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Accidents at work can be extremely serious- especially if you work with dangerous equipment. Injuries can be extremely debilitating and can even affect future employment opportunities. Although many people know they are entitled to compensation and may be in desperate need of it to cover loss of earnings, medical expenses and other such losses, many are hesitant to claim against their employer.

However, employers know that, unfortunately, accidents are a part of life and although all steps can be taken to avoid them, it is sometimes unrealistic to think that one is never going to happen. For this reason, employers are obliged to have Employer’s Liability Insurance under The Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 and they can be fined if they are not found to have a valid policy in place – (this is different to Public Liability Insurance which is sometimes optional).

This ensures that, if an employee is injured in the workplace, the employer will be able to meet the claim for compensation should they be eligible to make one. Usually, this means that the claim is between us and their insurance – for example the majority of the time the employer will receive the letter of claim (this is the first letter that is sent from us detailing the claim) and pass it straight across to the insurance and then it is them that we will correspond with- not your actual employer.
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Very common question we get here at The Injury Lawyers; but the answer is not so easy to give you. I will try and be brief with this blog so you can get an insight in to how we find out what your claim is worth, and why I can’t tell you now!

There is only one foolproof way to value a claim for personal injury compensation – by seeing a qualified medico-legal expert who produces a report, and by having an expert personal injury solicitor to assess the report and value the claim.

This is the way to truly find out how much the claim is worth.
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Losing a loved one is a harrowing experience. This can be intensified when the incident involves an element of negligence on behalf of a third party. In the event a loved one has lost their life as a result of negligence (e.g. some sort of preventable incident), the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 (‘the Act’) may apply should the need arise to make a claim for compensation.

The Act allows a claim to be brought against a negligent third party, if that act caused or contributed to the death of your loved one; despite the fact that your loved one has passed. To be successful, under the Act, it would need to be proved that any ‘wrongful act, neglect or default’ occurred which would have given your loved one entitlement to maintain a claim and recover damages from that third party.

By way of example, this could be circumstances relating to a work place accident; a negligent act made on behalf of a medical professional, or a road traffic accident attributed to negligence.
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Everyone knows that patience is a virtue; but a very common question we get here at The Injury Lawyers is how long will my claim take?

There is no absolute right or wrong answer to this question as every claim is as different as the person making it; in fact even if the same person makes two claims they won’t necessarily have the same facts or get the same amount of compensation.

While it is difficult to say that a claim will last an exact amount of time, we are able to give guidelines as to how long your claim should take if all goes well. When you claim with us at The Injury Lawyers we will always work as quickly as possible to progress your claim toward the best settlement possible for you, and we say that on straightforward claims this can be done in as few as 6-9 months.
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Industrial deafness is a form of industrial disease. If you are suffering from industrial deafness then you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation.

Noise in the workplace is a significant hazard. Historically employers were not aware of the dangers of noise exposure. This led to a cut off date in terms of bringing a claim for industrial deafness. The Courts have ruled that you cannot bring a claim for compensation for industrial deafness where the exposure to noise occurred solely before 1963. Where exposure occurred partly before 1963 and partly after 1963 then may be entitled to bring a claim, however any damages would have to be apportioned accordingly.

To give an example of this consider that Joe Bloggs was exposed to noise between 1960 and 1966. The first period (i.e. between 1960 and 1963) would be classed as non negligent exposure and therefore Joe Bloggs will probably not be able to recover compensation for exposure to noise during this period.
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We get a lot of enquiries from people who have been persuaded by insurers to deal with their personal injury claims directly with them. It’s a common problem in the claiming industry, and it’s known as Third Party Capture. Basically, the insurers of the party at fault will contact the innocent victims direct and offer to deal with the personal injury claim without solicitors.

They will tell you that it’s quicker, easier, and you’re cutting out the middleman; and by claiming directly with them, they will give you a little more money as they will save themselves a fortune on not paying legal fees.

But what you have to ask yourself is, in the grand scheme of things – why would they do this?

It’s literally all about saving money. I doubt very much that they will offer you an extra £1,500, which is generally what the solicitors’ legal fees will equate to. In fact, it’s unheard of as far as I’m aware. But the main thing you have to realise, which is something you might not have considered, is the fact that you have nobody fighting your corner for the case. In fact, you entirely at the mercy of the insurers who are liable to compensate you.
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In today’s vast market it can be difficult to find a Solicitor who you can trust to run your claim. There are so many choices as there are so many personal injury law firms.

From my experience, most firms are run in different ways and have varying structures. We have procedures in place to put us ahead of other personal injury law firms. We have to keep ahead of other law firms to allow us to represent as many clients as we can! Here we have a motto that the clients (i.e. you) are the lifeblood of our organisation.

Without clients and claims we would not be here. This is why we put clients at the forefront of our minds throughout the case. We endeavour to make sure our clients are kept regularly updated as to the progress of their claim.
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Special Damages is something that can be recovered as part of a claim for personal injury compensation.

A claim normally comes in to two parts – General and Special Damages. General Damages covers the injury itself – the pain, suffering, and loss of amenity caused by them. Special Damages is for losses and out of pocket expenses caused as a direct result of the accident or your injuries.

Lost Earnings
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It all depends on a few factors. Firstly, the accident or injuries have to have been caused through negligence. In short, someone, or some company, must have failed to do something that they can reasonably be expected to do, or have negligently done something and caused an accident or an injury.

There are genuine accidents – but if the accident caused was foreseeable, you may have a case.

The best thing you can always do is call us here at The Injury Lawyers, and explain the circumstances as to how you have been injured, and allow our team to assess the merits of your claim there and then.
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If you are lifting heavy objects at work then there is an obvious risk that you could sustain injury, especially if you have not received training or advice in respect of lifting heavy objects. An employer should provide you with training to enable you to do your job properly, without sustaining injury.

In terms of lifting heavy objects, there should be procedures in place to ensure that injuries are avoided all together or reduced as much as possible. In some jobs lifting and carrying heavy objects is simply part of the job. However workers should not be expected to do this blindly, they should receive training on lifting and carrying techniques.

An employer who does not provide adequate training is leaving itself open to negligence claims when employees become injured. Typical injuries could include back and or neck strain, shoulder strain etc. For objects that are particular heavy employers should consider other ways of moving the objects, perhaps by avoiding manual handling all together. You can of course move objects using equipment such as fork lift trucks.
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