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If you have been injured in an accident that was not your fault, you may be entitled to compensation, which is designed to put you back in the position you would have been in had the accident not have occurred. 

For example, if a faulty piece of work equipment caused you to sustain injury, you could be compensated for that injury or if you have had a trip and fall in the high street because of piece of defective paving you could be compensated for any associated injury.  For most people, compensation claiming is not something they have done before, and therefore it is natural to wonder when people want to know how to go about this.  Here is a quick guide:

The first thing you should think about is instructing a quality injury lawyer on your behalf.  Aim for an injury lawyer who will not charge you for their work, will get you the maximum compensation you deserve in the shortest time possible, and who is an expert in the field of personal injury claims owing to their numerous years of experience in dealing with these sorts of claims.  With the right injury lawyer on your side, you will be well on your way to obtaining the compensation you deserve, and will be in experts hands – better still, in most cases, your injury lawyer will do most of the work for you.
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I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; there really are countless rules and regulations that your employers have to abide by in order to uphold health and safety legislation in the workplace. Ultimately, your employers attitude towards safe workplaces and conditions has a significant impact on someone very important in the firm; you!

Your employer must do everything they can reasonably and practically do to ensure that your workplace and working conditions are safe and hazard-free. This comes down to everything – the floors you walk on, the desks you sit at, the warehouses you carry boxes round, the equipment you use, and the equipment provided to you to assist you to stay safe in your job.

The focus of this blog is the workplace itself.
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Many would agree that a person under the age of 18 is not suitable to bring a claim for compensation on their own accord.  Sure, you may get a few mature 15, 16, 17 or 18 year olds who could probably do so; but a child of the age of 3 or 4 could not, nor a child of 10.  As such, a child, or a ‘minor’, i.e. a person under the age of 18, cannot bring a claim for compensation of their own accord. 

However, this is not to stop them claiming for compensation.  They can either wait until they are 18 and make a claim any time up until they are 21 years old, or a ‘litigation friend’ can do so on their behalf.  At The Injury Lawyers we would suggest that, where a child is particularly young or it would be a couple of years until they are 18, that they have a litigation friend to act on their behalf in making any claim for compensation.  This is because we consider that the longer you take to make the claim, the less fresh the events are in your mind; there is a greater likelihood that evidence will be lost or witnesses will be either untraceable or less reliable.

What is a litigation friend?
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There are loads of different workplace rules and regulations that your employer is legally bound to follow. There are so many in order to fulfil their purpose of protecting employees in the workplace. It is the responsibility of your employer to take all the necessary actions to ensure these rules and regulations are upheld; this is achieved in several ways, namely the two most common methods:

• Risk Assessments
• Training

Risk Assessments
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After experiencing a brief ‘Indian summer’ in late September/ early October, the weather is now turning cold again and it surely won’t be long until we are reaching for those hats, scarves and gloves in preparation for the, if the past two winters are anything to go by, seemingly inevitable deluge of heavy snow and ice.

The past two winters of 2009 and 2010 are said to have been the coldest in the UK for over 100 years, so not many of us will remember many worse winters. The cold weather bought with it heavy snow and ice, which lead to a huge increase in accidents and resulted in extremely busy periods for personal injury lawyers, such as ourselves, who were inundated with new claims and advice enquiries.

But how easy is it to make a claim against a local authority for compensation following an accident as a result of snow and ice? Well, the answer is unfortunately not very easy at all and this is illustrated in the case of Rhiannon Pace V City and County of Swansea 2007. In this case the accident victim was injured in a Road Traffic Accident caused by black ice on the road. It was accepted by the Judge in this case that the accident was caused by the ice, however he ruled that the local authority had not been negligent. When considering this case, the Judge considered two questions, the first of which is: Was the local authority’s winter maintenance plan proper and reasonable?
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Cosmetic surgery is on the rise, and that comes as no surprise given the media / social pressure on people and their appearances these days. In particular there is increasing pressure on celebrities to look their best at all times – God forbid them leaving the house without a face full of make-up and dressed in their scruffs – the ‘paps’ would have a field day!

I can certainly see the attraction of surgery, if I had the choice I’d look like Cheryl Cole … I mean, who wouldn’t?! But have the extremes people go to for that “perfect” look gone too far?

Take for example the new reality soap The Only Way is Essex; where cosmetic surgery is the norm as the majority of the female cast have had different work carried out including, nose jobs, teeth enhancements, breast enlargements, and more recently there is even talk of bum implants! Additionally a recent episode screened a botox party where the guests were encouraged to undertake the treatment.  Since the show there was reportedly a huge increase in surgical enquiries; presumably individuals wanting to look like the celebrities they see on screen.
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I’m sure we all remember the lessons we were taught in school about crossing the road safely. Stop, look, and listen! Whilst there are several crossing we can use, there are still accident claims that we take on on a daily basis that involve innocent pedestrians being hit by vehicles whilst using a safety crossing, such as a zebra crossing.

The thing is, zebra crossings are perhaps not as safe as a crossing where there are lights to stop traffic moving. There are those lovely big orangey / yellow balls which are usually clear to see; but apparently, drivers still miss them.

So, what can you do if you have been injured from being hit by a vehicle at a zebra crossing?
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If you have been involved in a road traffic accident which was not your fault then it is highly likely that, if you have been injured, you will be able to make a claim for compensation. 

For instance, if someone has collided into the rear of your vehicle and you have sustained whiplash then you will probably have a claim; or if you were a passenger in a car which was involved in a collision, again you are likely to have a claim.  In most circumstances it would be the Defendant’s, that is the negligent third party’ insurer who would pay you this compensation.  But what happens if the Defendant was not insured? Does that mean you cannot be compensated?

Well there is always the option of suing the Defendant directly, but in all likelihood they won’t be worth suing – in other words, they don’t have any money to recompense you with, and so it would be a waste of time.  There is, though, another option – to make a claim from a compensation fund held by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (‘MIB’).
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Personally, I never know whether to be a little saddened by the disappearing warmth and the fading of the lighter hours, or looking forward to the “C” word that we will be able to think about in the coming weeks! Although I think I answered this question last night when I was battered by those wet and cold blustery winds that attacked me as I escaped the outdoors last night…

One thing you should all be doing is taking the opportunity to prepare yourself and your vehicle for winter. I grabbed my thick patchwork camping blanket from my rucksack last night in preparation to wash it to be used as an emergency blanket in case we see a repeat of the arctic conditions we endured last year. I suggest you all do the same.

So, what should you do? Here’s my advice, based on what I’ve started doing:
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With the winter months almost upon us, we can still see the damage that last winter did to our roads and pavements.  On our daily journeys to and from home, it sometimes feels as if we are driving on an obstacle course, weaving around the holes in the ground, trying to avoid damage to our vehicles.

There is not just the issue of what damage a poorly maintained road can do to our vehicles, but there is also the issue of public safety.  A pothole can be a tripping hazard to pedestrians.  Motorbikes, mopeds and bicycles are extremely vulnerable to these defects of the road.  Any incidents involving these types of highway users could be catastrophic.

It is the duty of the Councils to keep our highways as safe as possible by carrying out regular inspections and maintenance checks. So – when are the counsels going to fix the holes properly and not just lay a bit of tar to cover the hole to get us through the next couple of months?
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