Most industry workers will be aware of the term PPE, or Personal Protective Equipment. In many jobs PPE is required in order to keep workers safe and free from injury or harm. Without adequate PPE injuries are more likely to occur and this ultimately can cost a company a lot of money in dealing with personal injury claims. There is a duty on employers to keep employees reasonably safe and free from harm. One method of protecting employees from harm is providing them with adequate PPE.

PPE can be in many different forms from hard hats, steel toe cap boots, overalls, high-visibility vests, goggles, gloves, ear muffs etc. Each item of PPE is designed to protect employees from hazards in the workplace. Workers who use potentially dangerous chemicals as part of their job (such as employees of pharmaceutical companies) should be provided with adequate eye protection. Equally people who work in the steel industry should be provided with adequate hearing protection and people who work on building sites should be provided with hard hats, high visibility vests and potentially other protection such as hearing protection.
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Most people want to know at the outset of a claim how much compensation they are likely to recover. While this question is understandable to ask, Solicitors cannot give you a value with any great certainty at the outset of your claim. To understand why this is the case, you need to look at how claims are valued. In law, another term for value is quantum. When a claim is initiated your injuries are more likely to be still ongoing rather than resolved, unless there was some delay between the accident and you bringing a claim for compensation.

Either way, to value a claim we rely upon medical evidence. We arrange for you to be examined and assessed by a suitably qualified and experienced medical professional. The type of expert that examines you will depend on the nature of your injuries. You may be examined by a General Practitioner Expert, an Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon, an Orthopaedic Expert, a Psychologist, etc.
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There are certain places where road accidents commonly occur. The more common ones are roundabouts, from side roads, car parks, and petrol station forecourts / garages. For this article, as the title suggests, I’m going to focus on claims on a petrol station forecourt involving cars.

You fill up your car with overpriced petrol, wincing at the price that comes up on the screen at the pump, and then begrudgingly make your way to the kiosk to tear a huge hole in to your pocket given the high price you have to pay to keep your car on the road. This naturally means you’re likely going to walk across a petrol station forecourt – which of course is full of cars moving around after they’ve finished filling up and paying. Right there is one of the primary reasons you can be injured on the forecourt; because there are generally no designated traffic routes around.
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If you sustain injury on someone else’s premises or land, then you may be entitled to recover compensation.  This is because occupiers of premises or land are under a duty to take reasonable care for those using the premises or land. This area of law is commonly governed by the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 (which deals with accidents involving lawful visitors) and the Occupiers Liability Act 1984 (which deals with accidents involving trespassers).

An “occupier” of premises or land is someone who is in control of that premises or land. This could be control of a supermarket, a shop, a warehouse, a car park, etc. The occupier could be an individual, a company, a local council or a partnership. If there is an argument or disagreement as to whether or not someone is an occupier, the Courts look at the judgement in Wheat v Lacon [1966] which noted that a person is an occupier if he has a sufficient degree of control over premises that he ought to realise that any failure on his part to use care may result in injury to a person lawfully there. The Occupiers Liability Act also notes that occupiers must be prepared for children to be less careful than adults. This means that if a child does something a little bit silly, such as eating poisonous berries in a park, sustaining injury, then liability could be established – this was the facts in the case of Glasgow v Taylor [1922].
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Hearing deteriorates with age and this is something that we cannot avoid. As we get older it is likely that we will require hearing aids. When people start to lose their hearing it is natural and automatic to put the deficiency down to age. However if you worked in an environment with excessive noise levels, have you considered that you may be suffering from industrial deafness/noise induced hearing loss?

The fact of the matter is that many people are not aware that they are suffering from industrial deafness. They notice a hearing deficiency and automatically assume this is due to the natural ageing process.

If you were exposed to excessive noise at work then it is likely that you will have developed industrial deafness/noise induced hearing loss. You may not notice a hearing problem at the time of the exposure to excessive noise. This is normal. What happens is the noise levels damage your hearing but you only notice the hearing loss when you get older and age associated hearing loss adds to the noise induced hearing loss. By having a hearing test, an Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon may be able to advise you if you have any hearing loss which is due to noise exposure.
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Whiplash claims are oh so common; and the question as to how much compensation you are allowed to recover for a whiplash claim is all over the internet. We have done a fair few articles on this topic in the past, but the reason I wanted to write about this today is because I have a whiplash claim and I’ve just received my very first offer! Very exciting…
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Pursuing a claim for compensation is a big decision and is one that in a lot of circumstances is a necessity to cover any losses and of course help with any future inconvenience. Therefore when you are looking for an Injury Lawyer, you want one that will ensure your claim is run efficiently and brought to a successful conclusion as quickly as possible.

The first step to ensuring that this will happen is to instruct your own solicitor directly. This cuts out any middle men such as claims management companies and claims farmers who will simply gather your details, and hold on to them before referring them to a solicitor. This solicitor may then take time to process the claim and contact you and so on and so forth. As you can see this is a lengthy process and one that can simply be completely avoided by contacting a solicitor direct. Here at the Injury Lawyers, we can get your claim moving the exact same day. We simply gather all the information we need and get things moving- it really is that simple.
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Potholes are unfortunately very common on both our footpaths and roads and therefore accidents resulting from them are also a lot more common than people would think! Injuries caused in these accidents can be incredibly painful and debilitating so can you claim for compensation?

The straight forward answer is yes but they are not the easiest of claims – the council is under a duty to take all “reasonable steps” to ensure the area is safe. Therefore, if they have good inspection regimes in place this can make your claim incredibly difficult. It is simply unrealistic and probably not that fair to expect the council to be able to keep an eye on every bit of pavement or road for when a pothole appears- especially with the in-climate weather we are experiencing at the moment!

Another key aspect of pothole claims is that the defect has to be a “foreseeable risk” – therefore one of the key bits of evidence and one of the most important things that a personal injury solicitor will request from you is photographs and measurements of the defect!
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What do we mean when we say GENUINE lawyer? Surely anyone saying they are a personal injury firm must be one? Unfortunately not!

There are certain companies out there that simply gather claims and direct them to actual law firms for a price. These companies are known as Case Management Companies or claims farmers. Ensuring you have a genuine personal injury lawyer running your case is extremely important for 2 main reasons:

1. The service level you will receive
2. The settlement you may receive.

Basically, by going through a Claims Management Company, rather than instructing your own solicitor can affect both of these things and unfortunately in a negative way.
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Many people rely on public transport to get around and the most common kind of public transport is the bus networks. Most of us live within close proximity to bus stops unless you live in a rural area. If you get on a bus and sustain injury, whether that injury be caused by defective items on the bus or by the driver’s negligence, then you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation.

Ultimately it is the responsibility of the bus company to keep passengers safe and free from harm. A bus company is liable for the acts of its employees acting in the course of their employment. Therefore if a bus driver is negligent and causes an injury, a claim can be brought against the bus company.

If you sustain injury on a bus as a result of a broken chair, then chances are you are entitled to recover compensation. It is the responsibility of the owner of the bus (the bus company) to ensure that the bus is reasonably safe. Any defect on the bus should be rectified to prevent injury from occurring. If there is a defect on a bus then the defect should be rectified before the bus is put into service. You’d normally expect a bus to be inspected at least once  day.
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