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Category: Accident at Work

With the exception of sleeping in bed, working in a workplace is where we spend most of our time. Accordingly, workplaces should be safe spaces where we can work without the stress (or fear) of worrying about injury. However, workplaces are dangerous: as such, there are many common workplace injuries resulting from unsuitable working environments. If this is the case, you should consider making an injury at work claim.

Some of the most common of these include these four common workplace injuries we list below.

Four Common Workplace Injuries

1. Back Injuries

Back injuries are part of a broader problem, with musculoskeletal disorders resulting from extensive manual work. For instance, heavy lifting and a lack of proper physical training can leave you with pain in your back. Not to mention in your upper limbs, such as your arms and neck.

It can be potentially debilitating and can also leave you unable to work in the future. As a result, you should consider making a work accident claim for these injuries.

You can prevent musculoskeletal disorders by ensuring that you:

  • Have adequate training in terms of lifting and carrying;
  • Only carry what you physically find comfortable, and;
  • That, if office work is the cause, that you adjust your seating arrangement. Thus ensuring that you maintain better posture throughout the day.

2. Asthma

If you are around toxic substances for long periods, this can cause asthma. Asthma is long term breathing condition which can be harmful and lead to dangerous consequences.

Ultimately, it’s a result of the swelling of your airways that make it difficult to breathe; moreover, poor working conditions can accelerate this.

You should follow regulations at all times to ensure that you remain safe in your workplace at all times.

3. Whiplash

Sudden movements that jolt the body and cause injury to define a whiplash accident. Moreover, it’s usually common in car crashes and other incidents involving moving vehicles.

Therefore, no win no fee whiplash claims are common in workplaces which include moving vehicles and often cause injury to the head, neck and shoulder area of your body. Although whiplash injury claims cannot be prevented, you should ensure that you are fully trained to drive the vehicles in question and that you never drive when you are tired or exhausted.

To treat whiplash, you may have to :

  • Wear a neck collar;
  • Avoid staying in the same position;
  • Take painkillers, and;
  • Ice down the area often to prevent swelling.

If you’re wondering how much compensation for whiplash you may get, whiplash cases tend to generate between £1,000-£2,000.

4. Hearing Loss

In short, hearing loss is one of the UK’s most significant causes for a workplace injury. Studies show up to 20,000 people suffer industrial hearing loss and subsequently seek hearing loss compensation. Hearing loss claims can be caused by being around loud equipment while at work for long periods. Hearing damage can also include tinnitus, where there is an unusual ringing sound in one or both ears.

To prevent hearing loss, invest in hearing protection such as earmuffs. Or ask to use quieter equipment that damages your ears less. Accordingly, if you believe that you have hearing loss at work, you should make an industrial hearing loss claim. The hearing loss claim time limit, incidentally, is three (3) years, which is common for the majority of personal injury claims.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Just a Few More Common Workplace Injuries

To say nothing of the four common injuries above, we don’t want you to leave her short on knowledge. Below are some other injuries in the workplace and accidents a business owner or council will shudder at.

a. Injuries from Slips, Trips and Falls

In general, slip and fall include a variety of different possible incidents. From falling objects to wet floors, it’s actually a fairly common claim we pursue regarding workplace safety and workers compensation.

b. Repetitive Strain Injury

Repetitive motion activity (for instance, using a mouse or keyboard) leave individuals prone to repetitive strain injury (RSI). In short, strained muscles from the demands of such work create difficulties worthy of a claim.

c. Crash and/or Crush Injury

Our last honourable mention requires a bit of personal protective equipment, airbags, and other safety equipment to avoid. Crash injuries or collisions tend to involve accidents and injuries from a road traffic accident (RTA). For more on the subject, check out this post.

If you have a workplace injury and would like to make claims at work to seek compensation, get legal support. Start by contacting a solicitor or advice service that can guide you on how best to navigate the legal processes.

Hearing loss is often seen as an affliction of the elderly; the natural decline of the human body as it ages and becomes less efficient and more aged. This is, however, often not the case. Many occupations and events in life can directly influence the power of your hearing. In these cases, and especially in the case of industrial hearing loss claims,  you’ll be able to fight for compensation with a claim through our specialist team.

The Time Limit

Bearing in mind that hearing loss is also a natural repercussion of ageing, you should talk to our specialists as soon as possible if you think that you have a claim to make. That’s because the hearing loss claim time limit can prevent you from a successful bid for compensation if it’s left too long or late in life. The best time to claim is while you’re still in the occupation that’s exposed you to the conditions that damage your hearing, or when you’ve just left your position.

The Conditions

Many companies expose their workers to conditions that can cause hearing loss. These jobs might include:

  • Exposure to heavy, noisy machinery in industry
  • Exposure to loud music in clubs, bars or at other events
  • Exposure to noise in the aviation industry or other transportation industries
  • Exposure to loud noise on construction sites

Hearing loss compensation is most likely to be assigned to those people who are repeatedly exposed to such conditions in their workplace or in their occupational career. To establish the liability of your employer for the hearing loss you’ve experienced, it’s important to reflect on the conditions of your workplace, and whether your employers were taking care of their workforce’s hearing.

Your Rights

As an employee, you’re due protection from harm. It is your employer’s responsibility to protect you from harm of any kind, and this includes a loss of hearing as a result of the conditions you’re forced to work under. This code is enshrined in law, and so you have the right to make hearing loss claims against your employers if you feel they have violated their right to protect you from harm. Our legal team is particularly well-versed in the compensation procedure when it comes to hearing loss, so you’ll be able to present your violated right to them for them to assemble a case.

Building Your Case

Once you’ve approached our legal team for a free consultation, we’ll be able to assemble your case. With the know-how gleaned from many years of claim management and successful compensation grants, our team will pursue those liable for your loss of hearing for just compensation. We’ll even be confident enough in this area to give you a predicted compensation figure, and our prediction as to whether your case will fail, reach a compromise, or succeed. Your part in the process is minimal; you’ll merely be required to give evidence and information about your hearing loss.

If you’ve experienced a loss to your hearing as a result of the conditions you’ve experienced in the workplace, then you may be due compensation. Approach our specialists for a consultation for us to establish your claim and win you the compensation you deserve.

With such a wide variety of workplaces in which employees spend the majority of their waking lives, it’s little wonder that occasionally hazard perception measures aren’t enough to prevent an injury. If you find yourself one of the unlucky people to suffer an injury at your place of work, no matter how severe, there are four steps that you should follow to ensure you’re being treated respectfully by your employer, and that you achieve any compensation that you’re due. The below guide applies to anyone who’s suffered any kind of injury in the workplace.

Assess the Damage

Injuries vary from person to person and from relatively straightforward injuries to those that have a significant effect on your life and your ability to work. The first thing you should do after suffering a workplace injury is to visit your doctor. Ask them to assess the severity of your injury, and to write a short report based on their findings. Those injuries that have caused you pain or trauma, even if you’re able to continue working, are nonetheless befitting of compensation. More severe injuries that prevent you from working need also to be signed off by a doctor.

Talk to Your Employer

Your employer is no doubt aware of the injury you sustained in the workplace. You should make them aware of your injury as soon as it takes place, and ensure that you have witnesses to the event so that you can prove that the injury was sustained while you were working. Discuss paid leave with your employer in the case that you need time off – and if you don’t, it’s still best that they know you’re pursuing a work accident claim in the UK.

Make a Note of Costs

Injuries are costly – that’s precisely why they’re life events that are due compensation if encountered at work. You may have to pay hospital or doctor’s bills, transport costs, and other expenses that are attributable to the injury you’ve sustained. Keep a note of these costs and proof of their existence where possible so that when you come to make your claim, you’re fully compensated for all the additional costs that the injury at work has created.

Talk to the Experts

Now it’s time to look into the compensation that you are due. Your injury, the trauma endured, and the effect it has on your lifestyle, and of course the doctor’s fees, will all be taken into account before you’re presented with a quote. You’ll be able to ask for a quote on your compensation figure and the likelihood that you’ll be granted this compensation, from our experienced experts.

From there, you leave the compensation in their hands: they’ll work on your case, build an argument, and will approach your employer with a request for compensation that they may either refute or accept. In this way, there’s no stress on you throughout the procedure, and you’ll be granted your compensation as soon as the process of your injury at work claim is concluded.

Injuries at work can be costly and damaging to one’s lifestyle; that’s why you should claim compensation through the four steps outlined above.

We are all familiar when it comes to common accidents, from an injury at work to needing to make a whiplash injury claim. Perhaps you tripped and fell at work, strained your muscles from repeated actions, were hit when trying to reach a file box too high up. Crashes, cuts, toxic fumes, sound-related injuries, clumsiness, and even fights are common.

What about the uncommon accidents? Though rare, they can be devastating in their consequences. Knowing first-aid, how to respond, and more importantly, your rights afterwards can help you recover from these extreme incidents faster, so that you can successfully move on with your life.

Uncommon Accidents at Work

The top uncommon accidents at work include:

Fire-Related Accidents

Fires are still relatively rare, though certainly not unheard of. From smoke inhalation to burns, a fire that breaks out in your workplace can pose serious dangers to your health and even your life. Then there are the psychological damages that can occur from being trapped, facing the very real reality of either choking to death on the smoke, or dying from being burned alive. If this happens to you, seeking out compensation is critical. Most fires are not flukes and instead caused by a fault.

Dangerous Chemical Absorption

When the chemicals or products you use, as per your employers’ instructions, cause serious disease, illness, or disability, they are at fault. They are especially at fault if they did so with the knowledge of the dangers their product possessed.

Building Collapse

Another employer fault that is, thankfully, rare in the UK is a building collapse. This occurs when the building is not kept up to code or worse, unlawful and unsafe extensions are added. A building collapse can result in immediate tragedy, and even if you manage to make it out of the building unscathed, can cause severe psychological trauma.

Animal Attack

Almost 75 farmers have died in the last few years not from dealing with a dangerous animal but instead dealing with a cow. We tend to forget docile creatures are inherently dangerous due to their size and strength. That is why, though animal attacks are uncommon at work, they do still happen, and sometimes even result in death.

Robbery

Robberies are incredibly uncommon but do still happen. The worst part is that those who are conducting the robbery are very unlikely to be calm and organised. One wrong move or a loud noise could set off their nerves and you could be harmed in the proceeding. It is your employer’s responsibility to provide you with a safe working environment, which is why you will see banks, post offices, and similar institutions have glass guarding their employees against the customers.

What to Do if You Have Been Injured at Work

If you have been injured at work, you will want to:

  1. Learn your Rights
  2. Contact a Lawyer
  3. Build a Case
  4. Get the Compensation You Deserve

If you have been injured at work, then contact us today to see if you have a case. From making claims at work to personal injury claims, there is a solicitor for you. If you do, we will work for you until you have the compensation you need to move on from your injury and recover successfully.

Suffering Injury At Work

Knowing what to do after a workplace injury can help you to reduce the stress and confusion of what comes next. Workplace injuries are unfortunately common, and if you have become involved with one that affects your health, then you may be entitled to make a work accident compensation claim.

With any injury at work, there are a clear set of steps that you need to take to ensure that your recovery is more rapid. There is a clear ladder of succession when it comes to who to turn to, and by following these steps you make your chances of making a successful injury at work claim more likely.

Speak To Colleagues

Your first step after an injury at work is to ensure that you have received the correct medical attention. Your first step should be to inform your colleagues of the accident and seek out the designated first aider on the premises. This will be an essential stage when it comes to your recovery. The sooner that you receive medical help, the better.

Speaking to your colleagues will also make them aware of the circumstances of your injury and reduce the chances of the same thing happening to them. This will also help form the foundation of your injury at work claim.

Report the Incident to Management

Speaking to your manager will be the next step. If your injury is serious, then they have a legal obligation to inform the Health and Safety Executive. In many companies, failing to report the accident can be a dismissible offence, so make sure that you do so. At this point, focus more on ensuring that the accident isn’t repeated, and do not discuss the notion of blame. Fault is a difficult element of an injury at work claim, and by raising the subject now, you may end up making it harder to move forward. However, you need to ensure that your accident has been recorded in the accident report book. It may also be useful to take any photos of the environment where the accident occurred, as well as any injuries that you have received.

Medical Professionals

If you are considering making a work accident compensation claim, then you will need to compile evidence. Keep any records of visits to your GP or the hospital. These will be essential if you decide to make a grievance. You should also consider keeping a diary of your symptoms as well, as this will help both your legal team and your doctor. Bear in mind that if you only visit your doctor once, then your payment will be affected. An injury at work claim is decided by the effects of the injury, and the more severe it is, the higher your compensation will be. If you have issues with pain or quality of life, then take the time to visit your GP.

Being involved in a work-related injury will always take you by surprise. Managing and coping in both the long and short-term will be far easier if you follow these guidelines. Speak to a legal professional who has experience with injury at work cases, and you could be receiving monetary compensation that will make your recovery much more manageable.

Stress in the workplace can have a number of significant negative effects. These range from a lack of productivity to mental health issues and can be caused by a variety of influences. These include:

  • Excessive workloads
  • Toxic co-workers
  • Angry customers
  • Commutes
  • Dangerous work conditions

Reduced productivity is the first major sign of workplace stress, and may result in you taking your stresses home with you. That creates a cycle of stress that means that you have no respite. Dealing with workplace stress can be challenging, but work-related stress compensation is possible. Here’s how workplace stress can affect your productivity, and what you should do to tackle these issues.

Time Management Problems

One of the problems with workplace stress is that it can make your work faster than you can perform. This is due to the adrenaline burst that comes with excessive stress. A combination of frustration and panic can lead to mistakes being made, which will affect your overall productivity. This source of stress can lead to many negative consequences, but the most prevalent is the rise of workplace resentment. This too will lead to a lack of productivity, as you will be feeling unappreciated by your employers.

Relationship Strain

It’s not just your relationships with your colleagues that will be affected by excessive stress. Your personal relationships can suffer as well. The feeling of hopelessness caused by a lack of peer support in the workplace or an excessive workload can lead to depression, heightened sensitivity to even the most constructive criticism, and even paranoia. This can result in arguments, as well as a reduction in your own personal self-esteem. This will lead to less focus on your work, reducing your productivity and creating a cycle that can be hard to break free from.

Information Awareness

Being stressed makes it difficult to retain information, and can also cause a lack of focus. Stress is mentally exhausting, and if you are given new work guidelines or tasks, it can be difficult to retain the required information. The lack of focus will mean that you are more prone to accidents or mistakes, which will diminish your productivity even more.

Health Issues

Stress can cause a number of noticeable health problems. Those health problems will mean that you are not working at 100%, and your productivity can be dramatically affected. Symptoms of stress-related health issues include:

  • Headaches
  • Insomnia
  • Blurred vision
  • Weight fluctuations
  • High blood pressure

There are many more potential health problems that can be caused by stress, and you will need recovery time. A work-related stress compensation payment can help you if you need to take time off work to recover from excessive stress.

Your employer has a set of legal guidelines that dictate how they deal with cases of work-related stress. If you think that you have a valid issue that fits with the guidelines of stress at work claims, then you may be entitled to compensation. Whether you receive a payment for general damages or special damages will depend on your individual case, but will reflect the amount of work-related stress compensation that you ultimately receive.

Injury RecoveryInjuries and accidents can strike at any time. Knowing the best ways to recover can have a drastic effect on the amount of time that it takes to get back to full health. There are some simple steps that you can take that will help you to not only speed up your recovery time but also make it easier to get injury compensation if someone else was the cause of your injury. If you have been injured at work or in your personal time, then here are the best actions that you can take that can help you recover and regain your pre-injury quality of life.

Be Patient

It can take time to recover from an injury. The time that it is likely to take will depend on the severity of the injury. Your doctor will have given you some estimation on recovery time, and you should try to stick to those guidelines as much as possible. Trying to rush your recovery can lead to complications, and may even make your injury worse. Take time to heal, and use that time productively. If you are considering personal injury claims, then you should use your healing time to gather as much information about the causes of your injury as possible.

Light Exercise

Your doctor will have advised you about the need to keep moving. If your injury does not affect mobility then something as simple as a daily brisk walk can be highly beneficial and could help to reduce the time it takes to recover. If mobility is an issue after your injury, then speak to your doctor about the best ways to keep your fitness levels acceptable. Never try and over-exercise. You might think that pushing your muscles to pre-injury levels will speed up your recovery, but it’s more likely to cause additional damage.

Eat Well

Eating healthily is always a good idea, but when you’re recovering from an injury, it becomes essential. Eating the right foods can speed up the time it takes to regain your health. Ideally, you want to focus on protein-rich foods, as well as fruits that are high in Vitamin C. Speak to your doctor and they will be able to provide you with a list of the best foods to include in your diet. Eating the right food can help your body to rebuild while eating the wrong food types can result in a much slower recovery time.

Legal Advice

If your injury was the fault of someone else, then you should use your recovery period to look at personal injury claims. Look for a solicitor that has experience with injury compensation, as there may be medical terms that can be confusing for those legal experts who have never undertaken any form of a medical claim. If your injury has caused you a massive drop in the quality of your life, then making an injury claim could help you pay for any changes to your life or home that may be the result of your injury.

Recovering from an injury will take time and patience. Take your time to recover, and look for practical ways to speed up your recovery. If you suffer from financial concerns due to your injury, then an injury compensation payment could help to alleviate your worries.

Industrial WorkplaceOver the last four decades, cases of workplace accidents and deaths have seen a significant drop. This is largely due to improvements in health and safety guidelines, as well as an intense focus on safety practices by organisations.

In an industrial setting, worker safety is of paramount importance, as the variety of large, complex, and potentially dangerous machinery and practices is significantly higher than office environments. There are some key safety practices that should be adhered to by any industrial workplace, as these will help to reduce the potential for having to pay out any industrial injury compensation.

If you want to make your workplace safer, then here are the six safety practices to focus on.

1: Identify Likely Issues – There are going to be some areas of your industrial workplace that are more high risk than others. Make sure that these are looked at with the intention of minimising risk. Pay special care to identify the small injuries that may be more common and easily avoidable.

2: Involve Employees – By getting your workforce involved in any safety planning you will be able to benefit from their ground-floor experience. You will also make it easier for those employees to be more aware of potential issues and reduce your vulnerability to industrial injuries compensation.

3: Signage – You want your team to have visible and easy-to-understand signage that highlights potential dangers. These may need to be reviewed on a regular basis.

4: Stay Tidy – Make it a priority to ensure that there is nothing in the workplace that doesn’t need to be there. Clutter can be one of the main causes of workplace injury, and by removing the unnecessary, you will also promote greater productivity.

5: Machinery Maintenance – Industrial workplaces usually have an abundance of complicated and heavy machinery. Allocating regular times to clean and check them for problems means that you are tackling issues before they result in an industrial injury compensation payment.

6: Review your Safety Guidelines – This needs to be done at least once every year. Inspect your entire workplace alongside your team. Conduct a thorough review and update your safety guidelines where you identify new risks or issues.

Knowing the Risks

Some of the most common injuries in an industrial workplace will require awareness if your goal is to reduce your exposure to injuries. Some of the most common workplace injuries in the industrial sector include:

  • Falls
  • Falling materials or objects
  • Breathing issues
  • Injuries caused by vehicles
  • Electrical accidents including electrocution
  • Accidents involving ladders
  • Machinery accidents

The key to keeping your instances of workplace injury to a minimum are staff training, diligence, and essential safety equipment.

Workplace injuries can drastically affect the lives and futures of your workers. From a business owners perspective, accidents in the workplace can interrupt workflow and negatively affect profit generation, as well as exposing you to the financial risks of a high industrial injuries compensation payment. If you want to limit your exposure to these risks, then creating a culture of safety in your industrial workplace is essential.

A case of amputation negligence surrounds a winning claim for former Network Rail employee Alan Evans. Evans was almost killed by a Brighton-to-London train while working on what should have been a safe stretch of track. Nevertheless, because Network Rail ignored warnings, they’re out nearly a million pounds in compensation damages.

For Mr Evans, the true nature of those damages as a result of that ignorance may not be over.

Perilous incident because Network Rail ignored warnings

Mr Evans was leading a group of 12 engineers working to upgrade the tracks near Redhill. They were suffering from metal fatigue, and thus, at risk of causing a terrible rail accident. One member of the team was posted as a “lookout”, further down the line, alerting the rest of the workers to an oncoming train.

In short: when a lookout spots an oncoming train, he/she alerts other crew members. Subsequently, the crew takes shelter on the side of a 45-degree bank. Thus leaving a small but acceptable distance of 150cm between themselves and the train tracks.

However, in this instance, the layout of the work area means that the lookout took a position at a distance. Coupled with the small distance, that would give him less than 20 seconds to warn others of an oncoming train. Ultimately, a train travelling at 80mph struck Mr Evans, almost entirely destroying his shoulder.

Shoulder surgeries may not prevent amputation

With more than 20 surgeries on the shoulder, it’s still likely that Mr Evans’ right arm needs an amputation. Accordingly, compensation claims aren’t far from his mind, as he’s now unable to work.

Network Rail was ordered to pay £800K in fines regarding breaches of health and safety regulations. This is especially poignant to Mr Evans, too. He himself had raised concerns over the safety of the high-risk site before work began. However, Network Rail was somewhat dismissive in response, telling Mr Evans that management would look into it.

Lawyers at Guildford Crown Court state that it’s reasonable to do such work at night. This is because trains do not run along the Redhill stretch of the line at these hours. Thus removing the risk of a train hitting a worker. Yet again, Network Rail was negligent of the risks of this situation.

Their insistence on working during the day left workers vulnerable to unnecessary risk. Ergo, these conditions ultimately brought on Mr Evans’ injuries.

How we can help

Mr Evans’ case is not a unique one to The Compensation Experts’ team of legal experts. Above all, The Compensation Experts thrive on getting victims of personal injury the compensation they rightfully deserve. Regardless of where you live (be it Surrey, London or Bristol), we work with the nation’s leading law firms.

With the help of trustworthy guidance from injury experts with experience, you can make a claim for any of the following.

We do more than just personal injury claims in the UK, too. We also cover accidents that take place abroad. Additionally, the cover includes (but is not limited to):

A personal injury claim can also be made by a third party after a person dies, or on behalf of a minor.