Manual handling is lifting, lowering, filling, emptying or carrying loads. Manual handling covers carrying a person, an animal or an object. It can be said that most manufacturing or distribution works require a certain amount of manual handling. An element of manual handling probably cannot be avoided in some jobs. Some may not want a machine or automated system to carry things for us, as this could be another way of machinery taking over people’s jobs.

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 set out the measures which must be taken to reduce the risks associated with manual lifting and carrying while at work. A vast amount of accidents are associated with manual handling, although fatal manual handling accidents are rare. However serious injuries can and do happen in relation to manual handling.

The Regulations mean that employers must, whenever possible, avoid the need for employees to undertake manual handling operations. Obviously this is not possible in each and every job and if you are required to undertake manual handling duties then your employer should undertake risk assessments. Risk assessments involve a review of the whole process, for example could the work be done differently, what measures could be taken.
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SSP stands for Statutory Sick Pay. If you have been injured at work for example, then you may be entitled to make a personal injury claim. Depending on your contract with your employer, you may be entitled to full pay if you are off work as a result of your injuries.

Alternatively you may be eligible for part pay or you may not be eligible for pay at all. SSP is a payment made to many employees if their employer does not have a sick pay scheme, subject to certain criteria; however it does not provide the same amount of income as an employee’s normal wage.

When you make a personal injury claim, you can claim General Damages which covers your injury and you can claim Special Damages which covers, among other things, loss of earnings. The only difficulty is that most heads of claim are settled at the end of a claim, so if you are out of work with no income, then it can be some time later when you eventually recover your lost earnings. Interim payments (payments made to you before the conclusion of your claim) can be made to cover bills and other immediate losses or difficulties (however there is never a guarantee that the other side will agree to an interim payment).
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The festive season is fast approaching and while it is a magical time of year full of mince pies, presents and the Queen’s speech, it is also statistically the worst time of year for drink driving.

Unfortunately when we have had a bit to drink bad ideas can seem a lot more appealing. While we can all say now that we would never under any circumstances get in the car with someone that has had a drink, it may be a different story at closing time in the freezing cold when you can’t get a taxi.
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If you have sustained injury at work within the last 3 years then you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation.

If you sustained an injury in terms of an industrial disease, then you may be able to claim notwithstanding the 3 year rule. If you have sustained an injury at work then you should contact a Solicitor as soon as possible to see if you have a claim. In terms of general workplace accidents there is normally a 3 year limitation period in which you must issue Court Proceedings or settle your claim within 3 years of the date of the accident; otherwise you may lose your right to claim compensation.

In some cases such as for industrial diseases (for example vibration white finger and industrial deafness) the limitation period is somewhat different as, at the time, you may not have been aware that you sustained injury. A good example is with deafness; at the time of exposure to loud noise you may not notice a hearing deficiency, but later in life you may find that your hearing is not as good as it should be. In this scenario your hearing has been damaged by noise exposure and has meant that you experience hearing difficulties in advance of when otherwise expected.
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There are a lot of personal injury lawyers out there that are more than willing to help with your claim. However, we feel that here at The Injury Lawyers we have dedicated a lot of time ensuring that we offer the best service and ultimately get our client’s the best compensation.

We have done this by looking at what clients really want and need, and by reviewing the competition and improving on what we class as the key areas.

In this blog I will address the No Win No Fee agreement we offer and why our service levels fly high above all the rest.
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In law, if a claim is made on behalf of a minor, then such a claim is normally made through a litigation friend which would often be a parent or carer. Obviously a minor cannot bring a claim themselves and therefore a litigation friend acts for them in their best interests. Obviously you would expect parents to act in their child’s best interests but if, for whatever reason, this was not the case then a professional person could be appointed as the litigation friend.

When a case is brought on behalf of a minor, when it comes to settlement, normally the settlement is made subject to approval by the Court. This is because the Court has to make sure that the settlement figure is reasonable and fair in respect of the Claimant’s (the child’s) injuries. This is known as Infant Approval Hearing.
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Chances are that every day you will pick something up and move it from one place to another – for some people it might be something as simple and as stress free as a TV remote or a coffee mug, but for others a large part of their working life involves moving objects of various shapes and weights from one place to another.

If you are one of these people that have to deal with heavy or unusual objects as a part of your job then you will no doubt be aware that every time you lift a heavy item you are risking injury to some very important parts of your body.

The most common injuries involved in lifting accidents are injuries to the back but that doesn’t meant that other parts of the body cannot be affected and injuries to hands, the arms, your neck and your torso could all be related to the heavy objects that you have to lift at work. You can easily stretch or tear any number of muscles or ligaments and tendons when moving something.
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One of the main worries when looking to pursue legal action is the worry of cost! Solicitors can be extremely expensive so many people are put off from pursing a claim because of this. However, this should not be the case as solicitors often act on conditional fee agreements, which is the posh name for a No Win, No Fee.

These types of agreements are based on the outcome of a case- win or lose. They were originally brought in to fill the gap between those that were eligible for legal aid and those that could afford to pay for legal representation however, they are now extremely common as it allows solicitors to still recover the same fees without having to charge their clients.

So how do they work? Many people often find it difficult to understand how they can pursue a claim, receive compensation (which in some cases is a large sum) and not have a bill to pay. To many it seems strange for a solicitor to be doing so much work for them but not sending them a bill. But please do not worry- we do get paid (after all we are still a business).
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Making  a claim for compensation following a Road Traffic Accident is now so much easier and quicker than it used to be, if your accident was on or after 30^th April 2012.

The Ministry of Justice introduced a new protocol to follow for these accidents: “The Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents”. I know, bit of a mouthful so let’s just say the Road Traffic Accident Protocol for now. This protocol is for claims for personal injury which are worth under £10,000.

The claim is started by submitting a Claims Notification Form. This is a form which contains your information, the information of the at fault party, the details of your injuries and treatment and the accident details. This is sent to the insurer of the at fault party electronically.
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Factories can be fairly dangerous places to work – whether it is moving parts on machines, forklift trucks zipping from place to place or just things left laying around that you could fall over, the factory environment is not always a safe one.

There are many potential injuries in a factory and if you work in one your employers has a responsibility to keep you safe while you are there. Employers should provide their employees with the correct safety equipment and training that will allow them to work in as safe an environment as possible.

One of the measures that employers should use to keep you safe is “PPE” or Personal Protective Equipment. These are items provided to you by your employer to work with or use which should allow you to keep as safe as possible while in the workplace.
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