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If you have an accident at work are you responsible or are your employer’s automatically responsible for failing to take “better care of you”?

This is difficult to answer with a definitive ‘yes’ or ‘no’… As every case has to be judged on its own merits and there are many aspects which can influence how successful your claim is likely to be.

The first point is to establish whether or not your employer owed you a duty of care in the circumstances. Did your accident happen in your workplace; this may be in an office or out on a site you are contracted to work on? Your van or truck may be your workplace for example? If this is the case and if you had an accident whilst in your workplace then it’s more than likely that your employer owed you a duty of care.
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Road accidents are common – they happen all the time. Normally, it’s a case of negligence – a driver not paying enough attention on the roads, and subsequently causing an unfortunate accident. But there are things drivers can do that puts themselves and other road users at risk; drink driving being the major one.

Drink driving is against the law for a very good reason – it’s a fact that alcohol impairs a person’s judgment and has a significant impact on the brain. This makes driving under the influence an obvious danger, yet people are still prepared to do it – and it does cause accidents.
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Summer is finally here and we are all enjoying the recent hot weather and hoping that this is going to last throughout July, August and beyond. With the 6 weeks school holidays fast approaching I’m sure many people will be looking at ways to entertain their children and one popular way in which to do this would be to hire a bouncy castle, particularly for summer birthday parties.

However due to the nature of bouncy castles there is always risk of injury and it is important that parents and guardians who are thinking of hiring these types of inflatables do properly think of the risks involved and be aware of the required level of care and supervision.
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If you have had an accident in a taxi, you may be wondering what you can do. If you were the passenger in the vehicle it may seem unfair that you have experienced injury and loss because of someone else’s fault.

Sounds familiar to you? Then perhaps you should consider placing a claim for compensation. As a passenger in a taxi, it’s more than likely that you had no influence over the accident and therefore, in the eyes of the law, you are considered an innocent party. This in theory should mean that your claim for compensation is fairly straight forward as it won’t be difficult to prove it was someone else’s fault.

You should always try to record the circumstances of the accident as soon after the event as possible, so that everything is still fresh in your mind. Take details of any people who may have witnessed your accident,  obtain details of all parties  involved such as the vehicle registration, names, taxi driver number and company the taxi driver works for. All this information will be very useful in your claim for compensation.
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Choosing a solicitor is a big decision; and it’s a decision all claimants should take some time to consider. But there are certain alleys in road accident claims you should avoid – and now, this is even more important!

At the end of April this year, the protocol for road accidents changed. A road accident is submitted and dealt with through an online portal established by the Ministry of Justice that we solicitors and the insurers progress the claims through. Generally, it’s a great new system, as it makes the whole process a lot quicker. But we have found a significant flaw that we hope to be rectified shortly. According to the powers that be for the process, changing your solicitor part way through a claim, currently, cannot be done – So why is this a problem?
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For anyone bike enthusiasts out there, this may appeal to you! It’s a thrilling form of transport the motorbike, but thrills and dangers often go hand in hand in life. And let’s face it – motorbikes are certainly dangerous! Not so much because of the bike itself, but being out there on the roads.

Road accidents are common; they really do just happen all the time! And we at The Injury Lawyers take on increasing amounts of road accident claims on a day to day basis – although this is not just because they’re common, but through our sterling reputation! And in most cases, the injuries involved are all quite linear and common; whiplash! But the motorcyclist on the road does not enjoy the protection of being strapped in a metal box with air bags and bumpers; if a motorcyclist is injured in an accident, they are likely to suffer far more than the usual neck and back pain.

With more severe injuries comes a more complex compensation claim, with more time and resources needing to be spent on the case to make sure it is maximised. And for this reason, it is so important for victims to enlist the help of an expert independent personal injury lawyer.
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According to a latest report from the BBC (source) the recent National Patient Safety Agency figures indicate that women are not being checked for pregnancy before ongoing surgery. The figures reported show that there have been 42 serious incidents between 2003 and 2009 as a result of surgery on a patient where the surgeons were unaware that the patient was pregnant. Three of these reported incidents sadly culminated in miscarriage. 

Under national guidelines, medical practitioners must always check with the patient whether there is a chance that she may be pregnant before she undergoes surgery, and particularly if that surgery is to the abdomen or the pelvis.

Surgery in the early stages of pregnancy is very risky to the developing foetus and therefore it is vitally important that the surgeon is aware of any early pregnancy. If the surgeon is aware of the patient’s pregnancy then they may be able to make some changes to their plans to limit any risks to the patient or the foetus. The surgery may be delayed or they may be able to change the type of procedure or the anesthetic used to make the surgery less risky.
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People fall over all the time, it’s more common for the elderly to trip and they aren’t as responsive as they once may have been. Sometime the falls happen because the person in question looses balance etc. but sometime the falls can happen as a result of someone else’s negligence.

Many people are unaware that if you have an accident on a public road or footpath and the accident has happened because of a defect in the road then you may potentially have a valuable claim for compensation.

The council are required to maintain public footpaths and public highways, if this hasn’t happened then the council may be negligent.
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An accident at work can happen more frequently than many of us realise and people need to be aware of the dangers surrounding them.

Particularly employees who work for manufacturing companies with large machinery, as they are more susceptible to injury. A prime example of this is one gentleman who recently lost 4 of his fingers according to “The Claim Connection Website”.

The incident tells us that the gentleman in question was working with a colleague on some machinery which was used to cut plastic. The plastic became jammed in the machine and the gentleman thought his colleague had switched off the machine so he put his hand inside to free the piece of plastic and the guillotine cutter came down and severed four of his fingers.
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Cases of stress in the workplace are on the rise every year and it is becoming a costly problem for all businesses. Studies have shown that approximately 1 in 3 of all workers experience high level of stress and a quarter of all workers state that their job is the main cause of stress in their lives. The latest figures released by the Health and Safety Executive show that absences from work cost the economy over £12 billion and of this it is estimated that stress related illness and absence now costs in the region of £5-7 billion.

So, what is workplace stress and what can you do about it? The Definition of workplace stress is the harmful physical and emotional response that occurs when there is a poor match between job demands and the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker. If you have suffered extreme stress as a result of your job then you may be able to claim compensation however, proving such claims is notoriously difficult as the evidential burden on anyone making a claim is extremely high. Another of the main problems in making a claim for stress is proving foreseeability and you need to ask the question: is it reasonable to suggest that the employer could have foreseen the injury?
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