The Limitation Act 1980 sets time limits for people wanting to make claims and the vast majority of personal injury actions are subject to a 3 year limitation period.

What does this mean for you and your claim?
Well the time limit for making a claim for personal injury is 3 years from:

• The date that the injury is caused or
• The date of knowledge (if later) of the person injured

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Computers have been commonplace at the workplace for years now and the regulations that cover the screens to protect you are called The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992

These regulations are one of the few which are specifically targeted at a particular type of equipment and a particular activity – that’s your computer screen and the way in which you use it!

So what should your Employer be considering when there is extended use of computer screens in the workplace? In broad terms, the following points should be considered by an Employer:
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Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is necessary to protect you in particular against health and safety risks to vulnerable areas of your persons i.e. your head, face, eyes, skin, hands etc.

The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 impose a fairly strict regime for both Employer’s and Employee’s to follow and these are intended to work together to provide you the employee with the most effective protection.
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The limitation period in terms of claims involving fatal accidents is normally 3 years from the date of death. After this point the claim will normally be statute-barred, meaning that the claim can no longer be brought. The purpose of this is to protect individuals from being subjected to claims a considerable time after they might reasonably have expected to have to defend the claim.

However, there may be circumstances in which a claim can be brought outside of that limitation period. A good example would be if the person bringing the compensation claim was a minor at the date when the accident happened. The 3 year limitation period will not start to run in this case until the claiming party reaches the age of 18. This helps to protect children from any exploitation which they might be vulnerable to had they brought a claim at an earlier age, provided of course that they were a dependent of the deceased.
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Contributory negligence is when the other party (the ‘Defendant’ in law speak) admits that they are at fault for your accident and will pay you compensation but want to pay you less as they feel you are partly at fault for the accident. For example, if they successfully allege that you are 20% at fault for the accident then the other party will pay you 20% less than the value of your claim.
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If a driver ignores a road sign, they do so at their own risk. In the case of Buffel V Cardox ltd, a cyclist crossing the main road was injured by a lorry travelling up that main road.

About 95 yards from the crossing there were signs and studs in the road warning drivers on the main road to ‘slow’ and there were also a cross roads sign and a flashing beacon to warn drivers of the dangers ahead but the lorry driver on the main road decided to ignored the road signs failing to slow down and carried on driving at a high speed, which the Court found to be a dangerous speed for the road conditions.
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Trips and slips are common place in the workplace. Unfortunately, this means that injuries are a regular occurrence.Employers are under a duty under regulation 12 of the Workplace, Health and Safety regulations 1992 to make sure as follows:
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The highway code states that on all journeys, the rider and pillion passenger on a motorcycle, scooter or moped MUST wear a crash helmet. Those helmets must also be of construction which complies with the regulations and be properly fastened.
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A teenager has been sent to prison for 6 months following an attack on firefighters. Greig Deans was one of a gang of teenagers who were involved in launching fireworks at the emergency services as they responded to an emergency call out on bonfire night last year. Allegedly, Deans, now 16, threw a firework at an emergency crew who were called to deal with an illegal bonfire in Aberdeen. He was sentenced to six months in rehabilitation in a young offender’s institute with the Aberdeen Sheriff Court indicating that his detention was necessary as a deterrent to others.
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In order for a victim to successfully pursue a claim for compensation the injured victim must prove that the other party (known as the Defendant) was not only negligent (i.e. at fault for the accident) but also that the negligent party by his or her negligence caused the victims injuries and other losses sustained ( we call this ‘causation’).
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