Learn About Making A Claim Against Your Employer For An Accident At Work
By Danielle Jordan. Last Updated 7th June 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.
Select a section:
- What Are Injury Claims Against Your Employer?
- Claiming Compensation For An Accident Caused By Your Employer
- How Long Do I Have To Make A Personal Injury Claim Against My Employer?
- Injuries That Could Lead To Claims Against Your Employer
- How Much Compensation Will I Get From My Employer?
- Accident At Work Solicitors – No Win No Fee Claims
What Are Injury Claims Against Your Employer?
If you suffered a personal injury at work, you may wonder if you are eligible to seek compensation. When you seek an injury payout from your employer, you could do so by making an accident at work claim.
However, when making a claim for an injury at work, you must meet the personal injury claim eligibility requirements. This means you must be able to prove that:
- Your employer owed you a duty of care.
- This was breached.
- You suffered injuries as a result of this breach.
The duty of care that employers owe to their employees is set out in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA). This duty states that employers must take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees. If you can prove that your injury occurred because your employer didn’t adhere to this duty, you might be entitled to claim compensation.
If you have any questions about how to claim for an injury 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, published in April 2022.
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 Injury | Severity of Injury | Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Very Serious Injuries And Significant Costs Or Losses | Serious | Up to £500,000+ |
| Brain Damage | Very Severe | £344,150 to £493,000 |
| Brain Damage | Moderately Severe | £267,340 to £344,150 |
| Back Injuries | Severe (i) | £111,150 to £196,450 |
| Arm | Severe Injuries | £117,360 to £159,770 |
| Injuries Affecting Sight | Total Loss of One Eye (d) | £66,920 to £80,210 |
| Chest Injuries | Damage to chest and lung(s) (c) | £38,210 to £66,920 |
| Psychiatric Damage Generally | Moderately Severe | £23,270 to £66,920 |
| Ankle | Moderate | £16,770 to £32,450 |
| Injuries to the Pelvis and Hips | Lesser 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
It may be beneficial to use legal assistance to pursue your claim, though it is not a requirement. If you wish to hire legal help, we recommend seeking accident at work solicitors with years of experience handling similar claims. Their experience may impact the claims process positively, making it easier for you. You may also wish to seek No Win No Fee solicitors.
At Legal Expert, our accident at work solicitors can offer a No Win No Fee arrangement which sets out the conditions of paying for your solicitor’s work. In this type of agreement, you will not pay for your solicitor’s work except if your claim is successful. If your claim is won, a small percentage of your award will be used to settle costs for the solicitor’s work. The percentage that can be taken for this purpose is capped by law to ensure that you retain a majority of your compensation.
You can get free legal advice at an initial consultation which you can do by contacting us in one of the following ways:
- Call on 0800 073 8804
- Chat with us in real-time using the chatbot feature on the website
- Fill out our online contact form
Other Guides You May Find Helpful
We have lots more guides on personal injury claims which you can browse below:
- A guide to the claims process
- Climbing wall activity accident claims
- Claiming compensation for quad bike injuries
- Activity centre injuries – how to claim compensation
- Claiming compensation for a mountain bike injury
- How does the personal injury claim process work?
- Missing tile accident claims
- Success fees in personal injury cases
- How many claims go to court?
- Special damages in personal injury claims
- CCTV footage in personal injury cases
- Claiming compensation for injuries caused by faulty furniture
- Compensation tables for personal injury
- Try our personal injury claims calculator
- Multi-story car park accident claims
- The Pre-Action Protocols in personal injury
- How much compensation can you get for a personal injury claim?
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.
