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Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) is a progressive condition which can manifest itself in many ways. The overriding general symptom of a RSI is pain and discomfort. The pain would ordinarily be in the area affected. It is also common to experience tingling, numbness and swelling in the affected area.

An RSI is an injury primarily caused by carrying out repetitive tasks and forceful actions. It is often associated with tasks such as working on computers, driving, sleeping awkwardly and lifting heavy items.

In most cases, especially if the RSI is in the early stages, it can be treated by rest, exercise and massages. If the RSI develops then surgery may be required.

It is said that, over recent years, the number of compensation claims against employers for repetitive strain injuries sustained by employees whilst at work has increased significantly. This is perhaps due to professions in which workers have to complete repetitive motions over long periods of time. Of course, more and more workers use computers these days and tasks become more streamlined. This can increase the likelihood of a repetitive strain injury.
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There are two common types of accidents that can occur with manholes! (1) The manhole cover is completely missing leaving a big hole in the middle of the pavement and (2) the cover is faulty and falls through when weight is put onto it.

In both of these situations you are entitled to claim for compensation, as of course these types of accidents can cause serious injuries!

So how do you go about making a claim? Pursuing a claim for these accidents are usually against the local council or alternatively against a private company (Such as Gas or Electric) and therefore evidence is always going to be helpful at the beginning of the claim to ensure things can run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. When I say evidence I primarily mean photographs. Although, I understand, that this may not be the first thing on your mind after a nasty fall… Photographs are key evidence to prove that the cover was completely missing or faulty.
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This is a common question but unfortunately it does not have a set answer. Of course, there are certain time frames in place to ensure your claim is kept moving and dealt with; however establishing a time frame for the overall settlement is simply not possible.

The main reason for this is that every case is different! Every accident has different circumstances (although many with the “standard issues”) and consequently different people suffer differently. Compensation is based on the severity and longevity of your injury and therefore some claims will inevitably take longer if you are suffering from a serious injury.

The two main protocols in place for claims where we would be pursuing an insurer is either under the Road Traffic Accident Protocol (as it says on the tin- for road traffic accidents, or RTAP) and the Personal Injury Protocol (PI). The latter is the one followed for accidents at work, whiplash injury claims and other slip and trip accidents.
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Most people want to know how long a claim will take, but in reality any time frame you are given is simply an estimate based on averages. For example a solicitor may say that a typical road traffic accident claim could settle within 6 to 12 months. However, this cannot be relied upon as a guaranteed fact.

The truth is that solicitors cannot say with any great certainty how long a claim will take.
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A main concern for many people when they have had an accident is that they may not be able to return to their trade. For example: if an electrician is involved in an accident in which they seriously damage their hand, it is unlikely that they will be able to continue to work in this trade if they can’t use their hand as well as they used to be able to. When this happens you are said to be “disadvantaged on the open labour market” as your employability is ultimately affected.

Primarily, it is important that if you feel your injury is going to affect your line of work that you mention this at the start of your claim. This is because the burden of proof is on the claimant and therefore you (and your injury lawyer!) must show that the injury will affect future prospects of work. Of course, in the above example it is quite straight forward but this is not always the case, especially if the injury concerned is partly psychological.

There are different circumstances that can arise under this heading. It may be that you cannot continue to work at all, can simply not work in a particular trade or cannot work in your trade for a certain amount of time. In all these circumstances there is the possibility to claim for the decline in employability.
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When you are suffering from an injury as a result of an accident, it is common that you will incur some losses. This can include things such as loss of earnings, medical and treatment expenses but also care and assistance whereby your friends and family have to help with everyday tasks that when uninjured can seem pretty mundane.

When claiming for losses however, you do not simply have free reign to claim everything and anything you can think of- your losses have got to be “reasonable”. Although at first this may seem like a legal technicality, it does usually come down to common sense and you can ensure you are staying within the proximity by simply thinking “is this reasonable?” every time you are going to incur a loss. For example:  going on a 5* all inclusive spa holiday because you have suffered a neck injury may not be – but going for a few massages to release tension probably is.

Mitigating your losses basically means keeping your losses to a reasonable minimum. For example; in relation to loss of earnings if a medical report states that you are fit to work after 2 weeks and you chose to stay off longer, the extra loss incurred may not be recoverable as you cannot be seen to have helped yourself.
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Suffering from a psychological injury can be just as distressing as suffering from any physical one but claiming for psychological injury can be an incredibly difficult thing to do sometimes.

Commonly the main thing in these claims is that the injury HAS to be a recognised psychological injury; i.e. not just natural human emotions such as stress, anxiety and worry.  Therefore if you are looking to proceed with this type of claim it is imperative to seek a medical diagnosis.

Secondly, another common thing is establishing whether you would be classed as a “primary” or “secondary” victim. The leading case in this area comes from something that has been in the news a lot recently and which claimed the Christmas number one this year – The Hillsborough Disaster of 1989.

Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police, concerned several claimants wishing to pursue a claim for psychiatric damage caused by either seeing relatives suffer in the crush or alternatively experiencing the aftermath of the disaster. The court grouped these types of claimants into the category of “secondary” victims as they were not injured or in danger of immediate injury; those that were, were classed as “primary” victims.
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We know that there is a lot of competition in the personal injury world – with each firm looking the same as the next, it can be hard to chose who to go with. However, when you dig beneath the surface, law firms can be VERY different from one another. Here at the Injury Lawyers we have strove to ensure that we stand out from the rest.

Unlike some companies out there, we are an actual law firm. We are not a claims company, advice helpline, or some sort of agent. We can give you legal advice right from your initial call and it is us that actually deal with your case if you instruct us to. The advice we give you from the beginning is therefore real legal advice regarding your potential claim. We do not pass your details around, so there are no middlemen taking cuts from your claim.

Unfortunately, many companies do involve themselves in this practice and this can affect how your claim is run. If the firm pays £1,000 (the going rate) to a middleman for your details, this takes away funds from the fees allocated to run your case and therefore it is very likely that they cannot provide the great service we do and cannot fight as hard for a higher payout. Essentially they’ve squandered a load of their budget on paying a middleman – the referral fees are not recoverable from the other side.
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As a firm of specialist personal injury lawyers with years of claims experience under our belt, we’re more than used to dealing with insurers, and we’re more than used to the fact that they aren’t always the easiest of people to work with! Thankfully there are protocols in place where we can impose deadlines on insurers to respond to claims within appropriate timeframes.

For example, when a letter of claim is submitted to a Defendant in a common accident at work, occupiers case (like in a supermarket or shop), claim due to defects on the highways, or product claims for example, the other side has 21 days to acknowledge the letter of claim under the pre-action protocol for personal injury. Once it has been passed to whoever will be dealing with the case, usually an insurer, they have three months to investigate a claim. So, generally speaking, the other side has just under four months in theory to respond with a decision as to whether they will pay you out for the claim or not.

Some may respond quickly, leaving you knowing whether the other side intends to defend the claim at an earlier stage; whilst some may well take the entire timeframe just to come back to us. Some may not respond at all – in this case we can issue an application for pre action disclosure against them to force them to respond with the power of a court order. This unfortunately will add time to the claim, but at least it’s something we can do to force a response in the event they fail to respond. An application, if successful, is costly for insurers; so it’s within their interests to respond in time!
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The only way to value a claim for personal injury compensation is by getting examined by an appropriate expert who then produces a medico-legal report, that is in turn used by a fully qualified personal injury lawyer who will review the evidence and value the claim based on the correct legal guidelines.

On top of that, if you have suffered any loss of earnings, or medical expenses, travel expenses, care and assistance from friends and family etc, these can be added in as well.
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