Accidents in the workplace

More accidents happen at work than anywhere else. Almost half of all accidents happen in the workplace. It can often be difficult for employees to instigate claims if actual injury has been suffered. Employees are scared of possible "repercussions" if they involve the company in court proceedings.

These fears are groundless as employers are obliged by law to have insurance, which covers them if an employee suffers injury in the workplace. Action can be taken against employers who discriminate because employees are pursuing legitimate claims for accident compensation.

Not that there is a crossover between liability in negligence and the duties which have been imposed by law to cover specific accident situations (particularly Health and Safety regulations). There are also laws with which employers must comply with or risk criminal and civil prosecution cases.

Our advice is that the first practical thing to do if you suffer a work accident and you are going to be off work for a period of time, is to make sure you receive statutory sick pay. If you are still off work after six months, you can seek long-term invalidity or disablement benefit. Check any additional contractual payment which is available.

All accidents should be noted in the company's accident record book (required by law). If there is no company book, or if no-one has made a note of the incident then tell your employer in writing the full circumstances of the accident and details of the personal injury.

Can you make a claim? - you will have to prove that your employer has caused the injury through failure to take reasonable care (there are different legal standards required regarding subcontractors or visitors).

The company must provide a safe way to carry out work; safe premises; suitable materials and equipment; training courses and supervision; competent staff and so on.

The employer must ensure that you are able to carry out work in the safest way possible, regarding the equipment that you work with and the tasks involved. Typical standards within the industry can be used as a benchmark to assess whether the employer has done enough to avoid the injury or accident.

Damage claims

Special Damages are damages which are very easy to quantify - loss of actual earnings, personal medical bills, your taxi fares, new clothes etc. Keep a full record of all additional expenses (including all receipts if you can get them), so that your solicitor can get them back for you.

General Damages are "assessed" ie a financial value is placed on the personal pain and the suffering that you have gone through, future loss of earnings and how the accident has affected your life.

Assessment is an imprecise art, and it all depends on your own personal circumstances and how well you recover. To get some legal guidance, lawyers look at past claims and the level of general damages awarded. They use these facts as a guideline (increasing the figures to allow for inflation) eg a whiplash injury which caused you personal inconvenience for say two weeks might be worth several thousand pounds or more.

There are guidelines for the assessment of General Damages in cases of personal injury. Here are some cases:

Loss of two arms
The loss of a single arm
Permanently disabled arm or arms
The fracture of either forearm
Complete loss of all function of the wrist
Partially disabled wrists
Lesontinuous pain or stiffness in the wrist
Colles’ fracture of one or both wrists

Damage claims in Scotland

Note that in Scotland, Legal Aid is still available, if the pursuer of the case qualifies for it. If the pursuer does not in fact qualify then other possible funding options may possibly be available. Actions could always be privately funded or perhaps legal expenses insurance might be available. However, in Scotland the premium is not always recoverable against the defender's compensation.

English law says that a pursuer will always need to demonstrate that they were owed a duty of care by the defender and that the actual injury occurred specifically as a result of the defender’s failure in their duty. A failure to comply with statutory duties may also be involved. They will also need to be able to show that the injury suffered was a direct consequence of those failures of care.

Also, there are several heads of claim which could also be considered in assessing the precise value of any claims. The main heads of claims is Solatium, which is past and future wage loss and services benefitted from.

Solatium is for actual pain and suffering and it is very similar to special damages in England. Essentially it includes all non-financial loss suffered by the claimant. Assessment takes into account the full extent of the injury; the pursuer’s pain; possible future pain and suffering; plus the actual loss of amenity to the individual.