If you are asked to move heavy furniture at work, it’s probably going to be quite difficult to move by yourself. Normally help is required to do it safely. But what if you are asked to lift heavy furniture all by yourself?

The applicable law is The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. Regulation 4 (b) states that each employer shall:

(i) make a suitable and sufficient assessment of all such manual handling operations to be undertaken…

(ii) take appropriate steps to reduce the risk of injury to those employees arising out of their undertaking any such manual handling operations to the lowest level reasonably practicable

This puts a duty on your employer to make sure that any manual handling tasks that are done are safe. So if your employer asks you to move heavy furniture and you are injured as a result, they are either failing to properly assess the task, or ignoring the fact that the task is clearly dangerous in the first place.
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We are somewhat of an expert firm of injury lawyers when it comes to breast surgery. We represent a large proportion of the women claiming compensation for the faulty and dangerous PIP breast implants; a scandal which came to light in late 2011. So here is a little advice about the prospect of making a claim when breast surgery has gone wrong.

First things first, cosmetic compensation claims are not always easy to win. A lot can go wrong with any surgery, particularly surgery as invasive as breast augmentation. When it comes to implants, a foreign body is being put in to your body, and there are always risks associated with this.

So if something has gone wrong, we need to identify the cause and whether the problem has been caused as a result of negligence or an inherent risk.

For example, an infection is a very common inherent risk of most procedures like this. If you suffer from an infection, it can be difficult to claim because it is so common. Nothing much can be done to stop a general infection. So we need to clarify that the problem has been caused as a result of a mistake.
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When we act on your behalf in pursuing a personal injury claim, we aim to recover General Damages (damages for your injury and suffering) and Special Damages (any loss that you have incurred due to the accident). Special Damages can be wide ranging from claiming travel expenses, medical expenses to claiming for damaged clothing, care and assistance, lost earnings etc. In this blog I will attempt to explain how we go about recovering lost earnings after an accident.

We can try and recover lost earnings if you have been injured in an accident and as a result you were not able to work and you lost earnings as a result. We can even claim for loss of overtime pay if we can prove that you worked overtime before the accident but were not able to after the accident. As I say, Special Damages are wide ranging. The most important aspect of any Special Damages claim is providing documentary proof/evidence that the loss actually occurred.

In terms of lost earnings we would ask you to send in pay slips for a number of months prior to the accident. We would also request pay slips for the period following the accident (if applicable). If you have sustained a loss of earnings then the pay slips should show this. Perhaps you can only work reduced hours after the accident, your earnings would be down and we can seek to recover the difference. If your wage is not set (i.e. you receive a different amount of pay each week or month) then we can calculate your average pay for say the 6 month period before the accident. We can use the average pay figure to calculate your loss after the accident.
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As our name kind of infers, we deal only with claims for personal injury. But we don’t just deal with road accidents and workplace claims, we have specialist lawyers for medical negligence cases, and we have been taking on large volumes of claims for cosmetic surgery negligence over the last few years.

If you have had cosmetic surgery and something has gone wrong, can we help you out on a No Win No Fee basis?

Our No Win No Fee does exactly what it says on the tin. If we are confident that we can win your case, we can agree to represent you on a No Win No Fee basis. Normally this means that we are confident that we can win the case to the extent that we are willing to waive our legal fees in the event the case doesn’t win. If it doesn’t win, our legal fees are of course not recoverable from the other side. Yes, we incur a loss – but it is our decision as to whether we will work for you on a No Win No Fee basis or not.
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Liposculpture involves using ultrasound to break down fat before removal, and/or surgery to remove fat where it is excessive and potentially add it to other areas of the body with the aim to get a better shape. It is in many ways a form of liposuction.

In a world where appearance is everything, it isn’t surprising that many people now turn to cosmetic surgery to improve their appearance. The industry is worth a lot of money as people are willing to pay thousands and thousands of pounds to look as good as they possibly can.

As a leading law firm in the battle for PIP breast implant compensation, we know all too well that the industry in the UK is poorly regulated and procedures are on the rise. It’s therefore no surprise to our clinical negligence lawyers here at The Injury Lawyers to see an increase in the amount of people asking for our help to make a claim for compensation when things go wrong.
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Because we specialise and only represent victims for compensation claims, we don’t just deal with the standard cases – we deal with all varieties of claims. As a leading law firm in compensation for the ongoing PIP breast implant scandal, and with an increase in readily available beauty treatment on the high street, we have seen an increase in the amount of people asking us for help when things go wrong.
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On 1^st April 2013, the whole personal injury system was shaken to its core when the government decided that the innocent victims should not be allowed to recover all their legal fees for pursuing a claim from the opponent. Whilst lawyers can still recover most things, we are no longer allowed to recover a success fee, which helps us fund no win, no fee claims, or an After The Event insurance premium, which is insurance to protect the client against costs.

A cap has been placed on lawyers so we cannot charge anymore than 25% of a person’s claim for pain and suffering and past financial losses for the success fee, and most law firms are now charging the full 25%. On top of that, they are asking for payment of the insurance as it’s no longer recoverable from the opponent either. To try and help offset clients being charged, compensation victims do get an extra 10% compensation under the new rules – but they are still at a loss.

According to our research so far, the vast majority of law firms have settled on charging the full 25% and are asking for payment of the insurance. People are losing out. But our boss here at The Injury Lawyers decided to be different – as we have always tried to be!
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Traction alopecia is a condition caused by continuous “pulling” on the hair follicles. This pulling puts stress on the hair and therefore ultimately it commonly results in premature hair loss and balding patches that many people may complain of.

One of the main causes of this condition is badly fitted hair extensions – more frequently with the hair extensions that are “bonded” to the hair rather than glued (however it can occur in both circumstances) as the natural hair is put under a lot of stress supporting the greater weight of the extra hair. Many Claimants’ often complain that the injury occurs most frequently around the hairline and temples as naturally the hair is always thinner.

There are two ways which the hair extensions can be negligently fitted:
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When it comes to manual handling at work, there are specific regulations that your employer needs to abide by. These are the covered by The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. Under 4.—(1) of the regulations, each employer shall:

(i) make a suitable and sufficient assessment of all such manual handling operations to be undertaken by them
(ii) take appropriate steps to reduce the risk of injury to those employees arising out of their undertaking any such manual handling operations

So, any manual handling activities you undertake should be risk assessed by your employer to determine how to best manoeuvre the load(s) and what prerequisites need to be taken in to account. As the title of this article suggests, we will look at your eligibility to make a claim in the event no equipment was provided to you for a manual handling activity.
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When we purchase or use a product, whatever the type of product, we expect certain standards. Most of us are aware that products should meet certain standards before they are allowed to be sold to the public. Indeed businesses making products for consumers must adhere and comply with product safety laws and regulations.

It could be said that the biggest burden or responsibility lies on the producers or manufacturers of a product. Although the product may be sold by a shop it is the manufacturer’s responsibility to comply with product safety laws. If something is wrong with the product and injury is caused as a result, any claim is likely to be directly against the manufacturer. It should be noted that shops and distributors do also have legal responsibilities.
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