Steps To Take When Injured At Work Guide – How To Claim
By Megan Black. Last Updated 1st February 2023. Welcome to our guide on steps to take when injured at work. Have you been injured at work because of an accident that was caused by negligence on the part of your employer or even another colleague? If the answer is yes, then you could claim worker’s compensation from your employer for your injuries. Many people who are injured at work wonder what steps they should take when injured at work. In this guide, we will advise you on steps to take when injured at work and other injured employees could take.
Steps to take when injured at work claims guide
Remember, if you have had an accident at work that was not your fault, which resulted in you becoming injured or ill, you could be entitled to claim compensation. Legal Expert could connect you with a qualified personal injury lawyer from our team to handle your accident at work compensation claim.
Our excellent personal injury solicitors can handle cases anywhere in Great Britain, and many of our solicitors have thirty or more years of experience conducting claims such as these. Your solicitor will always push to win you the best settlement possible for an accident at work that you could be entitled to claim, so your claim should not be undervalued.
Further information
Legal Expert offers a free consultation to anyone looking to claim compensation for an accident at work. We can also answer any questions that you may have, such as: “Do I get full pay if injured at work?”, “I had an accident at work what are my rights in the UK?” “Can I be sacked for having an accident at work?” and what should you do if you were dismissed after an accident at work.
Call Legal Expert today on 0800 073 8804 to speak to one of our advisors in detail, and if you have the right to claim, we can provide you with an excellent personal injury solicitor to handle your case. And we can also provide general legal advice if you require it ahead of your personal injury claim.
Select A Section
- A Guide To Steps To Take When Injured At Work
- Health And Safety In The Workplace
- What Steps Should You Take?
- See A Doctor And Obtain Medical Treatment Or Advice
- Workplace Injury Reports
- Record Your Expenses
- Do I Get Full Pay If Injured At Work?
- Injured At Work – What Is The Claim Time Limit?
- What To Do When An Employee Is Injured At Work
- What Could My Accident At Work Compensation Claim Include?
- Injured At Work Claim – Compensation Payout Examples
- No Win No Fee Work Accident And Injury Compensation Claims
- Contact Legal Expert
- Where Else Could You Get Help
A Guide To Steps To Take When Injured At Work
In this guide to steps to take when injured at work, we will look at what to do if an accident occurs in the workplace. And what to do if you are injured at work. We will advise you on what the accident at work procedure or workplace injury response procedure may be. Furthermore, we will review what injury at work employer responsibilities your workplace should uphold. We also include advice about how to find a personal injury solicitor who could handle your accident at work compensation claim, and explain the benefits of making a No Win No Fee claim. In addition, we have included a personal injury claims calculator.
Call Legal Expert today for your free personal injury claims consultation. If we believe you are entitled to compensation, we will assign an excellent personal injury solicitor to handle your case.
Health And Safety In The Workplace
According to the Health And Safety At Work etc. Act 1974, employers owe a duty of care to their employees. This means that they have to take every reasonable step to provide employees with a working environment that is both safe and hygienic.
This includes conducting regular risk assessments to identify potential health and safety hazards and applying control measures (appropriate steps) to mitigate the risk they pose. This could be as simple as fixing a broken floorboard, or making sure machinery is properly checked regularly. If you work in a potentially hazardous environment, your employer is also obliged to take steps to protect you. For example, providing personal protective equipment (PPE) to construction workers. In extreme cases, an employer can be prosecuted for making employees work under dangerous conditions.
Because employers owe employees a duty of care, if you have an accident because your employer was negligent, or did not take the appropriate steps to protect you from a health and safety hazard, you could be entitled to claim compensation for your injuries. To do so, you will need a personal injury solicitor to represent you in your claim. Remember, if you need to make an accident at work claim for compensation, call Legal Expert today for your free consultation.
What Steps To Take If Injured At Work?
We will now look at what steps you should take if someone gets injured in the workplace because of an accident that is not your fault. We will also look at accident at work compensation examples.
See A Doctor And Obtain Medical Treatment Or Advice
What to do after an accident at work? The most important thing is that you seek out the appropriate medical treatment right away. If you find yourself with serious or life-threatening injuries, you should go to the hospital right away or a colleague should call an ambulance for you. According to your workplace’s injury policy, such as filling out a workplace injury report, any other actions you must take can wait.
As well as providing you with the medical treatment that you need, going to a doctor’s surgery or hospital will also provide evidence of your injuries, to support your personal injury claim. If and when you decide to make an accident at work claim for your injuries, you may also need to visit a physician again so they can complete a medical assessment and medical report.
The medical report will define your injuries, what treatment you will need to recover from them or manage your injuries and what sort of impact they are likely to have on your quality of life going forward. Your personal injury claims solicitor may use your medical report as the basis for your personal injury claim.
Workplace Injury Reports
Another important part of workplace accident protocol in the UK is making a workplace injury report after an accident. According to RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations, 2013) an accident becomes a ‘reportable accident’, if the employee is left unable to work for over seven days as a result of their injuries. This includes any days they may not usually work such as weekends or bank holidays. These sorts of injuries must be reported within 15 days of the accident occurring. Fatalities, dangerous occurrences and accidents resulting in specific injuries or illnesses also have to be reported.
RIDDOR also states that employers must record all accidents at work that results in an employee taking three or more days off work because of their injuries or illness. If you are injured or become ill at work because of an accident that was not your fault, make sure you report your accident. These details include the date, time and place within the company’s accident log book. This will also serve as evidence of your injury when your solicitor is building your accident at work compensation claim case. And so it’s one of the important steps to take when injured at work.
Record Your Expenses
Another important step to take when injured at work is to keep a receipt of any expenses you may have due to your accident. This is because firstly, your receipts could be used as evidence to support your case. Secondly, if your compensation claim is successful, you may be reimbursed for any expenses or financial losses that you have experienced due to your injuries. This is known as special damages.
These can include medical expenses, home or car adaptation expenses, expenses for mobility equipment, home care expenses, travel expenses and reimbursement for any loss of income you experienced as a result of your injuries.
Do I Get Paid if I Get Injured At Work?
Injured people worry about losing income if their injuries or illness forces them to take time off work. In fact, many of our clients ask us questions such as “do I get paid if I get injured at work?”
To answer whether or not you will still be paid if you are injured at work, you need to check the sick pay terms and conditions in your contract between you and your employer. If you have been injured or made ill and are not entitled to sick pay from your employer, you could receive statutory sick pay from the government. You may also be able to claim for loss of income if your accident at work compensation claim is successful.
A lot of people are also scared that being injured at work, taking time off to recover from injuries brought about by an accident at work, or making a personal injury claim for an accident at work can affect their job security. If you are dismissed after an accident at work, this would be grounds for unfair dismissal and you could make a compensation claim against your employer as a result.
Injured At Work – What Is The Claim Time Limit?
Throughout this guide, we have explained the accident at work procedure if you have been injured at work. However, you must also be aware of the time limits in which you can make your claim. The time limit for making a claim for an injury at work is generally 3 years from the date you were injured, as stated in the Limitation Act 1980.
There are certain exceptions to this 3-year time limit, such as:
- For those who lack the mental capacity to claim on their own, the time limit is suspended, and a litigation friend could make a claim on their behalf. A litigation friend is appointed by the court and could be a family member or solicitor. Alternatively, the person will have 3 years to start a claim if they regain the mental capacity to claim on their own.
- Minors will have 3 years to start a claim from their 18th Before this point, the time limit is suspended, and a litigation friend can claim on their behalf.
Contact our advisors today if you have any questions, such as, ‘what must you do if you are injured at work?’. Our friendly team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to offer you free legal advice and help answer any questions you may have about starting a personal injury claim.
What To Do When An Employee Is Injured At Work
If you suffer an injury at work, you can take these steps to support your personal injury claim.
Of course, your priority should be getting the appropriate medical treatment. A colleague can collect evidence on behalf of the injured person whilst they go to the hospital.
If an employee is injured at work, the following steps can be taken to collect evidence to support their claim:
- Report the accident to HR or the person responsible for recording the injury in the organisation’s accident log book. Make sure the accident is recorded accurately with a note of the place, time and date.
- Take photographs of the hazard that caused the accident. Include a date stamp if possible.
- Take photographs of the injuries caused if they are visible. Include a date stamp if possible.
- Talk to eyewitnesses and get their contact details. They may have to testify on the victim’s behalf later.
- Keep any receipts of purchases you made because of injuries or illnesses. This may serve as evidence to support your claim. You could also claim these expenses back as special damages.
What Could My Accident At Work Compensation Claim Include?
If you make a successful accident at work compensation claim, your personal injury claim will be awarded in two parts. The first part will be general damages, which will compensate you for the pain, suffering and loss of amenity. And the second part will be for special damages. Special damages compensate the victim for medical expenses, home adaptation expenses, travel expenses, home care expenses and loss of income.
What do you do in the event of personal injury? If you have had an accident at work that was not your fault, you could be entitled to claim compensation. Call us today to see if you can claim. And we can then provide you with an excellent personal injury solicitor to handle your case.
Injured At Work Claim – Compensation Payout Examples
Legal Expert offers a compensation calculator that you can use to get an estimate for compensation for your injury at work claim. The calculator will first ask you about your injury and give you an estimate of how much you could be awarded for the pain and suffering it may have caused you. This is known as general damages.
A calculator may not take into account your financial losses. This is known as special damages. For example, if you were injured at work, you could claim compensation if your income was affected, as well as:
- Medical expenses
- Care costs
- Adaptions to the home
The information in the table below is taken from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), which is the same source used in our calculator. The JCG was last updated in 2022 and is used by legal professionals to help value claims. However, the figures shown are not guaranteed for your claim.
| Injury | Severity | Notes | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand | Total Effective Loss of Both Hands | Both hands have suffered extensive damage which has rendered them little more than useless. | £140,660 to £201,490 |
| Hand | Serious | The hand will have be reduced to a 50% capacity and several fingers may have been amputated, but rejoined leaving it clawed. | £29,000 to £61,910 |
| Ankle | Very Severe | Injuries will be limited and unusual. Could include extensive soft tissue damage and transmalleolar fractures with a risk of future amputation. | £50,060 to £69,700 |
| Wrist | (A) | Complete loss of function in the wrist, potentially due to an arthrodesis being performed. | £47,620 to £59,860 |
| Pelvis and Hips | Moderate (i) | A significant hip or pelvis injury. However, it does not result in a major disability and the future risk is not great. | £26,590 to £39,170 |
| Arm | Less Severe | A substantial recovery will have taken place (or is expected to) after suffering with significant disabilities. | £19,200 to £39,170 |
| Back | Moderate (ii) | Backache caused by the ligaments and muscles in the back being disturbed. Or the acceleration of a pre-existing condition by 5+ years. | £12,510 to £27,760 |
| Shoulder | Serious | A dislocated shoulder with damage to the brachial plexus that causes shoulder and neck pain with aching in the elbow. | £12,770 to £19,200 |
| Shoulder | Moderate | A frozen shoulder that results in discomfort and limited movement. Symptoms persist for around 2 years. | £7,890 to £12,770 |
| Leg | Less Serious (iii) | Simple fibula or tibia fracture, or soft tissue injures that result in dull aching with restricted movement. | Up to £11,840 |
Remember if you have suffered an injury at work, you have rights. If you are unsure what these are, get in touch with our advisors at any time.
No Win No Fee Work Accident And Injury Compensation Claims
At Legal Expert, we will give you the option to make a No Win No Fee claim for compensation. This means that you can claim without paying an upfront fee, making it a more affordable option for many. Furthermore, your solicitor only charges a fee if they win your compensation claim, so there’s no financial risk for you.
Read Legal Expert’s online guide to making a No Win No Fee accident claim, or call us today to enquire about making a no win no fee compensation claim for an accident at work.
Contact Legal Expert
To begin your No Win No Fee compensation claim for an accident at work, call Legal Expert or use our online claims form. Similarly, if you have questions such as “I had an accident at work, what are my rights?”, “Can I be sacked for having an accident at work?” or “What to do if an accident occurs in the workplace?” one of our advisors will be happy to speak to you in-depth.
Where Else Could You Get Help?
We also have some online resources to help you research steps about how to claim after being injured at work.
Expenses And Benefits: Compensation For Injuries At Work
More information from the Government about financial expenses that your compensation claim could include.
An HSE Guide To Slip And Trip Accidents At Work
This guide from the Health and Safety Executive looks in more detail at slip and trip accidents in the workplace.
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?
- Manual handling claims
- One person and two-person lifting and handling cases
- How to claim for a ladder accident
- How to get compensation for a cut finger at work
- Scaffolding accident claims
- Warehouse accident claims
- Defective work equipment cases
- Industrial deafness claims
- Our accident at work claims FAQs page
- Do you know if your employer has to provide safety boots in the UK? Read our guide to learn more.
Thank you for reading our guide on the steps to take when injured at work.
