Wrist injury at work settled for £3,600 compensation payout
Our Personal Injury Solicitors outlined how the employers were liable for the accident at work, the employer accepted liability and a settlement was agreed.
Accident at work claims
No win no fee work injury compensation
Accident at work claims can be dealt with on a No Win No Fee compensation basis in most cases. This allows Co-op solicitors to proceed your injury at work claim whilst giving you time to focus on your recovery from the accident.
As part of the Co-op Group, our values of openness, honesty, social responsibility and caring for others are core to the service we provide.
Most common accident at work claim types
The most common types of accidents at work that our workplace injury solicitors see include:
- Workplace slip, trip and fall claims
- Construction accident and illness claims
- Head injury at work claims
- Psychological work injury claims
- Workplace manual handling and lifting claims
- Spinal (back and neck) injury at work claims
- Chemical injury at work claims
- Industrial disease claims
- Warehouse accident claims
- Burns and lacerations at work claims
- Fall from height work accident claims
- Electric shock & electrocution at work claims
- Defective work equipment and machinery claims
- Falling object at work claims
- Workplace eye injury claims
- Factory accident claims
- Forklift truck and vehicle accident claims
- Migrant worker accident claims
- Farm accident claims
- Workplace kitchen accident claims
Can I claim for my accident at work?
You can claim compensation if you were injured in an accident that happened in a workplace or whilst you were working for an employer in another location.
Your employment status at the time of the accident doesn’t matter, so you can claim compensation whether you were employed full time, part time, working on a zero hours contract, self-employed or you were visiting a business, government building or public place when the accident took place.
A claim for work accident compensation will usually include damages for injuries, pain and suffering, lost earnings, out-of-pocket expenses, medical treatments and rehabilitation support costs.
I received my injury settlement cheque today, thank you for finalising my claim so quickly. I cannot praise the team enough from the point of when I handed my claim over, especially the effort you have put in on my behalf, so thank you again. P. F.
Will claiming accident at work compensation affect my job?
Employers in England and Wales are required by law to have Employers Liability insurance cover to protect people from accidents at work. When work accident compensation is paid, in most cases, the compensation is paid by the employer’s liability insurance company and not the employer.
Employers often expect a personal injury claim to be made when someone has been injured in an accident at work. For many people personal injury claims are the only way to recover their lost earnings.
What are my rights after an accident at work?
If you have been injured in an accident at work, you have the following rights:
- A right to make a claim - in England and Wales, anyone who is wrongfully injured in an accident has a right to make a personal injury claim.
- A right to be properly compensated - you have a right to be properly compensated for your physical/psychological pain and suffering, and your financial losses
- A right not to be treated detrimentally - if you find that you are being treated detrimentally at work because you're making a compensation claim, you should seek legal advice, as this may be a breach of your employment rights.
- A right to Statutory Sick Pay - if you need to take time off work because of your work accident illness or injury, you may be entitled to sick pay.
Do you get paid if you have an accident at work?
If the work accident means that an employee cannot work for four consecutive days or more, the employee will be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay, or the employer may offer a more generous sick pay scheme.
If your employer offers an occupational sickness scheme, the amount you get will be detailed in your contract of employment.
You might even be entitled to receive more than the statutory minimum. It depends entirely on the terms of your employment contract. Some employers will have their own occupational sickness scheme, which would see that you receive over and above Statutory Sick Pay.
Alternatively, some employers have special sick pay schemes for work-related injuries and illnesses. Or they may simply offer you more because of what's happened. This arrangement can be made at the employer's discretion and is perfectly acceptable, so long as you don't receive less than the statutory minimum.
What happens when I contact Co-op's injury at work lawyers?
We will listen to your situation, give you expert legal advice and assess your workplace injury claim at no cost to you. As part of the Co-op, our injury at work solicitors want to ensure that you are properly looked after so we focus on you and your recovery as well as your claim.
As soon as we take on your work accident claim we work quickly to establish who is at fault and gather the evidence to obtain an admission of liability (fault). We will also gather information and evidence required to assess the value of your work accident claim to negotiate a fair compensation settlement for you as quickly as possible.
Your rehabilitation, recovery and compensation during the claims process
Once we take on your work accident claim, we will take steps to enable your medical condition to be assessed by a medical expert.
Depending on your personal injuries and your particular needs, we may be able to arrange for medical treatments and rehabilitation support to start straight away if there is already strong evidence to substantiate your work injury claim. This may also be possible if responsibility for the work accident which caused your injuries has already been admitted by the employer.
Interim payments of compensation for work accidents
When responsibility for the work accident that caused your injuries has been admitted, we may be able to secure Interim Payments of compensation to ensure that you are not out of pocket for expenses related to your injury and your rehabilitation.
Next steps with your accident at work claim
You must ensure that your work accident is properly reported to your manager or supervisor as soon as possible. Every workplace should have an accident book where details of accidents can be reported. Your workplace may also have an Accident Report Form which you should complete.
It is essential to contact specialist legal advisors quickly. One of our Personal Injury Solicitors that specialises in employers' liability claims can review the details of your workplace accident, provide you with expert legal advice, and explain what to do next.
Reporting accidents at work
Employers are responsible for providing a safe workplace for their employees. All workplaces in England and Wales with 10 or more employees are legally required to have an accident book and there should be a procedure for reporting accidents. If you are working in a new location for the first time it's a good idea to find out where the accident book is kept.
If you have an accident at work, even if it's minor, it's important to record it in the accident book. In terms of who should fill in the accident book, you can either fill this in yourself or ask a colleague or manager to complete it on your behalf.
Why is it important to record accidents in the workplace?
The accident book can help employers to identify trends and adapt working practices to make the work environment safer. Accident records can also be used as evidence to support your work accident claim.
In order to make a work accident claim you will need to prove that you were injured as a direct result of either your employers' actions or their failure to act. Your employer may, for example:
- have been made aware of dangerous equipment in the workplace but failed to repair or remove it
- expected employees to carry heavy items of equipment without providing appropriate lifting aids or training
- failed to adequately train their employees on how to carry out their work safely
The information that has been recorded in the accident book can provide valuable evidence to support your work injury claim. It's a good idea to request a copy of the accident book contents as soon as you decide to make a claim so that your injury solicitor can review this
In addition, certain workplace accidents also need to be reported by law to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) under the RIDDOR regulations. For a full list of reportable accident types, see the HSE website.
About Co-op Legal Services
As part of the largest Co-operative organisation in the UK, Co-op Legal Services works to ensure that our clients receive the best legal advice and support services available from our teams of personal injury and clinical negligence solicitors, legal executives and staff.
We are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and several of our Personal Injury Solicitors are members of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL).
Co-op Legal Services has over 600 staff working in different businesses with offices in Manchester, Bristol, Stratford-upon-Avon, Sheffield and London.
