger at work compensation claims, a solicitor will check the following before agreeing to work on the case:
- Were you owed a duty of care?; and
- Did your employer breach this duty of care, causing an accident?; and
- Were you injured as a result of that accident?
If you are able to answer ‘yes’ to all three questions, a solicitor may agree to represent you. You could make a compensation claim.
To give yourself a better chance of winning compensation, you could:
- Report the accident. By doing so, your employer is legally obliged to create an accident report. You are entitled to a copy. This could make it easier to prove the date, location and time of your accident.
- Seek treatment. If you’ve cut your finger at work, you should seek medical treatment. This will ensure it is assessed, cleaned and treated by a professional. Later on, you could request a copy of your medical records to demonstrate how serious your injuries were.
- Note any witnesses. If your employer denies liability for your injuries, your solicitor may ask for witness statements at a later date. Therefore, it’s a good idea to write down their contact details.
- Photograph the cause of the accident. It is much easier to demonstrate what happened with photographs. Therefore, try to capture the accident scene before anything is repaired or removed.
- Obtain CCTV footage. You are within your rights to ask for a copy of any security footage that captured your accident. This should be done promptly as recordings are often wiped within a matter of weeks.
Our advisors can check what evidence you have when you call. If necessary, they’ll inform you what else might be required to support your claim.
Types Of Cut Finger Accidents At Work
Let’s now look at some scenarios where you could cut your finger at work. While we can’t list every scenario possible, here are some common examples:
- Where you cut your finger on machinery at work because the safety guard is missing, broken or has been removed.
- Cutting yourself on a broken bowl in a kitchen because the debris wasn’t cleared up properly.
- Where you cut your finger while using a damaged power tool.
- If you cut your finger while using a saw-type implement because other members of staff failed to follow safety protocols.
- Where you suffer a cut finger because of a broken handle on a door.
- If your finger has to be amputated after a damaged office chair collapses and crushes your hand.
We are happy to check your claim with you to see if you could claim cut finger at work compensation.
Employers’ Liability For Cut Finger At Work Compensation Claims
So, if you have cut your finger at work, how do you know if the injury was the result of employer negligence? Well, you could have the grounds to claim if the accident happened because of:
- A lack of safety training.
- Inadequate personal protective equipment that was necessary for the task.
- Faulty equipment the employer was aware of and failed to replace.
- Machinery that wasn’t maintained properly.
- Tiredness because you weren’t allowed enough rest breaks.
- Risk assessments were not carried out by your employer.
If you suspect that any of the above, or another form of negligence, caused your accident, we could help you claim.
Something to bear in mind is that you are not allowed to be disciplined, sacked or treated differently for making a compensation claim against an employer. If that were to happen, you could make a constructive or unfair dismissal claim as well as a personal injury claim.
Something else that some people worry about is the fact that claiming will affect their employer’s profits. Usually, that’s not the case as claims are generally made against the employer’s liability insurance policy rather than your employer directly.
Accidents At Work Compensation Examples UK – Finger Injury
If you are interested in finding out about accidents at work compensation examples for the UK, the table below shows bracketed finger injury settlements for England and Wales claims. For example, you can find finger amputation and loss of finger compensation ranges.
These amounts are taken from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). It’s worth noting, however, that the table below only relates to general damages, which are awarded to compensate you for the pain, suffering and loss of ability to carry out activities you usually would before your personal injury. Therefore, please only use the figures as guidance.
The final settlement you are awarded will also be influenced by any special damages you might claim for, which we’ll discuss in further detail in the next section.
| Injury Type | Severity | Compensation Bracket | Additional details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand injuries | Loss (a) | £140,660 to £201,490 | Total or effective loss of both hands. |
| Hand injuries | Serious (b) | £55,820 to £84,570 | Serious damage to both hands. |
| Hand injuries | Loss (c) | £96,160 to £109,650 | Total or effective loss of a single hand. |
| Hand injuries | (d) | £61,910 to £90,750 | Where the index and middle and/or ring fingers are amputated. |
| Hand injuries | Serious (e) | £29,000 to £61,910 | Examples in this category are where several fingers have been amputated and rejoined but leaving the victim with 50% hand function. |
| Hand injuries | Severe Fractures (f) | Up to £36,740 | Where fractured fingers (that may lead to partial amputation) cause impaired grip, deformity and reduced function. |
| Hand injuries | Less Serious (g) | £14,450 to £29,000 | Includes severe crush injuries to the fingers. |
| Hand injuries | Moderate (h) | £5,720 to £13,280 | Includes penetrating wounds, crush injuries and deep lacerations. |
| Hand injuries | Total/Partial Loss (i) | £12,170 to £18,740 | Partial or total loss of the index finger. |
| Hand injuries | Fracture (j) | £9,110 to £12,240 | A fractured index finger that mends quickly but there is still pain and reduced grip. Osteoarthritis will be likely in the future too. |
| Hand injuries | Serious (k) | £10,320 to £16,340 | Serious injuries such as fractures to the middle or ring fingers. |
| Hand injuries | Loss (l) | £3,950 to £7,870 | Loss of the terminal phalanx of the middle or ring fingers. |
| Hand injuries | Amputation (m) | £8,640 to £12,240 | Amputation of the little finger. |
| Hand injuries | Amputation (p) | In the region of £21,810 | Amputation of both ring and little fingers. |
| Hand injuries | Amputation (q) | In the region of £24,990 | Amputation of the terminal phalanges of the middle and index fingers. Side effects will include scarring and reduction in movement and grip. |
What Other Compensation Could I Receive?
There is another part of a workplace injury claim that can be very important. It is called a special damages claim. The purpose of this element is to recover any costs, expenses or monetary losses caused by your injuries. The idea is to put you back in the financial position you were in prior to the accident.
Each claim is different so we can’t say exactly how much you might be paid but your claim could include:
- Lost income. It is important to look at whether your injury has resulted in any lost earnings. If it has, you could add them to the value of your claim.
- Future lost income. Where your injuries impact negatively on your ability to earn in the future, you could claim back any future lost earnings. For example, you might claim this if you’re an electrician who can’t continue working because you’ve lost your index finger.
- Care costs. If you need support with daily activities because of your injuries, any associated costs could be claimed back. For example, you could claim for the cost of a professional carer or for the time a loved one or friend spent looking after you.
- Medical expenses. On some occasions, the NHS might not be able to provide you with full treatment. You may need to pay for some private care. Therefore, if that’s the case, you could ask for the medical fees to be paid by your employer’s insurer.
- Travel costs. You could also include fuel, parking or public transport costs linked to your injuries. This might be something you have to pay for if you need to make trips to the hospital for instance.
- Devices to help with disabilities. If coping with your injuries is made easier by making changes or purchasing aids, the costs of doing so might be included in your claim.
Finger Injury At Work – Claim With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
After suffering a finger injury at work, you might be interested in working with a personal injury solicitor on a No Win No Fee basis. Generally, under such an arrangement, you aren’t expected to pay your solicitor a fee upfront.
Additional benefits of working with No Win No Fee solicitors after a cut finger injury include:
- Any fees that are accrued during the claims process are covered by the agreement
- A legally capped success fee is taken directly from your compensation following a successful claim
- If your claim for cut fingers is unsuccessful, you don’t have to pay your solicitor
If you’ve cut your finger off at work and you’re interested in working with solicitors on this basis, get in touch and we could connect you. We’ll discuss how you can contact us in the next section.
Start Your Claim
We appreciate the time you’ve taken to read our guide on claiming cut finger at work compensation. We hope it has made it easier to understand whether you have the grounds to claim. If you do wish to proceed and would like our help, why not?:
- Call our friendly advisors on 0800 073 8804 to discuss your case.
- Ask for free legal advice about claiming via our live chat.
- Email us with information about your injuries and your claim to info@legalexpert.co.uk.
- Write about your claim online to request a callback from a specialist.
To allow you to call when it’s convenient, our advisors are available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. If you call to discuss a personal injury claim, you’ll get free legal advice and your claim will be reviewed on a no-obligation basis. Should your claim be strong enough, we could connect you with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors.
Learn More
As we have almost reached the final section of our guide on accident at work claims relating to cut fingers, we have added a few articles here which could help you further.
Finger Pain – NHS information on what to do if you’re suffering from finger pain.
Hand Pain – A similar article that shows you what treatment might be needed for hand injuries.
Knives At Work – Information from the Health and Safety Executive on workplace knife safety.
Below, you can find lots of guides on claiming compensation for a workplace accident:
- How to claim for a minor injury at work
- 10 things to know about accident at work claims
- What to do if injured from work activities
- Firefighter accident at work claims
- Agency worker accident at work claims
- Night shift accidents
- Emergency service worker accidents
- Part-time worker accidents
- Accidents caused by inadequate protective equipment
- Paralysis injury claims
- Work accidents caused by tools
- Office accident claims
- Injuries caused by dangerous machinery at work
- Workplace accident claims
- Can you make an injury claim against a colleague?
- Agency worker accident claims
- Forklift truck accidents
- Can I be sacked for making a workplace accident claim?
- Do I get sick pay after an accident at work?
- Steps to take when injured at work
- Manual handling claims
- One person and two-person lifting and handling cases
- How to claim for a ladder accident
- Scaffolding accident claims
- Warehouse accident claims
- Defective work equipment cases
- Industrial deafness claims
- Our accident at work claims FAQs page
Cut Finger At Work FAQs
In this section, we have provided answers to some common questions that might help if you go on to claim cut finger at work compensation.
What do you do if you cut your finger at work?
If you are injured at work and cut your finger, you should have the injury treated. Initially, this may involve first aid but you should also have the wound assessed by a medical professional.
Additionally, you should inform your manager about the incident too. By doing so, an accident report will be logged which could help if you decide to make a personal injury claim. It could also be used by your employer to reduce the risk to other staff in the future.
What precautions should employers take?
In accordance with the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, employers should conduct risk assessments in the workplace. Where any dangers are spotted, they should be reduced or removed.
For example, if working with mechanical saws, safety guards should be fitted. Similarly, if working with knives, suitable storage vessels should be available to prevent injury when the knife is not in use.
How do I seek medical help?
If you cut your finger at work or sustained other injuries, you may be able to rely on first aid. However, in other instances, you should have your injuries assessed and treated at A&E, a doctor’s surgery or a minor injuries unit. By doing so, your injury will be checked for foreign bodies like glass or bone fragments and treated accordingly.
Will I get sick pay?
Most employees are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if taking time off work because of injury or illness. However, some employers will cover your full salary whilst you are off work. This may be limited to a certain number of weeks. Therefore, you should check your employment contract to see what level of pay you’re entitled to.
If there is any difference in your income when you’re off injured, you could add the value to your personal injury claim.
We hope this guide on claiming cut off finger at work compensation has proven useful for you. If you are looking for further information on this topic or other kinds of accident at work claims, then please call our advisors for free legal advice.
Written by Hambridge
Edited by Victorine
