Here at The Injury Lawyers we deal solely with personal injury claims – we are therefore experts in the personal injury field. If you are wondering whether you have to be off work to make a claim for compensation, put simply, the answer is no. If you are injured in an accident that was not your fault, you could be eligible to claim compensation. It does not matter whether or not you took time off work.

It could be that your injuries did not affect your work and therefore you may have been able to continue in your employment. With minor injuries, for example minor whiplash injuries, people may not have to take any time off work. Whether or not you do need to take time off work will depend on the nature and severity of your injuries and also the nature of the job that you do. If you do heavy manual work then you may be less able to fulfil your duties. However before taking time off speak to your employer as they may be able to offer you an alternative role while you get better. This is often referred to as “light duties”. You may be able to work but you may not be able to do anything heavy.
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If you have sustained an injury at work, such as by tripping over boxes, you may be entitled to recover compensation. Many employees are reluctant to pursue a claim against their employer for fear of losing their job or fear that it will make life at work more difficult. This is certainly understandable and ultimately it is always your choice whether or not you would like to make a claim. It is your right to claim if you have sustained injury at work and it was not your fault. Whether or not you exercise that right is a decision only you can make.

Trips at work can happen anytime, whether it is tripping over bags on the floor, boxes or cables etc. Most working environments have some kind of equipment that could potentially cause a tripping hazard. There should be procedures in place to keep employees reasonably safe and free from harm. Bags and boxes should not be left in areas where they pose a tripping hazard. These kinds of hazards can often be avoided by adopting simple but effective measures such as keeping bags under desks. Not all trips will lead to injuries and it may just be a case of embarrassment. However if you have sustained injury, you may be eligible to make a work injury claim for compensation.
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To quote (roughly, I think) from the Saw films, the human body is a miraculous creation, and can take a great deal of punishment.  If you’ve seen the films, you’ll know what I mean…

But Hollywood aside, the news that an injury you have sustained is going to leave you with a permanent problem can be devastating to hear. For reasons unknown, certain injuries just don’t heal very well, or at all. The obvious ones like amputation or the loss of an organ or similar can obviously leave you with a permanent disadvantage. But there are other things, like permanent muscular weakness or nerve damage that equally leave you with long term and potentially indefinite problems.

Commonly, bone on bone heals well, but for reasons unknown, a ruptured ligament or damaged nerve either needs reconstructing or has little or no chance of recovering. So how do we take this in to account when it comes to valuing a claim for personal injury compensation that leaves you permanently injured? How can we put a value on something that changes your life for the worse forever? It’s not easy; but as specialist injury lawyers, we do it all the time.
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Given that road accidents are so common, I can normally tell you that, statistically, the average minor whiplash claim settles for around £2,500. The bracket for minor whiplash, which is where most people will be, is between £1,000 – £5,000.

However, motorbike injuries are of course normally far worse.
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Clearly if a roof collapses and people are beneath the roof, it is highly likely that people will be injured or quite possibly killed. The potential result of such an accident is devastating. A roof could collapse because it has not been adequately checked or maintained. A roof could also collapse due to some other cause such as an explosion or not being constructed properly.

If a roof collapses at work then you may have a claim against your employer. Basically your employer is under a duty to keep you safe and free from harm. There is a requirement to maintain the workplace and keep it safe. Such requirements are all a measure of degree. Clearly if a roof collapses because it is hit by an aeroplane, there is probably not a great deal that an employer could do about it and they are unlikely to be at fault. Such an occurrence would not be foreseeable.

The most common occurrence that could give rise to a personal injury claim would be a failure to adequately maintain a roof. Due to poor maintenance a roof could collapse and cause injury. In this scenario it is foreseeable as if the roof is not properly checked or maintained, it is likely to come into disrepair. Equally if a roof collapsed in a local shop, causing injury, a right of action would be against the owner of the shop in question.
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Here at The Injury Lawyers we deal with all types of personal injury claims. We deal with many workplace accident claims which are often referred to simply as accident at work claims. Such claims can include a wide range of accidents and injuries depending on the nature of the work in question. Although many procedures and health and safety measures should, and are often are in place, accidents at work remain one of the most common types of personal injury claims.

Serious accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences must be reported in accordance with RIDDOR (which stands for the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations). Under RIDDOR an employer, the self-employed, or those in control of work premises must report any of the following:
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You know what – I’m sick to death of potholes on the road! One cost me £200 in damage in January, so I’m even more wary about potholes on the road. I’m constantly dodging them! But as is commonly the case, it’s not possible to avoid every single one. I cringe whenever I feel the dip and hear the bang of driving straight over another damned pothole!

But it’s not just vehicle damage you have to worry about in certain situations when it comes to driving over a huge gaping hole in the road. It’s very easy to end up with a whiplash injury as well as doing some damage to your car. Hitting a pothole at speed will cause your car to suddenly and violently jolt. The instinct to brake may also kick in afterwards as well, or you may lose control of the car if the hole has bust a tyre or damage your vehicle.

If you feel stiffness and pain in the neck, back, and shoulder area, usually around 12 – 24 hours after the accident, you may well be suffering from whiplash caused by driving over the hole. You should see a doctor as soon as possible and explain the accident to them so your medical records can show a record of what has happened.
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To be honest, with some companies it can be a pain; which is why we make the process simple. What you need to avoid are claims management companies, or these accident management specialists and accident advice services – they’re not lawyers, just middlemen who refer you over to a law firm for a fee. That fee is either payable by you, or is taken out the budget for running the claim, which can leave you with a rubbish service!

There is also an obvious delay as the company basically passes your claim to the highest bidding law firm. You don’t want to be in a situation where someone takes your basic details and then promises a call back within 48 hours – you want to know right from the start if you can make a claim, and most people want the ball rolling right away!

Achieving this is simple – call an independent law firm like us directly. As we are a real law firm, we won’t be passing your details around. We assess the claim, and then we actually represent you for the claim if you want us to do so. We don’t believe in waiting around – in the majority of cases we can assess your claim over the phone, and either get some paperwork out to you by first class post on the same day, or start the claim there and then.
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Potholes are everywhere at the moment – mainly because of the unpredictable weather we seem to be having at the moment. However, can you claim compensation if you are unfortunate enough to injure yourself by tripping and falling on them?

Although you may be entitled to claim it is important to make you aware that these can be very difficult cases to win. This is mainly because it is unreasonable to expect the local authority to know whenever a pothole appears and to run to it immediately and repair it- they cannot stand all day watching the roads (apparently they have other things to do). Therefore it can all come down to evidence!

As the claimant you have to prove that the part of the highway where the accident occurred was not reasonably safe. (You may notice the term “reasonable” comes into play a lot here but unfortunately there isn’t any sure fire definition it will come down to individual circumstances.) So in general when will it be considered that a highway will not be “reasonably safe”?
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Occupier’s liability means that the occupiers of a premises are required to keep people safe whilst they are on the premises for which the occupier is responsible. Occupiers liability applies to lawful visitors and to trespassers although, rightly so, lawful visitors are given greater protection than unlawful trespassers.

The term occupier is quite wide and the Courts look at the degree of control over the premises. Occupier’s liability applies where people become injured in the supermarket, in shops, in garages, in petrol station forecourts etc. If for example you slip on oil in a petrol station forecourt then you may be entitled to claim compensation. This is because the occupier has failed in their duty to keep the premises reasonably safe and to protect people from injury. Presumably you are on the petrol station forecourt to fill up your car with petrol; clearly you are therefore a lawful visitor to the premises. Each case is viewed on its merits and the Court would look at whether anything was done to warn of the danger. In addition the Court would consider how long the oil had been left on the floor, were staff aware that oil was on the floor etc?
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