One of the most common eye procedures nowadays is laser eye surgery; which does come with its own unique set of risks and potential complications. Laser eye surgery is a common vision correction procedure. It is a popular procedure for those suffering from long and short sightedness. As with any medical or surgical procedure, you should be made aware of the risks and potential side effects before deciding to proceed. It is always a balancing act between choosing to live with a problem or deciding to have surgery in the hope to correct a problem. The first laser was approved for laser eye surgery in 1998, therefore the long term safety and effectiveness of laser eye surgery is relatively unknown.

Some specific risks include the following: Some patients may lose lines of vision and this cannot be corrected with glasses, contact lenses or surgery. Some patients develop double vision or halos. Some patients may require additional treatment as only a certain percentage of people achieve 20/20 vision without the use of glasses or contact lenses. Some patients can develop dry eye syndrome which can cause irritation, intermittent blurring and other symptoms. Of course there are many other potential risks and complications.
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The law for this subject is very clear – there is a huge burden on your employer to limit as much as possible the need for manual handling at work, or risk assess it and make sure it’s done correctly to avoid any injuries occurring. If you are injured due to a manual handling activity at work, you may have a claim for compensation if your employer has failed to uphold the important duty of care they have for you.

As an example, let’s say you are asked to move a significantly large crate containing bricks. It weighs half a tonne, and unless you possess superhuman strength, it really cannot be moved manually without breaking it down.

If you have to move it, your employer should make sure that you have the right tools to move it. I would imagine a forklift truck or perhaps a pallet truck or pump truck could do the job. But what also needs to be considered in accordance with the regulations above is whether the job can be done risk free. Here is where the risk assessment comes in to place. Your employer should consider:
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If you need gloves to be able to do your job without injuring your hands, your employer has a duty to provide them to you. To quote Regulation 4 of the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992:

4.—(1) Every employer shall ensure that suitable personal protective equipment is provided to his employees who may be exposed to a risk to their health or safety while at work except where and to the extent that such risk has been adequately controlled by other means which are equally or more effective (source).

The law is clear – if there is a risk that your hands could be injured during the course of your employment, your employer should provide you with appropriate equipment to protect you from a risk. Let’s say you handle hot materials or chemicals – you need heat retardant or chemical proof gloves to prevent any potential injuries. The gloves have to be good enough for the job as well. Regulation 6 states the following:
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Who is really offering 100% compensation now?

April 1^st 2013 saw one of the biggest shake ups in the entire history of personal injury claiming. Any agreements entered in to on or after April 1^st now means that it is unlikely you will be able to receive 100% of your compensation payout. The reason is that the law changed so that now lawyers are unable to recover all of their fees from your opponent.

That’s how it worked before – we were entitled to recover all of our legal fees from the other side meaning you get to keep your full payout. Now, there are two things we can no longer recover from the other side. One is something called a success fee, that is part of our fees deigned to reflect the risk of taking a case on, and the other is something called an After The Event Insurance premium. This is to protect you from having to pay out for unrecoverable disbursements (things we pay out on your behalf like a medical report) or costs from the other side.
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If you have had an accident at work, what are the ins and outs of making a claim? Do you have the right to make a claim? Are you worried about what your employers will say if you make a claim? Will you have to pay to make a claim? Here’s some general advice about all three of those very common issues.

Do You have a Claim?

There are loads of workplace regulations. If you have been injured because one of these important regulations has been breached, you may well have a claim for compensation. Your employer has a very important duty of care to look after your health in the workplace. If you are injured through no fault of you own, we may be able to help you make a claim for compensation.

So to find out if you have a claim, you will need to call us on our free claims helpline on 0800 634 75 75.
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Most people nowadays try and do their little bit to be as green as possible. In our office we have a policy of naming and shaming those who leave their monitors on at the end of the working day – it’s something we check each night before we close up. With our continued efforts to be greener, and given the ridiculous price of fuel, many are taking to the streets on bikes as a cheaper and more environmentally friendly mode of transport. And I guess it’s healthier too.

But in the stressful streets of the UK as one of the hardest working countries in Europe, our roads are bursting at the seams with traffic during the rush hours as busy commuters rush to get to work on time. Many drivers don’t keep a proper look out for cyclists as it is – but at 8am in the morning when we’re tired and grumpy, we’re even less alert than we should be and accidents can easily happen.

That’s why we have a pledge to fight as hard as possible to make sure that any innocent cyclist who is hit by a negligent driver receives the compensation they deserve. We often find that injuries can be fairly serious given that you don’t have the protection a car offers when you are riding a bicycle.  That’s why our bespoke way of working is designed to not only compensate you for your injuries, but to get you the best private medical care we possibly can.
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Today is a Friday – so most of the country (I imagine) is waiting for 5’o-clock to hit so they can escape the workplace and wind down after a week of working hard. Obviously we’re not – we’re open until 10pm tonight and 9am – 5pm over the weekend (and on the bank holiday) because we’re a little crazy and like to be as accessible as possible to our clients!

But the point I’m making is that the last thing anyone expects is to be going about their daily working business and suddenly slip over and injure themselves at work.
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Cosmetic surgery used to be something that only the incredibly rich and famous could afford, with us all being  intrigued by the sudden change of appearance of famous figures such as (the most famous of them all) Michael Jackson. Even now, many glossy magazines often run stories about celebrities that may have had plastic surgery with “experts” in the field comparing photographs and guessing as to which secret procedure they have undergone.

However, when we think of these articles and photographs, our opinions don’t usually consist of comments such as “don’t they look good” or “you could never tell” – usually it is more like “that looks awful” and “why would you ever do that?!”. So why are millions still taking that plunge and going under the knife every year to change their appearance?

This question is one that unfortunately I do not have the space to fully answer in this blog; however in short it seems that we simply cannot get enough of trying to achieve our desired appearance. However, unfortunately, cosmetic surgery is not always the perfect solution it appears to be – like any other medical procedure, negligence and mistakes can occur which can leave disastrous and life threatening results.
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In our opinion, in is always best to start your whiplash claim sooner rather than later. There are several reasons for this, and I will give you three reasons why you should start your whiplash claim as soon as you possibly can!

Medical Help

In most cases we can normally arrange for private physiotherapy. We can do this right from the outset of the case and arrange for the funding of the treatment so that the other side pays for it at the end of the claim. That way you get access to private medical care when you need it the most – right at the very start of your claim when you are likely to be suffering the most.

Quicker Payment

The quicker you start the whiplash claims process, the quicker you can expect a payout! Whilst this isn’t a strict rule as sometimes you may need to wait a little while to fully heal from your injuries, starting a claim now rather than a year later will normally mean you will get your settlement cheque sooner.
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To you and me this is the surgical modification of the eyelid and can involve surgery on either the top lid, bottom lid or both. It is designed to turn back the clock on the area some consider to be the main one that “tells your age” – the eyes.

The procedure usually involves the removal of excess tissue, fat and skin which then requires removal or repositioning of the surrounding muscles. When done successfully, it can be life changing for those that have suffered with “ageing eyes” before their time or can simply give people their desired look. However, with such as invasive procedure of course comes the risk of negligence and consequently injuries that were not expected during the initial consultation.

There are obviously many inherent risks with cosmetic surgery and these should be explained to you in your initial consultation. It is important to understand that injuries arising from inherent risks are incredibly difficult to claim for as with all surgery – be that cosmetic or life saving – things can unfortunately go wrong.
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