Personal Protective Equipment (or PPE for short) is essential in many occupations. Any equipment or clothing you need to keep you safe in the workplace is covered by specific regulations relating to the Provision and Use of Work Equipment. Such equipment can range from gloves to prevent contact with irritant chemicals in a kitchen, to hard hats on a building site, or to breathing apparatus for dealing with asbestos.

One example of where PPE is very important is when it comes to knees. A great deal of professions involve getting down to low heights and small spaces; so kneeling on hard floors may be a common thing for you. Plumbers do it to get beneath sinks; carpet fitters do it to lay the carpets; anyone who needs to work at low heights is likely to do the obvious thing and kneel on the floor. But is that safe?

Most people probably don’t consider the damage that can be done to your knees by kneeling down for extended periods of time. By kneeling down and working in crouched positions, trauma can be caused to the knee joint over and over again, which in turn causes injuries like cartilage wear and tear, build up of fluids, or common conditions like beat knee (or carpet layer’s knee, coal miner’s knee, or housemaid’s knee as is it also known as). The trauma that can be caused by repeatedly staying down on your knees on a hard surface can be significant.
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Ear, Nose and Throat Surgery (ENT Surgery) is the study of disorders in relation to the ears, the nose and the throat – rather obviously. This is done by an ENT Surgeon. If you have sustained injury as a result of negligent treatment or care from an ENT Surgeon then you may have a course of action in medical negligence. Although this is relatively uncommon, patients can still receive sub standard care and it could even be that a mistake has been made during surgery. This can lead to often serious injuries and distress for the patient.

Negligence in this area can be from a wide range of sources. Initially negligence could arise from a failure to diagnose a condition. Negligence can also come from sub standard treatment or actual surgical mistakes. For example if you sustained nerve damage as a result of negligence during treatment, you may be able to make a claim. There are other potential injuries such as damage to bones surrounding the eye/skull, permanent loss of smell etc. Clearly with surgery there are certain risks and in this sense clinical negligence cases are more complex. The potential injuries are severe.
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It’s so common for people to want to know how much they might be awarded for making a claim for compensation. The fact is, it’s very hard to tell right from the start of the claim, as it’s all based on medical evidence and losses. So, to help you out, here is a quick guide on the sorts of things we look at when valuing a claim for compensation.

The Injury

You can, of course, claim for the injury. The amount is based on the severity and length of any pain, suffering, and loss of amenity. Generally speaking, the more you suffer the more we get for you. We value the claim based on medical evidence which we obtain from a suitable qualified expert. If you suffer a broken bone, you will normally be seen by an orthopaedic expert. If you sustained a laceration or a burn, you would commonly see a plastic surgeon.
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We get a lot of enquires from people who have been injured in an accident on a bus. Whether you have a claim or not can commonly come down to one simple question: was there a collision?

If there was a collision with another vehicle, you should have an excellent claim. The reason is because the fault should lie between either or both of the parties involved. Vehicles don’t just crash in to each other for no reason… not normally anyway. As such, someone, or both drivers, are at fault.

What if the collision was with a building, or a lamppost or other object? Well if the bus driver is at fault, you have a good chance of making a claim against the bus company. Essentially, as long as someone is at fault, and there is viable insurance to potentially claim from, we should be able to pursue a claim for you.
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Supermarkets can be like obstacle courses sometimes – what with cages, boxes and staff everywhere you turn! So what happens if one of these obstacles unfortunately causes you to have a nasty fall and consequently injure yourself? The answer – you are entitled to claim for compensation!

I am not going to pretend that these are the easiest cases we deal with here at The Injury Lawyers, as that simply would not be true. These cases come under something called the Occupier’s liability Act which means that the occupier of any premises has to ensure that the area is safe for lawful visitors. Leaving boxes hanging around in the aisles certainly does not appear to adhere to this principle.
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When it comes to personal injury claiming, we are the experts! As an actual law firm dealing with claims (not some claims management company passing you over to the highest bidding lawyer!) our expertise in whiplash claims spans over decades. Whiplash is the most common injury involved in a road accident, and when it comes to road accidents, they’re usually fairly straightforward when it comes to proving who is at fault. Most people can normally work out right at the start that they definitely have a claim, but they’re not sure how much they can claim for.

Given that, our busy new claims team are often asked the question “how much is my whiplash claim worth?” Now, it’s important to understand that this isn’t something anyone can just easily answer. Each claim is different and is assessed on its own merits – so we can’t just say to you “Oh, that’ll be worth £3,000 mate!” Then comes the next question, “Well, just give me a ball park figure or an average – I won’t hold you to it!” The last bit usually makes me chuckle a little.
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If you are pursuing a personal injury compensation claim then you probably want to know the possible value of your claim (i.e. how much compensation you will receive). You may receive something called a “pre-medical offer” from the Defendant.

A pre-medical offer is simply an offer to settle your claim before you have been examined by a qualified and professional medical expert. It’s important to note that the Defendant is not being nice or amicable by making a pre-medical offer; it’s more than likely they’re only trying to save themselves some money.
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If you have fallen down a manhole or stepped on a manhole cover that was defective, sustaining injury, then you may be able to make a claim for compensation. Some people tend to walk around manhole covers for no apparent reason. Considering the number of claims we deal with involving manhole covers, this is probably not a bad idea. However at some time or other we have all walked over manhole covers. We expect the cover to be safe as it forms part of the pavement.

The companies responsible for the manhole cover are under a duty to ensure that the cover is safe. There is a duty to ensure that passers-by are not injured due to a defect or missing manhole cover. It is often the water board, electricity board or local council who is responsible. To ensure that the cover is safe and remains safe, a system of inspection should be in place. This means that the manhole cover should be inspected regularly and if necessary, repaired or replaced. As soon as a defect is found it should be repaired as soon as possible. Obviously if a defect is found and it cannot be rectified immediately, there should be some warning of the hazard. We would expect the manhole cover or manhole itself to be cordoned off.
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Most of us, at least those of us who drive, will have practised the emergency stop. Its part of learning to drive after all. But the question is when should it be applied and in what circumstances would it be unreasonable to perform an emergency stop?

Clearly an emergency stop is required and is reasonable in the case of an emergency, such as if a child or person ran out into the road.
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Claims for compensation are governed by rules and regulations. When we initiate a claim we proceed under something known as a protocol. A protocol is a set of guidelines or rules that should be followed both by the Claimant and the Defendant. In order to start the claims process we gather information from you (as the Claimant). We then prepare what is known as a “letter of claim”. This is a formal letter setting out the nature and circumstances of the claim. In the letter we detail the circumstances of the accident, allegations of negligence, funding arrangements, and important documents that should be disclosed if liability is not admitted etc.

The letter of claim is ordinarily sent directly to the Defendant. In some cases it could be sent to the Defendant’s insurers (for example if the Defendant was a dissolved company). Under the protocol (the set of rules) the Defendant then has a period of 21 days to acknowledge the Claimant’s letter of claim. This is simply an acknowledgement of the claim. It is also normal for the Defendant to pass the matter to their insurers. Following the 21 day period, the Defendant or their insurers have a period of 3 months to investigate the claim and provide a response. If no such response is provided in the allocated period, the Claimant (well, the Claimants solicitors normally) can consider making an application to Court for pre-action disclosure. This is known as a PAD application in short.
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