If you have been injured and you were not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, can you still make a claim for compensation? In simple terms the answer is yes, you still may be able to make a claim. You should of course be wearing a helmet if you are on a bicycle or motorbike. The same concept also applies to work accidents in terms of wearing a hard hat where neccessary. There is a possibility that the Defendant (the other driver, an employer etc) may allege something called contributory negligence. This can reduce the compensation that you are entitled to; however this does not normally wipe out your compensation in its entirety.
It may be works practice or rules to wear a hard hat at all times whilst on site. Say you forgot to wear your hard hat and you sustained a head injury when an object fell. In this case it is likely that an element of contributory negligence would be found by a court. You can still claim and recover compensation, as there may still be negligence in that an object fell, putting employees at risk of sustaining injury. If contributory negligence is agreed or found by a court, your compensation would be reduced.
This is normally done in terms of a percentage. You may agree a 50/50 liability split, which essentially means that your employer is 50% responsible for causing the accident/injury and you are 50% responsible for causing the accident/injury. It is clear that by wearing a hard hat your injuries and suffering would have been less. By failing to wear a hard hat your injuries are likely to be more severe. If 50/50 is agreed then this would affect the value of your claim. Say the Defendant is looking to settle your claim and values the same at £5,000 – The Defendant would apply a percentage reduction for contributory negligence, a discount of 50% in the example given – this would make the net offer £2,500. Therefore you can see that it is still worthwhile bringing a claim, although you do have to be aware of potential contributory negligence.
The same basic principles apply in terms of road accidents if you failed to wear a helmet. By failing to wear a helmet, head and facial injuries are likely to be more severe. In personal injury the amount of compensation you are entitled to is based on the length and severity of your injuries. A failure to wear a helmet would more than likely lead to your injuries being more severe than if you had been wearing a helmet. Therefore in this scenario contributory negligence is likely to be raised. However it can only really relate to injuries to the head – if you just sustained a leg injury, they can’t try and reduce your payout due to wearing no helmet. The helmet wouldn’t have prevented a leg injury! But the insurers will try it on…
Note that contributory negligence can never be 100% as it is only a partial defence to a claim. Of course, as with any case, the Defendant could deny liability all together and refuse to pay out any compensation. If this scenario was to happen then we would consider the likelihood of success based on the evidence available. It would also be prudent to obtain advice from a suitably qualified and experienced barrister. Ultimately if we believe the prospects are great enough, we would proceed to Court where a Judge would decide the outcome.
As with any personal injury claim, it is essential that you seek specialist legal advice. We can assess your claim for free. Do not hesitate to contact The Injury Lawyers today.
