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Each year many children are treated in hospitals for many accidents, often as a result of the child’s immaturity, boisterous or reckless behaviour. Most of the time, no one can be held accountable for the accident other than the child themselves. Sometimes however, if preventative measures were in place, the accident may have been less likely to happen.

Children are very vulnerable and the law recognises this, placing their safety and well being in the hands of adults. If your child has been involved in an accident as a result of a negligent person, your child might have a claim for compensation; depending on the circumstances of course.  Children under the age of 18 will have to be represented by an adult. If you are unsure as to whether your child has a claim for compensation, it’s always worth investigating it with a specialist injury lawyer.
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At some point or another we have all bought something that ends up not working, but perhaps not so many of us have bought a product that ends up being a hazard to the user. It can come as quite a shock, especially if your harmed by something you have only just bought.

 It’s quite clear cut when it comes to the law’s governing the sale of products; The Sale of Goods act 1939 determines that the goods must be safe and they must fit the description given for the product. They must also be of satisfactory quality and fit the purpose intended. If the product requires assembling or installing, the customer must be supplied with adequate instructions. If you receive a demonstration of the product prior to purchase, the product must also fit that demonstration. It’s also worth noting that the law states that the fault lies with the retailer and not the manufacturer, even for website based sales.

When you purchase a new product, most of us would expect it to have gone through the necessary checks in order for it to go on sale to the public. This is the case for the majority of products; however there are the odd few instances when products have slipped through the net and in actual fact they are unsafe to be on the shelves for purchase.
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The answer…yes (dependent on the circumstances of course!)

To clarify; you wouldn’t be able to claim for the shock or ‘snap’ you feel from the static on your carpet or when you shut your car door now and again. If you had misused a product in an unreasonable manner which had caused the shock to arise then again it is unlikely you will be able to make a claim.

But what if a product you have purchased is faulty and caused you a serious electric shock? What if your apparatus at work is faulty and you have experienced a shock which has resulted in severe injuries?
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So you have been to the hairdressers expecting to come out with brilliant results, and you expect to be fully satisfied. However, something went wrong and you really don’t know what to do about it and you’re a little confused as to why it’s happened. You went into the hairdressers expecting it to be a simple and straightforward process. After all, everyone goes to the hairdressers; surely it’s an easy enough process to have something like your hair dyed when you are in the hands of a “professional”.

Anyone who has happened to suffer in the hands of a hairdresser is far from alone. Hair dressing problems are much more common than people realise and the majority of the time the issues occur as a result of poor techniques or incompetence on the hair dressers part. Hairdressing is a profession that is actually by far under regulated in this country.

The chemicals used for bleaching, straightening, colouring and perming hair all consist of very strong substances, which if used incorrectly can go very wrong indeed – often leading to burns, hair loss and in very severe cases, permanent damage. There are also risks with hair extensions if they are misused leading to semi permanent and even permanent damage. Also, dermatitis through contact is fifteen times higher than the national average.
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We have all experienced that ringing or buzzing sound in our ears at some point; whether it’s after a concert, being at a club or at a party. It’s rather annoying for the time it hangs around but generally by the following morning it’s gone and you wonder what all the fuss was about.

But what if that annoying little buzzing or ringing stayed around for longer? What if it was with you continually, day and night and you just can’t shake it?

I don’t know about you but I can only imagine that it would be nothing more than torturous.
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In today’s society it is encouraged that we exercise more and avoid using our cars where possible to reduce our carbon foot print. Many people make good use of bicycles, using them as an alternative means of transport to and from work and also simply for recreational purposes. It’s a brilliant method of getting out and about in the open. Whilst there are many plus sides to using bikes, they come with their disadvantages especially; for pedestrians it seems.

The statistics for injuries to pedestrians is higher than you may think. In 2009 the government released figures showing the cases of people injured due to bicycles (source). Pedestrians are 263 times more likely to be injured by a motor vehicle than they are with a bike. Over the past ten years figures show that 29 people were killed by bicycles and 7,600 were killed by motor vehicles.  364,000 people were injured by motor vehicles, 76,000 of those people being seriously injured and just over 2,600 people were harmed by bicycles.
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It’s quite surprising how many accidents occur due to the state and condition of Britain’s pavements. It seems that many slips and trips for the general public are the result of poorly maintained surfaces, pot holes (which can be very hazardous!), and ill fitted man hole covers. It’s crucial that pavements are maintained on a regular basis to avoid the cost of accidents.  It’s often very important to write letters of complaint to your local council should you feel an area of pavement is unsafe to use.

According to statistics published by Unison (source – please be aware that this a link to a PDF page), slips and trips are responsible for 33% of all major accidents at work which have been reported to the HSE. Sources quote that 20% of absences at work for a period of longer than three days are due to slips and trips. They also make up 50% of all accidents reported by the general public. Slip and trip accidents occur once every three minutes and 95% of major slips and trips result in broken bones.
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Accidents at work are a very common occurrence, probably more so than people think. However it goes without saying that a lot of minor accidents at work are often unreported and even ignored.

This is often because employees are scared to make a fuss over such instances.
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If you decide to claim after being involved in a road traffic accident, you must be aware of something called Third Party Capture. This is basically steps taken by the insurance company to settle your claim directly with you. This provides an opportunity for the insurers to make a financial gain by under settling your claim.

Here’s how it works.. If you have been involved in a road traffic accident you’ll find that you’ll be contacted by many different parties in an attempt to have a hand in your compensation claim. Even the insurance company for the person at fault may contact you to try and persuade you to make a claim directly through them. The third parties insurance company will tell you that it will be in your interests to make a claim with them. They will tell you that; your claim will be settled in a short amount of time, perhaps a matter of weeks. You could have your compensation in your bank account almost immediately.
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We think we’ve seen it all when it comes to strange mishaps on the road and then you read something else that makes you think in amazement…”Just how did that happen?”

One of my fellow colleagues wrote an article just a few months ago regarding the scary incident whereby a woman’s vehicle became trapped on the front of a lorry and was pushed along for 1 mile before the lorry driver noticed what had happened!

Well, on browsing today’s news pages I couldn’t help noticing a small article on the BBC News website titled “Mystery of US dangling vehicle” (BBC News Source).

How could you not be intrigued to have a look at the latest road wierd and wonderful road mishap?!
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