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If you have been involved in a slip, trip, or fall accident, and this accident was due to the negligence of another, you may have a strong claim for personal injury. At The Injury Lawyers we tend to see these types of claims originate from supermarkets, shopping malls and high streets – I have gone on to list some specific examples of accidents we see below:
- Slipping on a spillage negligently left uncleaned in a supermarket.
- Tripping on broken paving on the pavement.
- Falling down an uncovered manhole on the street, or the manhole having no adequate warning signs or cordons.
- Tripping over a raised or unsecured utility cover.
If any of the above have happened to you then you may have a strong claim for personal injury. If this is the case then there are a few actions which you can take to strengthen your position: I have listed some of these below:
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What Losses can you claim for?
Compensation is meant to put you back in the position you would have been in had the accident never have occurred. This means that, not only do you receive compensation for your pain, suffering, and loss of amenity – e.g. unable to complete hobbies or continue with your social life as normal – but that you can also claim compensation for the financial losses you have suffered as a result of your accident as well.
A good personal injury lawyer will advise you regarding losses right from the outset of your claim, so these can be kept a note of and evidence such as receipts and wage slips can be retained in a safe place. Once your losses are collated they are drafted into a document known as a Schedule of Loss. Your losses are dealt with separately to the claim for your injuries, therefore the Schedule of Loss would not contain a provision for your injury compensation. Injury compensation is a point of negotiation; losses can also be a negotiation process as you do not always get 100% of what you claim for, but the amount you are claiming is generally quantifiable.
I have listed some of the more common types of losses below:
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If you have been injured as a result of a faulty/contaminated product, you would bring your claim as a Product Liability Claim. I will discuss two common types of Product Liability below:
Faulty Products
The first point to make is that Product Liability claims can be difficult claims to run and difficult to be successful with. This is firstly due to the fact that the claim can go between the sellers and the manufacturers as to who is to blame, and secondly manufacturers of products can be difficult to locate; so this can be an added struggle.
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Depending on our work places, there are many different hazards which can be contained within it. It is the duty of our employer to ensure that we are protected as far as is reasonably possible from harm. This duty is enshrined in many different pieces of legislation and regulations which will not be the focus of this blog – I will however discuss below some of the main reasons why accidents can occur around the work place.
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – PPE is an umbrella term for a variety of equipment which protects you from risks to your health and safety. This equipment can include safety goggles, respirators, and safety boots – basically whatever is required to keep you safe from the necessary risks of your job. You should be adequately trained in the use of the PPE and it should be properly maintained and stored to ensure it offers you the fullest protection.
- Manual Handling – If your work requires you to complete manual handling tasks you should be trained in how to complete these tasks safely. Your employer should also be assessing any potentially hazardous manual handling tasks to see if they can be adapted, or if mechanical assistance can be provided.
- General workplace safety – Employers should ensure that the workplace is generally a safe area to work within. Obvious examples of this should be safe electrics with no exposed wiring, no trip or slip hazards as far as is reasonably possible, and no faulty equipment which could cause harm.
Road Traffic Accidents on a Roundabout
Many people can find roundabouts difficult to navigate. This is usually because the person may not know exactly where they are going and which exit off the roundabout to take – this can cause accidents and thus cause roundabouts to be one of the biggest accident hotspots.
I have listed below some of the most common reasons for accidents occurring on a roundabout:
- Negligent drivers cutting across lanes to take their exit, thus causing panic in other drivers as well as collisions.
- Negligent drivers not taking heed of traffic coming to a stop in front of them, causing a rear end shunt at the entrance to the roundabout.
- Negligent drivers entering a roundabout without making the necessary checks that the path ahead of them is clear, thus causing a collision.
- Negligent drivers not giving priority to traffic entering the roundabout to the right of them, thus causing a collision
Making a Road Accident Claim – The process
Claiming for compensation where you have been injured in a relatively minor road traffic accident can be quite a straightforward and fast process. A couple of years ago your claim could have taken well over six months; but, since April 2010 the time taken to get your compensation is now estimated at a couple of months. This is because a new protocol for low value personal injury claims arising from road traffic accidents has been introduced which has considerably speeded up the compensation process for any accidents occurring on or after 30th April 2010.
Once you have instructed a quality and expert injury lawyer who regularly deals with road traffic accident claims, and has years of experience with winning them, a Claim Notification Form will be submitted online on your behalf to the other side’s insurers. The Claim Notification Form is a straightforward document which notes your details, the details of the vehicles involved, outlines the accident and the injuries you received as a result, and the reasons why we are alleging fault for a claim. If you are unsure how to complete this at any time, do not worry – your injury lawyer will be on hand to help you and guide you through filling it in. Once completed, it is submitted electronically to the other side who have one business day to acknowledge receipt.
Once the other side’s insurers receive the Claim Notification Form they are allowed a period of 15 business days in which to formally admit or deny liability. At The Injury Lawyers we only take on claims we genuinely believe will be successful, so in this 15 day period we fully expect an admission of liability. What’s better, even though the other side have 15 days to respond, they could well admit liability within 1 or 2 days, meaning you are even closer to quickly obtaining the compensation you deserve. Under the old system, the other side had a period of 21 days to acknowledge your claim and then a further 3 months to investigate it. Now, they have just over two weeks to admit or deny liability. This is why your claim for compensation is far from arduous and can be over in a few short simple weeks.
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The term Occupier’s Liability may sound complex, but its meaning is fairly simple to explain. There are two Occupier’s Liability Acts; the one relevant for our discussions in this blog is the Occupier’s Liability Act 1957. It is this act which offers protection to the ‘lawful visitors’ of premises rather than trespassers with which the other Act deals. The act states that the Occupier has a duty to ensure its visitors will be reasonably safe when visiting its premises. Contrary to how the name sounds an Occupier need not actually occupy the premises as such; an occupier is simply the person(s) who have overall physical control over the premises. A good way to illustrate this is with the following examples of Occupier’s liablity claims:
- An item falling on you from a poorly stacked shelf in a supermarket – this may be a strong claim for personal injury and would be directed against the supermarket.
- Slipping on a spillage in a night club – if you have been injured as a result, this too may be a claim and would be directed against the nightclub.
Claiming for your Reasonable Losses
If you have been involved in an accident that was not your fault, and you have been injured as a result, you may have a claim for compensation.
Another term for compensation is ‘damages’ and there are two types of damages for which you can claim – these are General Damages and Special Damages. General damages is the compensation for your injuries – i.e. for the pain and suffering you have endured and the effects those injuries have had on your life. Special damages are the quantifiable financial losses which you have suffered as a result of your accident – these will be the topic of the following blog.
There are many types of losses which you can recoup and claim back from the other side – I have listed some of the more common types below:
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We, like many other lawyers out there, have our own personal injury calculator on our website that has been there to help accident victims get an idea as to what they could be entitled to claim for in compensation for years. Whilst the calculator can be useful, it has its numerous limitations – so, here’s a quick guide to fill you in on how it works:
How Does it Value My Claim?
Well, firstly, it’s important to understand that I’m basing this on our own calculator – as many others out there could be different. Out calculator provides you with brackets and figures based on official guidelines that we, as specialist injury lawyers, actually use when we value our own clients claims. The figures come from the JSB (Judicial Studies Board) Guidelines, which are guidelines set out to assist lawyers and insurers when it comes to agreeing settlement for a claim.
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Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE as it is more commonly known, is equipment which can be used or worn to protect you from risks to your health and safety. PPE can come in all shapes and sizes, and so can be anything from safety boots, to ear defenders, to anti vibration gloves.
It is the duty of your employer to provide the necessary PPE, and to cover the full costs of the equipment. Once you are provided with the PPE you should also be trained in its use, your employer should be able to evidence this training with documentation.
Employers must also ensure that the PPE itself does not cause a risk to health and safety, For example, there should be no risk of the PPE getting trapped in machinery or the user overheating due to it.
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