Personal Injury Law Blogs

An overview to road accident claims

Every time someone gets behind the wheel, they are not only responsible for the safety of themselves but also every other road user. However, sometimes accidents do happen and with over a million vehicles on Britain’s roads every day, collisions are quite common. For the most part, these are only minor and people walk away without any serious injuries. Unfortunately, some cases can result in serious injury and if someone is injured in a road accident through no fault of their own, they could have valid grounds to make a personal injury claim.

As with any personal injury claim, it is essential that you gather as much evidence as possible to prove that the other party is at fault for the accident which caused your injuries. The types of evidence that will best serve your case vary according to the type of accident. Although, more often than not, the strongest forms of evidence are witness statements and photographs/videos of the accident scene.

Once you have gathered this initial evidence, you will then need to hire a good personal injury solicitor who can manage your claim. Solicitors vary greatly in terms of skills and experience, so it is paramount that you find the right person to take your case forward. Here are a few questions you should ask a solicitor before you hire them:

  • Do they work on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis?
  • How do their fees work?
  • Have they handled similar road accident claims before?
  • How much trial experience do they have?

Many solicitors off a FREE initial consultation so make sure you take advantage of this and meet with a number of different people. This way you will be able to gain a wider perspective of your situation and make a more informed decision about who is the right solicitor for you.

Once you have hired a solicitor, the next step in the process is to notify the other side that you are making a road accident claim. This is done by your solicitor writing a letter of claim and attaching a schedule of losses to detail all financial losses you have incurred as a result of the accident. They will then have three months to respond to this initial contact and either accept or reject your claim.

If they accept liability for your injuries a series of negotiations will take place until both parties agree on a compensation amount. However, if an agreeable amount isn’t established the case will go to court and be settled by a judge. On the other hand, if the other side reject any liability for your injuries the case will go straight to court.

The Upcoming Personal Injury Referral Fee Ban in the UK: 1 April 2013

Blog post regarding the upcoming personal injury referral fee ban in the UK on 1 April 2013.

On the first of April this year, the Government is introducing a new law which, one way or another, could have a dramatic effect upon the provision of personal injury compensation. Currently, very many claims of this nature originate when a person contacts, or is contacted by, a claims management company (CMC). Companies of this kind asses the validity of the case and then, if there’s a viable claim to be made, pass the details on to a specialist personal injury lawyer, with a fee being paid for this service. The client in question then works with this lawyer, building the strongest possible case and, hopefully, receiving the compensation which will allow them to start putting their life back together.

The decision to ban the payment of referral fees has been driven by a determination to crack down upon what has come to be seen as a ‘compensation culture’. The thinking behind this idea is that the majority of claims for compensation are made on a frivolous or dubious basis and are driven primarily by a desire to ‘cash in’ on circumstances and make some easy money. When urged to back up this line of thinking, people speaking on behalf of the ban tend to fall back on anecdotal evidence, one-off, extreme and highly publicised cases and a rise in the overall levels of compensation being paid. As is so often the case with generalisations and anecdotal ‘facts’ however, the truth can often be somewhat more complicated.

The simple truth is that compensation is paid not in order to punish the negligent party, nor to allow the victim to live a life of luxury but rather to ensure that an injury which wasn’t their fault doesn’t end up having a long term detrimental effect upon their quality of life and well-being. Bearing this in mind, personal injury lawyers tend not to want to take on claims of a dubious nature, and the No Win No Fee system merely amplifies this tendency, with only the strongest, most robust claims being worth the time and trouble of pursuing.

The overall rise in the amount of compensation paid out, rather than being driven by frivolous claims, is likely to be a by-product of the fact that people today are far more aware of their rights, and realise that an injury suffered thanks to a third party’s negligence is not something which they should simply put up with. A large part of this increased awareness has been driven by the advertising carried out by CMC’s, without which many people would not realise that they are able to claim for the likes of illnesses developed through work and suffering caused via criminal acts.

One sector lobbying vociferously for a ban of this kind has been the insurance industry, spokespeople for which claim that a drop in the number of compensation cases will result in a lowering of the premiums payable for the likes of car insurance. One doesn’t have to be particularly cynical to imagine that any drop in the amount of money being paid out will, in truth, result in a drive for higher profits, rather than altruistic passing on of the cut to customers. An example of this phenomenon can be seen in the fact that, between the years 1938 and 2010, the number of casualties per 100 million kilometres travelled in Great Britain dropped from 314 to 42. Alongside this is the fact that, in 1972, 7,700 people were killed on the road whilst, by 2011, this figure had dropped to 1,901. Unfortunately, the increase in safety represented by these statistics hasn’t been reflected in a corresponding drop in the cost of insurance premiums.

Allied to this is the simple fact that very many compensation claims, such as for accidents at work, are paid out before the case even reaches court, a fact which indicates the insurance company involved accepted that the claim was just and valid.

A successful ban on referral fees will therefore result in a diminishing of public awareness of the issues surrounding compensation, with very little chance of a corresponding drop in the costs of insurance. Not only that, but many experts are agreed that any such ban is pretty much unworkable in practice, with loopholes and caveats still allowing solicitors to pay fees to CMC’s for “the provision of services”. In practice, then, the ban will reduce transparency and accountability by driving the paying of fee referrals underground, whilst greatly reducing public awareness of the factors relating to personal injury compensation.

West Midlands glass company fined after worker loses finger

A West Midlands glass-processing company has been fined after it was prosecuted for health and safety failings in the workplace which led to serious injuries to an employee.

Mr Asif Hussain, 32, was working at Bloomsbury Glass Limited’s factory in Kelvin Way, West Bromwich, on 18 January 2012 when the injury occurred. A piece of glass became stuck in one of the machines in the factory and Mr Hussain helped a colleague to extract the piece of glass. He did this by entering the confines of the machine by slipping through a gap in the fencing that surrounded it. Whilst he discussed with a colleague how to remove the piece of glass, his glove was trapped by the rotating drive shaft and his right hand was pulled into the machine, resulting in the ring finger on his right hand being crushed so badly that it had to be amputated at hospital.

The injury was reported to the Health and Safety Executive and an investigation commenced. This investigation resulted in the prosecution of the company for a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. Sandwell Magistrates Court heard that the machine in question had not been properly protected from entry since it relocated to its current site on 5 January 2013 and that its installation on the new site had left a gap in the guard panels. Sandwell Magistrates subequently found the company guilty of breaching Regulation 11 of PUWER 1998, fined it £2,000 and ordered it to pay costs of £4,928.

Under PUWER, an employer has general obligations to ensure that work equipment is :

  • suitable for purpose
  • safe to use
  • used only by people with the necessary information, instruction and training
  • accompanied by any appropriate safety measures

Regulation 11 of PUWER 1998 concerns dangerous parts of machinery. It requires an employer to ensure that access to dangerous parts of a machine is prevented or, if access is needed, to ensure that the machines is stopped before any part of an employee’s body reaches a “danger zone” (i.e. any part which poses to a risk of health or safety).

The HSE commented after the prosecution that “Guards and safety systems are there for a reason and companies have a legal duty of care to ensure they are properly fitted and working effectively at all times. The importance of robust safeguards to protect works cannot be overstated”.

Analysing the above case, it’s important for employers to ensure that the state (and potential hazards) of machinery in the workplace is regularly reviewed and assessed. Steps should be taken to reduce potential hazards to employees,  employees should be instructed to turn machines off if they have to access them, and employees should receive sufficient training on the machines to reasonably allow them to avoid risks to their health or safety from the machine.

It is not currently know whether Mr Hussain is pursuing a personal injury claim against his employer.

Redmans Solicitors are employment law solicitors offering employment law advice based in central London

Long-term failings by GKN Aerospace leads to long-term nerve damage to workers

A Health and Safety Executive news release yesterday reported that GKN Aerospace has been fined after a number of its employees were left with significant long-term physical disabilities due to health and safety failings.

GKN Aerospace is “one of the world’s largest independent first tier suppliers to the global aviation industry”. A GKN health surveillance programme identified five employees as suffering from advanced debilitating problems in 2009 due to their long-term use of vibrating hand tools. These employees had developed advanced symptoms of hand-vibrating syndrome, which is caused by the vibrations from such tools and results in long-term damage to circulation and nerve symptoms. The circulation issues cause the victim’s hands to become white and dead in cold conditions and causes extreme pain upon the hands warming. The nerve damage affects the ability of victims to handle and maneuver objects deftly. However, even though the employees had been identified as suffering from this problem, they continued to work as before and it failed to put in place procedures or carry out assessments to prevent other workers performing the same duties from suffering from similar problems.

GKN’s health and safety failings came to light when it fulfilled its obligations to report the diagnoses of the five employees to the Health and Safety Executive. An HSE investigation was subsequently undertaken – this found that GKN had failed to comply with the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2006 since they came into force in January 2006. An Improvement Notice served on GKN and a prosecution of the company commenced into its failure to comply with the Regulations. GKN was found guilty of failing to comply with the Regulations, fined a total of £26,800 and ordered to pay costs of £8,256.

As above, The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2006 came into force in January 2006. GKN was prosecuted under the following parts of the Regulations:

  • Regulation 5(1): for failing to make suitable and sufficient assessments of the risk from vibration such as to ensure that required measures are identified to allow the employer to comply with the Regulations
  • Regulation 6(1): for failing to ensure that the risk from the exposure of its employees to vibrations is eliminated at source or, so far as where it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate it, to reduce it to as low a level as is reasonably practicable

The Health and Safety Executive commented that “Work-related health risks cannot be ignored or pushed down the agenda. GKN Aerospace Services Ltd had the resources to protect its employees from the well-known effects of exposure to hand-arm vibration but failed to do so over an extended period”.

This case demonstrates that employers must be diligent in identifying potential risks to employees’ health and taking reasonably practicable steps to minimize this risk within a reasonable time frame after the identification. Failure to do so can result in criminal prosecution or a civil lawsuit for negligence and/or breach of statutory duty. It is not apparent whether the five employees concerned are currently pursuing their employer in the civil courts in a personal injury claim.

Redmans Solicitors are employment law solicitors offering employment law advice and are based in central London

U. S. Spring Break Hit & Runs – What You Need To Know

(U. S. Personal Injury Law and generally) Fort Lauderdale, Florida has been home to Spring Break for as long as anyone can remember. This beautiful south Florida coastal town is famous for its long stretch of beautiful beach, awesome night spots, and incredible weather. Every year, tens of thousands of people flock to this area to enjoy their Spring Break from high school or college. Many people already in the workforce still take their vacations at this time because Ft. Lauderdale offers so much fun and entertainment in the sun.

However, with this large amount of people in the area at one time, accidents do happen. In fact, it is more likely that a car accident will occur during the Spring Break period than any other time of the year in Fort Lauderdale. One of the most common occurrences is hit-and-run. A hit-and-run occurs when a driver hits another automobile or pedestrian and then quickly leaves the scene of the accident. Because of the consequences associated with an accident, many young people panic when one occurs and flee the scene. While this is obviously not the right thing to do, it does happen. Knowing what to do if you are involved in a hit-and-run is crucial to the success of your insurance claim.

If you are involved in a hit-and run, you should:

• Call the police immediately to report the accident. Do not leave the place where the event happened. Provide the police with as much details as possible.
• If you are able, take pictures of the scene and any damage you have sustained. If you see witnesses, ask if you can have their personal information to provide to the police. However, if you are injured, remain still until medical help arrives.
• If you have been injured, seek medical attention. Do not delay getting medical care, your health is too important.
• Contact a Fort Lauderdale auto accident lawyer. You will want to speak to a local attorney that is familiar with this type of event prior to making any statement to your insurance company.
• Never provide a written or recorded statement to the insurance company prior to speaking to your attorney, this can have an impact on your claim.

While hit-and-run is covered under your no-fault policy, most insurance companies do not like to pay these claims. Insurance companies feel that someone else should have to pay for your accident and injuries, even though the reason you have a no-fault policy is specifically for this reason.

An attorney will work with you and the insurance company to make sure that you receive a fair and complete settlement from the accident. They will enforce the terms of your insurance policy and demand that the insurance companies comply with their own rules. They will make sure that your medical bills are paid and that any other compensation you are entitled to you receive.

Spring Break is a very exciting time of year in Ft. Lauderdale. There is much to see and much to enjoy. Staying safe requires a little additional attention when there are so many people in one area, but not enough to detract from your vacation fun.

Anthony Joseph is a freelance writer who often discusses issues of traffic law, and is contributing this article to help promote safety on our roadways. Choosing the right Fort Lauderdale auto accident lawyer isn’t always easy. At Steinger, Iscoe & Greene, there’s a legal defense team of more than 25 lawyers, and 120 case managers. Their firm has spent over a decade fighting for the rights of victims, in a number of different case types.

5 Accidents To Watch Out For In The Construction Field

Over 25 percent of all job related fatalities occur within the context of a construction environment, according to National Institute for Occupational Safety statistics. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has also recognized that 90 percent of construction injuries and fatalities fall under several categories.

1. Falls. Approximately 33 percent of all major work accidents involve falls. Since construction jobs often involve working on tall building structures, heavy machinery, rooftops and scaffolding – workers are more vulnerable to incurring serious injuries and death from falling.

2. Equipment and machinery injuries are very common on a construction site. Working with machinery is dangerous no matter where it’s done. However, it is even more dangerous on a construction site, due to the presence of so many other hazards.

For this work, the law requires that protection is always in place, for example, that sufficient guardrails and safety nets exist to protect workers from falling. However, it is not always possible to provide adequate safety features in all jobs and within the context of all kind of projects. One such example is vehicles with pronged devices carrying and lifting heavy loads.

Many people are under the assumption that the workers compensation claim is sufficient for an on the job injury of this type. However, in order for a worker to ensure that he or she is fully compensated for all costs associated with their injuries, it may be necessary for a lawsuit to be filed in the court system against negligent employers or other parties. In order to ensure that wages, medical bills and other costs are paid sufficiently, it is important to seek the advice of a forklift injury attorney as soon as possible for this type of accident.

3. It is estimated that Struck By Hazards are responsible for around 22 percent of construction accidents. These generally include flying and falling objects, vehicles and heavy equipment.

This type of accident has a 75 percent chance of being fatal. They usually involve working with trucks, backhoes, cranes and other types of heavy equipment. Workers for this type of injury are also susceptible when near power tools or cranes and under scaffolding. For example, a wall or building construction project can be particularly dangerous because of the heavy loads against insufficient structure strength.

4. Caught Between Hazards comprise around 18 percent of all construction injuries. These accidents involve any type of activity that has the potential to crush, suffocate or amputate a victim. This can occur anytime, but particularly while handling small machinery, trench caves, saws or when caught between any kind of equipment.

5. Electrical mishaps are estimated to be responsible for around 17 percent of construction related injuries. These can occur while grounding live wires when equipment fails or electrical wires and cords are too worn. It can also occur when the electrical current is not shut off properly.

Protection Systems

Since construction accidents have the potential to be more serious than other work related injuries, it is quite common that workers compensation claims will not cover expenses sufficiently. To make up for this deficiency, workers may have good reason to have a lawsuit filed. This is especially true whenever safeguards are not properly in place to protect them.

For example, when any type of negligence exists, such as inadequate job site inspections, there is definitely a reason to file a lawsuit against any negligent party. Anyone who has suffered from a construction related injury should seek the advice of legal counsel immediately. In this way, an injured worker can ensure that they receive the proper medical care and the compensation they need to recover as fully as possible.

Anthony Joseph is a freelance author who likes to write about different areas of the law, and is contributing this article to help promote on the job safety. Construction workers know just how dangerous working with forklifts can be. The Perecman law firm has attorneys with over 50 years of construction accident experience. They’re one of the most successful forklift injury attorney firms in the state of New York.

Common Causes of Cognitive Disorders

The brain serves as a vital integrating system that interprets, controls, and regulates all functions in the body. As the forte of the Central Nervous System, the brain not only enables mechanical movement, but it’s also responsible for memory storage, intelligence, sensory input (sight, smell, etc.), personality, and behavior. The skull, a protective layer of bones, encases the brain itself. When this skull is significantly damaged, the brain can become damaged and cause cognitive disorders. This condition is referred to as Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI. TBIs can lead to a host of problems, including memory loss, balance loss, headaches and nausea, learning disabilities, ADD, anxiety, depression, mood swings, loss of appetite, decreased alertness, and personality changes.

TBI: Causes and Risk Factors

Cognitive disorders are caused by a multitude of events. Many cognitive disorders are inherited due to genetic predispositions, and others are due to complications at birth or during development. For a vast majority of cases, however, victims suffer from cognitive disorders because of trauma to the head. A sudden and hard force of impact can result in permanent damage to the brain and chronic conditions.

Jolt or Shock

A severe jolt can cause brain injury in more than one location. The brain may be tossed around within the skull so that multiple spots on the brain may succumb to damage. This type of injury is common in car crashes in which the victim experiences whiplash, which can also lead to damage of the spinal column. Football, hockey, horse riding, boxing, skating, and other high-contact sports may lead to brain damage. Falling is common in children and the elderly. Slipping on ice, a wet floor, or in the tub are other examples of how one might acquire a cognitive condition.

Explosion

A blast or explosion can disrupt the brain tissue’s normal function, and cause damage over the entire brain. Those who work around demolition crews are at high risk for this type of injury. Miners, construction workers, and soldiers often acquire cognitive disorders due to explosions.

Puncture Wound

A puncture of the brain itself will destroy the local neurons and their supporting cells. Anyone working around machinery, such as factory workers, may have an accident at work in which the brain is punctured, causing a chronic cognitive disorder. Violence may also cause such an injury; in fact, one study found that gunshot wounds, stabbings, striking, and other forms of violence cause 10 percent of brain injuries.

Stroke

When the brain bleeds or undergoes edema, oxygen cannot reach the nerve tissue and neurons will die. This would be something that would happen during a stroke and, like a stroke, could lead to partial or total paralysis.

Prevention and Treatment

Since the acquisition of cognitive disorders is largely due to TBIs, obtaining adequate prevention is challenging. By remembering a few safety tips you can help protect yourself against TBI. Always wear protective headgear when participating in sporting events or when riding on motorcycles and four-wheelers. Drive safely and always wear your seatbelt in the car. Make sure that you follow the safety guidelines and use caution when operating heavy machinery or working in a factory. Follow your employer’s safety guidelines and take extra precautions when working in high-risk jobs. Remember that treating a cognitive disorder is extremely difficult. Most disorders are chronic and symptom relief is often the only solution. Surgery may be required to correct fractured skulls or remove blood clots. Diuretics and anti-seizure drugs may be used to correct cognitive deficiencies. The best approach is a preventative approach, which simply affirms the axiom, “Safety first!”

If your cognitive disorder or injuries have been caused due to medical negligence during an operation or any other medical procedure, an attorney specializing in medical equipment fraud can represent your case and bring the justice that you deserve.

UK motorists feeling the backlash of whiplash compensation claims

Guest post regarding whiplash compensation claims in the UK.

As part of an inquiry into how to drive down the cost of car insurance, MPs are set to launch a new investigation into how to reduce the number of whiplash compensation claims.

It has been reported that whiplash costs add around £90 to every motor premium, and The Transport Committee is calling for evidence on how this can be reduced.

Britain is referred to as ‘the whiplash capital of the world’ and The Transport Committee wants to ascertain what proportion of costs are caused by people faking their injuries, as whiplash is known to be extremely difficult for GPs to diagnose.

As a result of this, the cost of the average motor insurance policy is being pushed up by around 20%; even more staggering is the fact that between 2005 and 2010, whiplash claims have increased by 70%, despite the number of road traffic accidents falling by 23%.

It is thought that there are now around 550,000 whiplash claims per year, which equates to 1,500 per day; this leaves insurers with a compensation bill of around £2bn, and up to £2,500 of every whiplash compensation claim is wasted on legal fees and other unnecessary payments.

There are a number of steps that could be taken to reduce the number of spurious or exaggerated whiplash compensation claims in the UK.

For example, one possible course of action could be to offer fixed rates of whiplash compensation, and withhold a proportion of the compensation to directly pay for treatment, such as physiotherapy and rehabilitation.

Alternatively, the system favoured in Germany and Austria could be used, where road traffic accidents are assessed using expert vehicle damage analysis, and any collisions that are below a certain speed are regarded as being too low to result any whiplash related injuries.

Another alternative course of action could be to introduce compulsory medical examinations for anybody wanting to make a whiplash compensation claim, which should hopefully curb the flow of spurious cases.

This practice is already being used by some whiplash compensation firms in the UK, such as Winn Solicitors, but there are calls to standardise this practice in order to cure the ‘epidemic’ of exaggerated whiplash claims; the Association of British Insurers (ABI) have also called for anyone whose whiplash claim turns out to be even partly exaggerated should automatically have their whole case thrown out.

The aim of these measures is to ensure that claimants are expertly assessed, and that compensation is paid to genuine claimants more quickly; they should also help to deter anyone that thinks a spurious whiplash claim is free money waiting to be collected.

If improved measures are introduced in the UK, one important factor that needs to be taken into consideration is that access to justice for injured people is preserved.

The Transport Committee will look at whether the government could be taking further action to reduce the cost of car insurance and wants written submissions by 15 April.

Falls at work – the law and how to obtain redress

Falls from heights at work account for more fatalities and serious injuries than any other carried out at work. In 2008/09 there were 35 fatalities, 4654 major injuries and a further 7065 injuries that caused the injured person to be off work for over 3 days or more. In 2003/4 falls from height accounted for more than 15% of all recorded injuries. Working at height is therefore a serious business and safety for workers undertaking this work is paramount.  We’ll therefore look at the law relating to falls from heights and how workers can obtain some form of recompense if they’re injured in a workplace fall that wasn’t their fault. We’ll do so by examining the following:

  1. What should you do if you’ve had a fall at work?
  2. What types of claim can you make if you’ve had a fall at work?
  3. What do you need to show to succeed in a claim for a fall at work?

What should you do if you’ve had a fall at work?

If you’ve had a fall at work then you should contact a personal injury solicitor so that your claim can be assessed. A fall at work can have serious consequences and could lead to serious physical or psychological injuries and/or a sustained loss of earnings.

What types of claim can you make if you’ve had a fall at work?

If you’ve had a fall at work then you can make the following types of claim against your employer:

  1. A claim for breach of statutory duty
  2. A claim for common law negligence

We’ll have a look at these two types of claim below.

What do you need to show to succeed in a claim for a fall at work?

Claiming for breach of statutory duty against your employer

The Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply to workplaces where employees are working at heights. Regulations 4, 5, 6 and 7 set out the responsibilities that an employer has for maintaining a safe working environment at height. These are as follows:

  • The work must be properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out in a manner which is so far as is reasonably practicable safe and that work at height must only be carried out when the weather conditions render it safe to do so (Regulation 4)
  • Workers must be competent to work at height or plan working at height (Reg 5)
  • Risk assessments should be carried out and reasonable work equipment should be provided and further reasonable steps taken to prevent falls from heights (Reg 6)
  • Reasonable work equipment must be considered and selected (Reg 7)

If your employer fails to comply with any of these duties and you suffer harm due to a fall from height as a result then you may be able to obtain a remedy through a claim for breach of statutory duty.

Claiming for common law negligence against your employer

As well as making a claim for breach of statutory duty, you may be able to claim against your employer for negligence in the civil courts. In order to succeed in such a claim you would need to show that:

  • Your employer had a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent harm coming to you whilst you worked at height (the employer-employee duty of care is a well-established one)
  • Your employer breached this duty of care by failing to take reasonable steps to prevent harm coming to you
  • This breach of duty caused your losses
  • Your employer does not have a defence to your claim

Redmans Solicitors are compromise agreement solicitors and settlement agreement solicitors based in London

Employer’s liability for injuries sustained in the workplace – an introduction

Accidents in the workplace are extremely common – in 2011/12 173 workers were killed in accidents at work and 111,000 injuries occurred in the workplace (HSE statistics). If an employee is seriously injured by such an accident then they may wish to pursue their employer for any losses that they’ve sustained because of their employer’s unreasonable failure to comply with a statutory duty or if their employer has been negligent. You may wish to instruct a personal injury solicitor in such circumstances. We’ll take a look at these actions in this post and will do so by looking at the following issues:

  1. What potential actions can an employee pursue if they’re injured in the workplace?
  2. Can I bring a claim for breach of statutory duty?
  3. Can I bring a claim for common law negligence?
  4. What should I do if I’ve suffered an injury in the workplace?

What potential actions can an employee pursue if they’re injured in the workplace?

If an employee is injured because of a workplace accident then they may wish to pursue a remedy to compensate them for the pain and suffering that they’ve endured and the potential loss of earnings that they’ve sustained. There are two potential options open to employees if they wish to pursue such a claim – a claim against their employer for breach of statutory duty and/or a claim for common law negligence. These are two very different types of claim and we’ll have a look below at what an employee would need to show to succeed in such a claim.

Can I bring a claim for breach of statutory duty?

If you’ve suffered an injury in the workplace that was your employer’s fault then you may be able to bring a claim for breach of statutory duty. In order to succeed in such a claim you would need to show that:

  1. Your employer had an obligation to reasonably comply with a statutory duty
  2. That your employer failed to comply with the statutory duty
  3. That the failure to comply with the statutory duty caused you harm
  4. That there is no defence that your employer can use to defend against the claim for breach of statutory duty

Can I bring a claim for common law negligence?

Again, if you’ve suffered an injury then you may wish to pursue your employer for the common law tort of negligence. You can pursue such a claim in addition to a claim for breach of statutory duty, if you so wish. In order to succeed in such a claim you would need to show that:

  1. Your employer had a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent harm to you (the employer-employee duty is a well-established one)
  2. That your employer breached this duty by unreasonably failing to uphold the required standards in the workplace
  3. That this breach caused damage to you
  4. That there are no defences that your employer can use to defend your claim against it

What should I do if I’ve suffered an injury in the workplace?

If you’ve suffered an injury in the workplace then it is advised that you contact a personal injury solicitor as soon as possible so that you can assess whether you have a viable remedy against your employer.

Redmans Solicitors are compromise agreement solicitors and settlement agreement solicitors based in London