People may have mixed feelings regarding work. Some dislike work and dread going into the workplace, whereas others relish the idea of work and enjoy it immensely. Whatever your feelings on work, I can hazard a guess that you would never anticipate having an accident there which was not your fault.

Employers have a duty to protect their employees from risks to their health and safety as far as is reasonably possible; they also have to comply with strict health and safety regulations. Therefore, if you have had an accident at work which was not your fault, and you feel that your employer has failed in this important duty of care they have for you, you may have a claim for compensation.

General safety around the workplace
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It’s a lovely day today – let’s hope the weather stays nice over the four day weekend – give us a taste of what’s to come over this summer (hopefully!). But, anyone’s day and summer can easily be ruined when you end up injured in an accident through no fault of your own! Nowadays, it’s easy to end up injuring yourself – but it’s also an easy process to make a claim.

Help! I’ve been injured in an accident that wasn’t my fault!

Been hit in the rear by another car? Fallen down in a supermarket on a wet floor where no signs or preventative measures were in place to warn you of the hazard? Or been injured at work because your employer failed to properly train you for a particular task? If the accident was not your fault, but the fault of someone else (a company, or a person), you have the first ingredient in place to make a successful claim for compensation.
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Whiplash is a common injury which can be caused by a range of accidents. Whiplash is a condition which can have an extremely debilitating effect on a person; it may not only cause severe pain, but also have a devastating effect on a person’s domestic, professional, and social life.

Should you settle a claim before you have recovered from the condition?

Whiplash can be an extremely unpredictable condition: it is one which medics can struggle to predict as to when a sufferer may make a full recovery. This is why is it advisable to gain the assistance of a specialist personal injury lawyer. A good lawyer would normally advise you not to settle your claim until you have made a full recovery – to illustrate why, I have the following example for you to consider:
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Most people are now aware that if they have been involved in an accident which was not their fault, and a result of which is that they have sustained an injury, then it is likely that they will be able to make a claim for compensation.  This is mainly due to a greater awareness and the flurry of television adverts in recent years which briefly explain that in certain cases where you have been injured, a compensatory award may be appropriate.  So how then, if you have been injured by a negligent third party, do you go about making a claim for compensation?

The first step is to get in touch with a quality injury lawyer with years of experience.  This is because they specialise in this area of law, and it is likely that they will have pursued numerous claims with similar circumstances to your own.  This professional injury lawyer should be able to give you some free no obligation legal advice.  This is certainly how we work at The Injury Lawyers.  At The Injury Lawyers, we also provide our services at no cost to our clients. Whether your case wins or loses, we will not be charging you.  That is unless after we’ve done months of work, or even years of work, you decide you no longer want to go ahead with your claim.  The injury lawyers you chose should work under a genuine no win, no fee agreement.

Your quality injury lawyer should explain the likely stages of your claim.  These are dealt with by way of the Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury claims. The first stage of this process is for your injury lawyer to produce on your behalf the letter of claim.  This will outline all your accident details and state why we believe the negligent third party are liable for your injuries and should compensate you.  This will then be sent to the negligent third party who has a period of 21 days to acknowledge the letter and pass it over to their insurers / solicitors / claims representatives, or start their investigations.  By law, the other side are entitled to three months to investigate your claim.  Importantly, this is not to say that they will require this full three months investigatory period.  In many cases the other side are able to provide their position on liability much sooner.
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I myself drive long distances on a daily basis – and when I say long distances, I mean a 70 mile round trip to work every day. This daily trip serves to remind me of the dangers of the road. My trip comprises mainly of going up and down the MI motorway. Accident hotspots on motorways can be the areas around junctions where traffic is meeting. This is similar to accident hotspots on any road where traffic meets at roundabouts, junctions, and where traffic is generally merging.

Injuries

A more common injury we see here at The Injury Lawyers as a result of a road accident is whiplash. Whiplash is a condition which can be greatly undermined, as it is mostly invisible to the naked eye – unlike a laceration or a broken bone. At The Injury Lawyers, however, we treat whiplash with the utmost seriousness as we know the severe pain it causes as well as the devastating effect it can have on people’s lives. Whiplash is an extremely unpredictable condition – a doctor may say you will recover in 3 months, but 1 year down the line you are still in pain. This is why it is advisable to gain the advice of a specialist personal injury lawyer.  A good lawyer will normally not advise you to settle your claim before you have recovered for this very reason – if your settlement is based on a recovery period of 3 months, but you are still suffering in 1 year – you may have greatly undervalued your claim.
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The Daily Mail has today reported that an elderly lady, Audrey King, of 70 years, is seeking compensation having sustained injuries having been involved in a collision with a mobility scooter.  It is stated that Ms King was out shopping with a friend when a mobility scooter drover into her.  As a result of this accident, Ms King suffered a broken hip and a serious fracture to her thigh bone.  According to the Daily Mail, the negligent driver of the mobility scooter got her coat stuck in the mobility, she lost focus, and subsequently drove into Ms King. 

One of the interesting points of this case is that mobility scooters do not require insurance as they are not considered ‘motor vehicles’.  As such, Ms King could not pursue compensation against the negligent driver’s insurance; something she would have been able to do had she have been in a road traffic accident. Instead, she has had to pursue the negligent driver who may not be worth suing.  It is not surprising therefore that Ms King has called for the law to be changed in respect of mobility scooters and their lack of need for insurance.

Ms King states that she was in ‘agonising pain’ after the accident.  She had to stay in hospital for almost an entire week, has had to have an operation on her hip to ensure that she was able to return home, and now requires a walking aid, and has had to use painkillers for approximately six weeks.  Ms King now requires care and assistance around her home.  Should a claim for compensation be successful, it is expected that the compensation would cover her injuries and any other losses that Ms King sustained subsequent to the accident.  That is, because she has needed care and assistance and may continue to do so for some time, a compensatory award could take this into account.  This would be to cover any expenditure she has incurred in having to get this help in.
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Whiplash is one of those conditions that is not so plain to see but can cause the sufferer severe pain for lengthy periods of time. It is a common misconception that the condition is based solely in the neck area; in reality, this can be very different as I will explain below.

Symptoms

The symptoms of whiplash can vary greatly from person to person:

• Pain, stiffness, swelling around the neck, back, and shoulders.
• Pain may radiate to the shoulders or down the back
• Headaches which can be severe and recurrent

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I read today in The Shields Gazette that a police offer is seeking compensation from the Northumbria police after it was alleged that a faulty police vehicle caused Pc Christopher Pearson to be involved in a serious road traffic accident back in August 2006. 

It is reported that Pc Pearson lost control of his police car which caused him to hit a kerb and a barrier which caused the police car to roll over a staggering six times.  As a result of this major accident, Pc Pearson was lucky to only escape with whiplash, an injury to his back, and his knee.  Unfortunately, Pc Pearson was not the only person to be caught up in this incident.  His partner, Pc Emma Wilkinson, a passenger in the vehicle, also suffered injuries.  Pc Wilkinson has yet to return to work – and, approaching five years after the accident, Pc Pearson has only returned on limited duties.

Pc Pearson contends that a bald tyre and some loose fittings around one of the police cars’ wheels caused him to lose control of the vehicle.  The police officers, who were pursuing a suspect at the time, came off the road at a bend.  Pc Pearson states that ‘As we started to leave the bend I could see the road straightening up, and at that point in time the vehicle should have been moving in that straight line, but the vehicle itself, rather than going straight, seemed to be going.  The front near side at that point then hit the kerb…I could not understand why the vehicle was going in that direction.’  In essence, Pc Pearson suggests that the car was defective, and as such this caused the crash.  Northumbria police have so far denied liability.
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Sport is big part of a lot of people’s lives.  Football is probably England’s most popular sport – on a Sunday in particular, a lot of people go to their local playing fields to compete against each other in regional league matches.  Even if people aren’t playing sport, they are watching it or reading about it.  There are numerous channels on television which are dedicated to sport, and even the channels we find on freeview for example have a substantial content which focuses on sport or showing sporting events.  In the newspapers, the back pages are dedicated to sport, and some papers even have dedicated sporting pullout pages. 

There can be little doubt that sport is massive in England, and there are a lot of people who are in someway involved in sport; whether that it through direct participation or alternatively a keen interest.

For those who play sport, you will be all too familiar with the fact that injuries do occur while you are participating.  Some are minor and go away quickly, whilst others are worse and may require you to have a number of weeks, or even months on the ‘sidelines’.  In most cases these injuries will occur by chance and will not involve an interaction with any third party.  But: what if you suffer an injury because of someone else?  Even if this injury is caused by accident, can you still make a claim for compensation?
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There can be many potential hazards at work – these hazards should be minimised by your employers. Your employer may put in place training policies, checks, and inspections in order to minimise risks to your health and safety.

If you had an accident at work that was not your fault, you may have a claim for compensation. Employers have a duty to protect their staff as far as is reasonably possible from risks to their health and safety.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
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