In this blog I will attempt to explain the claims process for general personal injury claims. By general personal injury claims I mean tripping/slipping accidents (whether in a public place or in the supermarket for example), work accidents, injuries involving animals etc.

These are all accidents that come under the scope of the Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury Claims. Road traffic accidents do not initially come under this protocol and are processed in a different way and are subject to different time limits. Road traffic accidents come under the scope of the Road Traffic Accident Protocol.

However a case can “fall out” of the road traffic accident protocol (such as if the insurers fail to respond to the claim in time). If a road traffic accident claim falls out of the Road Traffic Accident Protocol then that claim continues under the Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury Claims by default.
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Manual Handling and the techniques involved in moving loads from one place to another has become a mainstay in almost all companies’ health and safety folders. These are techniques designed to reduce the risk of employees injuring themselves and make everybody’s lives easier; but who has the responsibility when it comes to employees’ education in these techniques?

The answer can be found in the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. These say that under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999 it is an employers’ responsibility to provide employees with the proper information and training on health and safety matters – this can look like quite a complicated statement as it contains a lot of different pieces of legislation but the message is the same – it is your employers responsibility to make sure that you know what you are doing at work when it comes to manual handling, and the best way to do it.

However, putting this into practice requires a two-way flow of information between you and your employer and means that both of you have roles to play in making sure that injuries are not suffered in the workplace.
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Back in the days before Health and Safety was invented a fall in the workplace due to a trailing cable or wet floor was probably met with a response of “pick your feet up” or “watch where you’re going” or sometimes even laughter.

Even now some employers try and adopt the culture that falling over isn’t so serious (some comedians even make a whole career out of it) but for employees on the receiving end of these accidents it is no laughing matter.

Slips and trips in the workplace can result in anything from bruises to serious injuries. The fact of the matter is that your employer has a responsibility to keep you safe at work and if they have failed to ensure that there are proper procedures to look after your safety then they are at fault.
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IMPORTANT: the advice in this blog is for general information only. Do not use this guide for confirming exactly when your limitation date is. You should speak to a qualified expert injury lawyer to confirm when the limitation to claim will expire.

When thinking about bringing a claim for personal injury the first thing on your mind may not be, “how long ago did this happen?”

However, personal injury claims in the UK are subject to strict time frames as outlined by the Limitation Act 1980. Failure to bring a claim within the time limits set out by this Act may mean that the only way around the rules is to get special permission from the courts – easier said than done!
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It’s likely most people have all heard of selective deafness. Our wives, husbands, partners etc seem to be experts in the field, especially when football or the soaps are on TV! But have you ever considered that it may in fact be a case of industrial deafness rather than selective deafness?

Say, for example, that your husband constantly mishears or ignores what you have said to him. While you may believe it is a case of selective deafness, consider whether your husband has ever worked in a noisy environment, consider if your husband could be suffering from industrial deafness. The sufferer often does not realise that anything is wrong.

It is often a wife, partner or other family member or perhaps a friend that notices a hearing deficit. Industrial deafness does not mean complete deafness; it covers partial and sometimes relatively minor hearing deficiencies.
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The legal duty of an employer is take reasonable care for the health and safety of employees and to reduce the possibility of accidents and injuries at work – including scaffolding accidents if you work with scaffolding.

In respect of scaffolding accidents, some of the main risks are if the scaffolding is on poor foundations, if boards are missing from the platform, or if boards are uneven or of poor quality etc. Of course there are many other risks with scaffolding and it is imperative that scaffolding is erected properly and safely.

The building industry has proven to be a dangerous environment for workers and for the general public. If you are the victim of a scaffolding accident then you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation.
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As insurance policies become more expensive, more drivers are likely to take to the road without insurance. Although I understand that sometimes the insurance is just too much to pay, what some of these drivers fail to realise is that uninsured drivers are one of the main culprits for pushing up insurance premiums in the first place – aside from the fact that it is illegal!

If more motorists are driving without insurance then surely that means more people will be involved in a Road Traffic Accident with an uninsured driver? The answer is yes – Here at The Injury Lawyers, we have seen an increase in the number of client’s coming to us to request advice about claiming for injuries they have sustained at the hand of an uninsured driver.

Most client’s do not believe you can make a claim for compensation against an uninsured driver –the great news is that you can.
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Councils have many responsibilities that aid you in your day to day life, such as, the important ones for the topic of this blog: maintaining public spaces (such as parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, museums etc.) and the up-keep of highways, these are roads and pavements.

When the council provides these services it also takes on a responsibility to look after you when while you use them and to make sure that the services it provides aren’t defective or able to harm you if you use them properly. If you are using any of these services and you get an injury that could have been avoided had the council done a better job of maintaining that service you could be able to make a personal injury claim.

Parks, Playgrounds and Council Buildings
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When your job includes driving, you can be driving anything from a car, a van, a lorry, or some form or machinery or equipment – like a forklift truck for example. If the vehicle is owned by your employer then your employer should take out insurance on the vehicle which will also cover you as the driver in the event of an accident. It’s also their responsibility to maintain the vehicle as well.

As the vehicle will be used for work and business, the insurance policy is normally different to that of everyday motorists. Vehicles owned and used by companies are normally insured under what is called a ‘fleet policy’ which will usually cover all the vehicles owned and used by the company.

Now, normally Road Traffic Accidents usually involve the collision of vehicles and therefore a claim for personal injury will be made against the at fault party’s insurer. However, not all Road Traffic Accidents do involve other vehicles and an accident can often be caused by the employer’s failure to maintain a vehicle.
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The quest for longer, thicker more volumised eyelashes has become much easier to achieve these days through the availability of temporary fake eyelashes, eyelash tinting, and of course eyelash extensions. In this blog I hope to address the latter two, as these procedures unfortunately can result in injury.
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