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Here at The Injury Lawyers we deal with all types of personal injury claims. We deal solely with claims for injury. We have a team of specialist personal injury lawyers who strive to bring your claim to a swift and successful conclusion. We deal with all types of work accidents including tripping and slipping accidents, accidents involving scaffolding, work equipment accidents, industrial diseases etc. If you have sustained injury (or developed an industrial disease) as a result of an accident at work then you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation.

Many people are reluctant to bring a claim against their employer, particularly in the current economic climate. While this is certainly understandable, employers are required to have employer’s liability insurance which is in place for the sole purpose of paying out compensation to injured victims, such as yourself. It is your right to make a claim but equally it is your right to make the decision on whether to make a claim or not. It is your right to make a claim and your right to decide whether or not to exercise that right to claim. In some situations you may no longer work for that company or employer and therefore you may want to bring a claim. However you should note that the right to claim is not open indefinitely.

For general accidents at work you normally have 3 years (from the date of the accident itself) to either settle your claim or issue Court Proceedings for English / Welsh jurisdiction. If Court Proceedings are not issued within this 3 year limitation period then you may lose your right to claim compensation. Therefore it is always prudent to bring a claim as soon as possible if you have sustained injury and if you want to claim.
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If you have been involved in a road traffic accident that was not your fault, but you were not wearing a seatbelt, can you still make a claim for compensation? Put simply, the answer is yes – you can still make a claim for compensation providing the accident was not your fault. This applies whether you were a driver or a passenger.

The likelihood is that the Defendant will argue contributory negligence applies. However contributory negligence is not a complete defence to a claim. It is a partial defence which, if found, would reduce the amount of compensation that you receive. Contributory negligence is basically the Defendant alleging that you were partly to blame for causing or contributing to the accident or to your injuries (or to the severity of your injuries). In this case it means that your injuries may be more severe as a result of your negligence in failing to wear a seat belt, which is breaking the law.

Contributory negligence would be argued in terms of a percentage. The Defendant may argue that you are 20% responsible. What would this mean in terms of any compensation awarded? For example purposes let’s say that your claim is valued, on a full liability basis, at £2,000. If contributory negligence was agreed at 20%, you would not receive 100% of your compensation; you would receive the remaining 80% (20% deducted). So in the example given you would receive £1,600 (£2,000 minus 20% for contributory negligence). Where contributory negligence is agreed or found by a Court of law, your compensation would be deducted accordingly.
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Up and down the country on a daily basis people sit down to work – it is perhaps taken for granted that you sit down at your desk or at your work station in whichever job you do and start your daily jobs. However, we also take it for granted that, whilst we are sat at work, we are relatively safe from being injured, we are less likely to trip over a colleague’s bag or a trailing wire for a start. But what if the cause of our injury is the very chair that you sit on every day?

You may think it is unlikely to happen but more and more people are being injured as a result of chairs at work collapsing or breaking when they are being sat on. The question is; what can you do about it?

Well, it is your employer’s responsibility under section 2, Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to provide you with adequate equipment to allow you to do your job and to keep you safe from hazards that they are able to prevent. Therefore, if you do a job that requires sitting at a desk your employer should provide you with a chair that allows you to do this safely.

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You may have been told by your Solicitor that he or she is preparing to make a pre-action disclosure application (or PAD for short). This is basically an application to Court to request that the Court makes an Order to force the other party to disclose relevant documentation in accordance with the claim. Relevant documentation could include insurance details, works medical records, risk assessments, accident book entries etc. The relevant documentation will depend on the nature of the claim. Without such documentation it could be difficult for your Solicitor to assess your claim or the prospects of success in your claim. The documentation could be crucial in determining liability.

The application will usually result in a formal hearing at a County Court. You normally do not need to attend the hearing and we often instruct a Barrister to attend the hearing on our behalf. The hearing would usually last between 10 and 15 minutes. We prepare the application and produce a “draft order” which sets out the documentation that we believe should be disclosed. We also prepare a Statement setting out the correspondence between the parties to show that we have reasonably tried to get the information from the Defendant without the need for court action.
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A Part 36 offer in personal injury is normally an offer to settle a claim for compensation. Part 36 offers differ from non Part 36 offers in a number of ways. There are cost consequences in terms of Part 36 offers. I will attempt to explain the nature and consequences of Part 36 offers.

Part 36 offers are set out in the Civil Procedure Rules and can be made by both the Claimant and the Defendant.

Not all offers to settle a claim are Part 36 offers. To be a Part 36 offer the offer normally must:

1. Be in writing;
2. State that the offer is intended to be a Part 36 offer and to have the consequences of the same;
3. Specify a period of not less than 21 days within which the Defendant will be liable for the Claimant’s costs if the offer is accepted;
4. State whether the offer relates to the whole of the claim or part of it.

If an offer is to be a Part 36 offer, it must normally be made in writing. This obviously excludes offers made solely over the telephone. If an offer is made over the telephone and then confirmed to be a Part 36 offer, perhaps either in a written letter or email, this would then be written and could therefore qualify as a Part 36 offer, providing that the other points are complied with.

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The basic principle of vicarious liability is that, if an employee injures someone in the course of their employment, the employer may be vicariously liable. This simply means that the injured person may be able to win compensation directly from the employer, rather than from the employee.

There are many instances where vicarious liability may occur. For example if you were involved in a road traffic accident with a van and the van driver was at the time of the accident acting in the course of his employment. If the van driver was at fault for the accident then his employer may be vicariously liable. An employer can be vicariously liable for the acts or omissions of his or her employees. An omission is simply a failure to do something. An example could be an employee failing to secure or put down a safety device on a machine which later causes injury. The failure to do something was the negligence and thus his or her employer could be vicariously liable.

The theory behind vicarious liability is that the employer is thought to have “deeper pockets” to compensate injured victims. Obviously if a company has insurance in place then ultimately it will be an insurance company who pays out compensation. This is why companies and businesses take out employer’s liability insurance.

It goes without saying that employers do not like vicarious liability.
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If you are suffering from contact dermatitis through work then you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation. Dermatitis is inflammation of the skin which can be caused by coming into contact with skin irritants for example.

Work related dermatitis is more common in certain industries including healthcare, hairdressing, dentistry, food processing, cleaning, printing, engineering, agriculture etc. However dermatitis can occur in just about any place of work. Contact dermatitis is caused by things that dry out and damage the skin. Such things include solvents, oils etc. Frequent and prolonged contact with water could also cause dermatitis.

In terms of the law, dermatitis can be classed as an industrial disease which you can claim compensation for. Such disease claims are run under the terms of the Pre-Action Protocol for Disease and Illness Claims.
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Lifting is part and parcel of many jobs nowadays, but there are rules and regulations in place to ensure that employees are kept reasonably safe and injury free. The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 cover this area in some detail.

If you are lifting heavy objects at work then first and foremost, you should be trained in manual handling techniques. When possible, manual handling should be avoided. This can be done in a variety of ways such as using machinery or equipment to carry objects, re-structuring so that an object does not need to be moved etc. In many jobs an element of manual handling is still necessary and very much seen as “part of the job”. If a safer system of work can be adopted so that manual handling can be avoided, then this safer system of work should be adopted.

When manual handling cannot be avoided your employer should assess the risks of injury by considering how heavy an object is and how far it has to be carried. In many situations there will be something that can be done to either mechanically carry the object or at least assist in carrying the object.
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Accidents in schools are quite common and that is not really a surprise with children running around in the playground, play fighting, playing football and other things that children get up to these days. However there is a need to distinguish between genuine accidents and accidents giving rise to a personal injury claim.

You may be able to bring a compensation claim on behalf of your child if the accident was not his or her fault. For example if your child tripped over a raised paving slab on school premises or tripped in a pot hole. If the area was not adequately maintained and the defect caused injury, then a claim may be possible. It would also be possible to bring a claim if the child was injured as a result of faulty or defective equipment. For example a chair that broke causing injury.
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Slipping accidents are one of the most common types of accidents giving rise to a claim for personal injury. Unfortunately people can and do sustain nasty injuries as a result of slipping on wet floors. Such accidents more commonly happen in supermarkets or local shops. When you are in a shop, for example, then the shop or the owner of the shop has a duty to keep you reasonably safe and free from harm. Potential hazards should be brought to your attention. One such hazard is a wet floor.

If a floor becomes wet and dangerous, whether it is from people walking in rain water or whether it is from a spillage of some kind, action should be taken by the store as soon as possible. I know that in big supermarkets the procedure is that a member of staff stands next to the spillage while another member of staff goes to get a mop and bucket in order to clean up the floor and remove the danger.

I know this as I used to work in a supermarket and have witnessed the same happening when shopping myself. If the hazard cannot be rectified then a wet floor sign should be clearly displayed to warn of the danger. Obviously in the case of a spillage it would be prudent to clean up the spillage with a mob and bucket and to then display a wet floor sign until the floor is dry and the danger is gone.
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