Pearson Hinchliffe Commercial Law, Manchester - Accident at Work: Should I Claim Compensation?

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Accident at Work: Should I Claim Compensation?

<< News archive June 2010

30th June 2010

Claiming compensation following an accident at work can seem like a tricky business. You might be asking yourself questions like ‘am I really entitled to compensation for my injuries?’, ‘what will my work colleagues think of me for making a work accident claim?’ and ‘will I risk losing my job if I claim against my employer?’ In fact, none of these issues should stop you from contacting a solicitor for advice on claiming for your accident at work.

How your solicitor can help you

If you are not sure that you are entitled to claim, a solicitor can quickly assess this for you. A solicitor specialising in personal injuries compensation should be your first point of call - he or she will be able to make an assessment on the merits of the case and likely outcome including the possible amount of compensation you would receive if successful.

Also part of the your solicitor consultation would be to look at the various ways to cover your costs. If you win your case the other side (respondednt) should normally cover your costs. Your solicitor may be willing to proceed on a No Win No Fee basis which would mean that if you lose your costs are still covered. In many cases people take out a legal fees insurance policy to back up a No Win No Fee arrangement.

Whatever option you go with, there should be no financial impediment to you getting justice and compensation for your injury if you do have a valid claim against your employer.

Will I lose my job if I make an injury claim against my employer?

If you are worried about what your colleagues might think, consider the fact that you could be doing them a big favour by making their working environment a safer place. And it is illegal to dismiss an employee because they have made a claim, so there is no need to worry about losing your job.

Whatever your injuries, it is sensible to get free legal advice as soon as you can by contacting a specialist firm of solicitors such as Pearson Hinchliffe. Pearson Hinchliffe's personal injury team specialise in workplace accident compensation. We will assess your claim for you for free and help you to understand how a claim is made, how long it it likely to take, what information what information is going to be needed from you and answer any questions you might have.

These are some of the questions you might be asked in your initial free meeting while we try to establish whether you have a realistic compensationclaim .

1. Did the accident happen in the last three years?

This is an important question as the law in the UK states that you cannot initiate a compensation claim if the accident at work happened more than three years ago. As long as you start your claim within three years of the work accident, it doesn’t matter if the claim itself runs over this period. The important thing is when the claim was started. There is an exception here – if you are suffering from an occupational illness, such as asbestosis or mesothelioma, which was caused exposure to chemicals, the exposure can date back many years or even decades since such illnesses can lie dormant for a very long time.

2. Was someone else to blame?

For a claim to be successful, it needs to be proven that the work accident was the fault, or partly the fault, of someone else. If you are not sure who was to blame then it is vital to seek professional legal advice to ascertain where the blame lies. Sometimes, an incident which may have seemed to be your fault, or the fault of one of your colleagues, can actually be traced back to unsafe working practices, for instance, and your employer may still be held accountable.

3. Did you suffer illness or injury as a result of the accident?

If the accident at work has caused you to be injured or to suffer from any illness, including psychological illnesses, and this has affected your life in some way, it is quite possible that you are entitled to compensation for your injuries and any monetary losses you have incurred as a result.