Claiming for compensation is not as complicated as it may seem. However, the thought of taking “legal action” for some people, is something they simply do not want to spend time doing as they’ll worry that it will take too long and involve attending court and all sorts of hassle..

So the purpose of this blog, is to simply put people’s minds at ease, and to ensure you that if you are thinking you’re entitled to compensation, then you should genuinely look in to making a claim!

So what is the procedure?

There are two mains protocols involved for the common compensation claims; the first is the Road Traffic Accident Protocol and the second being the Personal Injury protocol.
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Rules and regulations that employers have to abide by when it comes to manual handling activities in the course of your employment are strict and numerous. There’s a very good and rather obvious reasons for this; manual handling injuries tend to affect the back. Your back is of course one of the most important parts of the body, so injuring it can be considerably debilitating.

Whilst manual handling comes in to almost everybody’s role in some way, it applies to others far more in certain occupations. It applies minimally for me as I’m an office worker, lifting only boxes of paper or files on the odd occasion.

But a plumber, or a mechanic, or anyone on a constructions site or in a warehouse, are going to be doing a lot of lifting as part of their role. As such, proper manual handling training and risk assessments should be done by your employer to comply with the law!
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Many people up and down the UK work in offices and many underestimate how easy it is to be injured in an office environment.

By far the most common injuries faced by those working in offices are slips, trips and manual handling injuries; in fact according to Health and Safety Executive statistics for the year 2011/2012 up to 2,000,000 working days were lost to these injuries (source). While not all of these will have been in offices it is easy to see how they might occur in your office workspace.

Trailing wires from printers or computers, a bag or a coat that hasn’t been hung up or put away under a desk, amongst many other things in an office could all be tripping hazards. At the same time corridors between offices and communal areas that have tiled floors that collect water and liquids create a real risk of slipping hazards.
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There are a lot of compensation solicitors out there ready and willing to take on your case. However, unfortunately things are not always what they seem – something that advertises itself as a firm of lawyers, may actually be a claims management company that then refers you across to one of their “panel” of lawyers; so the people you speak to initially may not be legal professionals at all!

Usually these companies will put in their small print “we are a cohesion of lawyers” or a “group of lawyers” or something similar, which is a posh way of saying we are a claims management company who put you in touch with lawyers that we have chosen. Of course, this seems an absurd way of doing things as you can simply go to a solicitor direct and cut out the middleman! Not many people hire a middleman to find them a dentist, hairdresser or accountant; you simply go to them direct. So why should finding a compensation lawyer be any different?
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According to sources from the BBC (source), Aviva have a dream – a dream that will save you money. In a triple dip recession (or whatever stage we’re at with it these days!) we’re all in need of a bit of extra cash or being able to save a little extra money in the costs of living. Aviva Insurance claim they can help you out here!

Their proposal according to news sources is to “cut out middlemen who inflate the cost of claims” as they blame whiplash claims for the rapid rise in insurance premiums for cars. The middlemen, they claim, are us – personal injury law firms. What they are proposing is that injury victims go to them directly, allow the insurers then to value your claim, and pay you out without the need for paying legal fees.
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Although we use stairs all the time and they are in nearly every property, be it your home, at work, your local store or restaurant, unfortunately they can sometimes be the cause of some pretty nasty accidents and injuries! Accidents on stairs can happen for a number of reasons and therefore in this blog I will address 3 of the main types of accidents that we deal with every day involving stairs:

1. Defective stairs
2. Slips and Trips on indoor staircases
3. Slips and Trips on outdoor staircases

1. Defective stairs

The manufacturer or fitter of any stairs has an obligation to ensure that the stairs are free from defects and fitted properly to minimise the risk of any injury to their users. For example: the stairs should not have any protruding fixtures such as nails, they shouldn’t be all bumpy and uneven and they certainly shouldn’t wobble when people walk on them (this latter one mainly applies to metal and wooden staircases not concrete that stuff is pretty sturdy!). Another defect that may not be noticeable straight away is if the step has been created to be too high! Statistically if a step is just 1 inch of the common measurement more people are more likely to fall. If you have an accident because one of the above is present it is likely that you may be able to claim against either the manufacturer, company that have fitted the stairs in the property or even possibly your landlord.
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With so many personal injury firms to choose from it can be difficult to know who you can trust with your claim. Most of us would want the same thing when it comes to a personal injury claim – to get the maximum amount of compensation as quickly and as hassle free as possible. We would also expect professionalism, legal expertise, legal experience, regular updates etc.

Here at The Injury Lawyers we strive to give the best possible service to you, our clients. We have a motto that client’s are the lifeblood of our organisation. Without client’s the firm would not be operational as a business. The best way to obtain work is to do a good job and then people will not think twice about using The Injury Lawyers again. In addition, it gives us a great deal of satisfaction if clients refer our services to friends and family. We strive to do everything possible to bring your claim to a successful and swift conclusion. Just take a look at our Client Testimonials.

Of course personal injury claims do take time and at the outset no Solicitor can tell you with any great certainty how long your claim is likely to take. This is because all Solicitors work under the same rules and protocols. Insurers have set time frames in which to respond by, and in running a claim, we deal with outside agencies such as GP practices, hospitals, medical experts etc. A lot of a Solicitors job can be chasing matters, such as chasing a liability decision from an insurer. Ultimately if an insurer or third party is delaying the progress of a claim, action can be taken. We can seek the assistance of the Court in order to move the case along.
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Here at The Injury Lawyers we deal with many claims whereby people have sustained injury as a result of slipping on a wet floor. This most commonly occurs on premises such as supermarkets, shops, restaurants, bars, and clubs, as examples. You could slip on a wet floor whilst at work or whilst out doing your shopping. A wet floor is a hazard and whoever is responsible for the land or premises in question (the occupier) may be negligent and have to pay compensation to injured victims.

When floors are cleaned such as in a supermarket or shop, a wet floor sign should be deployed and displayed prominently. Displaying a clearly visible wet floor sign could be enough for the supermarket or shop to escape liability if someone slips and sustains injury.

If a wet floor sign is not erected and a person slips, sustaining injury, then it will be very difficult for the occupier to escape liability. A wet floor sign should always be erected after floor cleaning to warn people of the danger.
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If you have sustained injury at work then you may be able to make a claim for compensation. Perhaps you sustained injury due to faulty equipment in the workplace as this is a fairly common scenario.

Following the enactment of the Use of Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992 your employer is under a duty to ensure that equipment, machinery and vehicles that you use at work are suitable for their intended use. There is also a duty to ensure safety and maintenance. Further, there is a duty to make sure that the equipment, machinery or vehicle, is only used by people (staff) who have received adequate training and instruction. The equipment, machinery or vehicle must also be accompanied by suitable safety measure. The safety measures could be protective devices, markings, warning signs etc.

Your employer should ensure that equipment, machinery and vehicles are regularly checked and maintained. If an employee notices a fault then they should notify a manager or supervisor as soon as possible. However the ultimate duty is on the employer and hence regular inspections and maintenance procedure should be carried out.
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Pre-action protocols were introduced for a number of reasons. The main reason was to speed up the claims process by providing guidelines as to when insurers should respond to a claim. Most personal injury claims come under a certain protocol, all of which differ slightly.

Road traffic accidents now come under the road traffic accident protocol, industrial disease claims (e.g. industrial deafness, vibration whiter finger etc) come under the disease and illness protocol and most other personal injury claims (e.g. work accidents, trips/slips etc) come under the more general personal injury protocol. Note that road traffic accidents differ slightly in the sense that a claim can “fall out” of the road traffic accident protocol. This is because road traffic accident claims are submitted through an online portal and should insurers fail to respond to the claim in time (within 15 business days) then the claim falls out of the road traffic accident protocol and continues under the more general personal injury protocol. This means that different time frames are then in operation. This also has cost consequences as Solicitors are only entitled to recover fixed costs for claims dealt with on the online portal under the road traffic accident protocol.
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