Inhaling toxic fumes can be very serious and could cause significant health problems. Having to deal with these effects can be challenging in itself. But it can feel even more unfair when your injuries were caused by someone else’s negligence.
If you’ve been injured through inhaling toxic fumes because someone else neglected their duty of care to you, you could potentially make a claim for compensation. This guide will look at the process of claiming compensation following toxic fume inhalation.
Inhaling toxic fumes injury compensation
You can navigate through the guide by clicking on any of the sections below. However, if you’d prefer to speak to someone about your claim directly, you can do so by getting in touch with our team. You can contact us by
- Calling us on 0161 696 9685.
- Using our online contact form
- Speaking to someone at the chat feature to the bottom-right of this screen.
Choose A Section
- A Guide To Claiming Compensation Payouts For Inhaling Toxic Fumes
- What Does Inhaling Toxic Fumes Mean?
- How Can You Suffer Inhaling Toxic Fumes At Work?
- Inhaling Toxic Fumes In A Public Place
- How Can You Suffer Inhaling Toxic Fumes In A Road Traffic Accident?
- Our Team Can Advise On Personal Injury Compensation Calculations
- What Are Special Damages?
- Case Study: £10,000 For Inhaling Toxic Fumes
- Free Legal Advice That Can Help Calculate Your Payout
- No Win No Fee Policies Made Easy For Claimants
- Your Free Legal Advice From Our Team
- More Resources And Guides On Inhaling Toxic Fumes
- Inhaling Toxic Fumes FAQs
A Guide To Claiming Compensation Payouts For Inhaling Toxic Fumes
In this guide, we will look at the process of claiming compensation following the inhalation of toxic fumes. We’ll start by looking at the effects that inhaling toxic fumes can have on your health.
We will also look at how toxic fumes may be inhaled in different scenarios and the duty of care that is owed to you. By the end of this guide, you should feel confident in spotting when a duty of care to you has been breached.
We will go on to look at how compensation is calculated. We’ll examine the two heads of claim, as well as what can be included in your settlement award.
Finally, we will look at the benefits of a No Win No Fee agreement when making a personal injury claim for toxic fume inhalation. Our guide will end with some resources that you may find helpful. We will also answer some frequently asked questions about the inhaling of toxic fumes.
Personal Injury Claims Time Limit
Under the Limitation Act 1980, there is a time limit for personal injury claims. This runs for 3 years from either the date of the accident or the date of knowledge about the injury or the injury being caused by negligence.
For instance, you may be exposed to toxic fumes in the workplace, but the symptoms don’t present themselves until years down the line. In these cases, your 3 year period would run from the date you knew or should have known that your injuries were the result of negligence.
Also, there are different time limits for personal injury claims involving children. A litigation friend can make a claim on behalf of the child before they turn 18. If no claim is made the 3-year time limit begins on their 18th birthday. Also for those suffering from reduced mental capabilities the time limit differs also.
If you have any questions about whether you will be able to claim compensation, our team will be happy to answer them. Just get in touch with us today.
What Does Inhaling Toxic Fumes Mean?
The inhalation of toxic fumes involves breathing in a substance in the air that has the potential to cause you harm. If you inhale toxic fumes, it could lead to sudden breathing difficulties. This may be because your nose and throat are swollen, making breathing hard. The irritation could spread to your eyes and the skin as a whole. Other symptoms could include coughing, headaches, nausea and dizziness.
You should always seek medical advice if you or someone you’re with has inhaled a dangerous or toxic substance. In severe cases, you could require hospital treatment to prevent any long-term damage to your lungs. It may take some time to completely recover from chemical inhalation.
If you’ve been injured through the inhalation of toxic fumes because a third party breached their duty of care they have towards you, then you may be owed compensation. Speak to our claims team today to find out more about claiming.
How Can You Suffer Inhaling Toxic Fumes At Work?
In order to be able to claim after inhaling toxic fumes, resulting in injury, then you need to be able to answer “yes” to the following questions:
- Were you owed a duty of care?
- Was this duty of care breached, resulting in an accident?
- Did this breach in duty of care lead directly to you being injured?
When you’re at work, your employer has a responsibility to ensure your safety and wellbeing as far as is reasonably practicable. This duty of care towards you is outlined in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
What could my employer do to keep me safe?
An employer must provide a safe working environment. No one workplace is 100% safe but steps must be taken to keep employees safe as practically as possible. Below is a list of things an employer can do to keep their employees safe:
- Risk assessments– your employer should undertake regular risk assessments to identify any risks that you might be exposed to in your working day. These hazards should then be removed. If they can’t be removed, they should be minimised as much as possible.
- Training– it’s your employer’s responsibility to make sure that all employees are trained properly. This helps to ensure that tasks are carried out with as little risk of injury as possible.
- Equipment- any equipment that you use should be regularly maintained and safe. They should also ensure that it’s the right equipment for the job you’re carrying out
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)– it’s really important that your employer provides PPE to protect you from hazards. PPE can include things like hard hats, masks or gloves. Your employer can’t charge you for PPE that you need to do your job safely. As well as providing you with PPE, your employer needs to check regularly to make sure it hasn’t deteriorated.
For example, someone working in a laboratory may inhale toxic fumes from corrosive chemical substances that they’re working with. It could be that the employer does provide them with personal protective equipment (PPE) in the form of a mask.
However, if the mask no longer works and the employee can show that it hadn’t been inspected within the appropriate time frame, they may have grounds for a compensation claim. Speak to our team today if you’d like more information on whether or not you may be able to claim.
Inhaling Toxic Fumes In A Public Place
The workplace is not the only place you are owed a duty of care. According to the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, someone in control of a public place has a duty of care to members of the public who are using the space for the intended purpose.
The Occupiers’ Liability Act doesn’t outline exactly who the occupier of a public place is. However, it does state that it should be someone who could be reasonably expected to anticipate that an accident might occur. They should also have control over the space to be able to remove hazards.
For example, a member of the public may inhale carbon monoxide whilst drinking in a pub due to a faulty gas cooker in the pub’s kitchen. The person in control of the pub has a responsibility to properly check and maintain equipment that could pose a risk to the safety of others. Failure to do so could cause injury, leading to a personal injury compensation claim.
If you’d like to know more about claiming compensation for the inhalation of toxic fumes in a public place, a member of our team will be happy to answer any questions you have.
How Can You Suffer Inhaling Toxic Fumes In A Road Traffic Accident?
The Highway Code outlines the duty of care that all road users have to one another to ensure the safety of everyone on the road. Failure to do so could result in an accident in which someone is injured.
If you’re in a serious car crash, the vehicle could catch on fire and begin emitting heavy smoke. The chemicals produced by the flames could lead to you inhaling toxic fumes. This could cause damage to your lungs on top of any external injuries you’ve sustained as a result of the accident.
If you weren’t at fault for the accident that caused your toxic fume inhalation, then you may be able to make a claim. Get in touch with our team today to discuss this with one of our friendly and helpful advisers.
Our Team Can Advise On Personal Injury Compensation Calculations
You may be wondering how much you could be owed in compensation for inhaling toxic fumes. Each case is examined on a case-by-case basis. This means we won’t be able to give you an exact compensation amount for your injuries.
General damages is the part of your compensation claim that covers you for the injuries that you’ve sustained. They’ll be calculated by looking at the type of injury, the severity of it and how it has impacted your quality of life.
In order to calculate the general damages head of your claim, your solicitor will arrange a medical appointment for you with an independent expert. This expert will then note their assessment of your injuries and their prognosis in a medical report
From there, your personal injury lawyer will review the findings contained in the medical report to help them determine the value of your injuries. To do this, they’ll refer to the Judicial College Guidelines. This document provides guideline brackets of personal injury compensation for a variety of injuries of different severities.
Read on to find out more about the special damages head of your claim and what this can cover. Or, if you’d like to get the process of claiming started today, get in touch with our team.
What Are Special Damages?
Special damages is the part of your settlement that compensates you for any out-of-pocket expenses you’ve incurred as a result of your injuries. These include medical costs for treatment not available on the NHS. It will also cover fuel and parking costs for getting to and from medical appointments.
Special damages can also cover loss of earnings for any time that you’ve had to take off work because of your injuries. You can also claim any missed pension contributions or a missed attendance bonus.
In order for a cost to be included in the special damages head of your claim, you must provide proof. It’s advised to keep all bills and receipts for any costs you’ve incurred because of your accident so that they can be taken into consideration.
Case Study: £10,000 For Inhaling Toxic Fumes
Miss Donnelly, 27, worked for an engineering company. She was responsible for cutting up metal that would then go on to be used in other projects. The process that she used to cut the metal is known as arc-air gouging and is known to produce fumes that can be toxic when inhaled.
Upon arriving to work one day, she realised that the welding mask she usually used while cutting metal wasn’t in the usual place. She asked her supervisor, who advised that the mask had been given to someone visiting the site and offered her another one instead.
Miss Donnelly started her workplace duties but quickly realised that something was amiss. Not long after starting her first project of the day, she felt a tightness in her throat and upper chest and found it difficult to breathe. She felt as if her airways were burning, and she was very panicked and distressed.
Miss Donnelly stopped working immediately and left the area. A colleague who had seen her reaction came to help her and took her outside for some fresh air. Miss Donnelly was feeling increasingly dizzy and sick and asked for her colleague to call her an ambulance. Shortly after Miss Donnelly left for the hospital, the colleague detailed the incident in the accident book.
Upon arriving at the hospital, it was found that Miss Donnelly had sustained some lung damage. Her doctors advised her that even though she’d recover, she may notice that she’d be more prone to getting out of breath than before. Because of the nature of her job, they advised her to take 4 weeks off work while she recovered.
After the accident
It transpired that the welding mask that Miss Donnelly used on the day of her accident was one that had been kept in a storage cupboard for almost 6 months. Welding masks were usually checked for signs of wear or damage on a regular basis. The mask that Miss Donnelly had been wearing had deteriorated quite badly in the time it had sat in storage, which resulted in toxic fumes leaking into it as she worked.
A keen mountain climber, Miss Donnelly was due to go on a trip to climb the Matterhorn in Switzerland two weeks after her accident happened. She was advised against this by her doctor due to her reduced lung function, and so lost the £1,100 she had paid for the trip.
Upset with the circumstances she had found herself in, Miss Donnelly decided to speak to a personal injury solicitor. It was clear that her employer was liable for her injuries, as they hadn’t provided her with the proper PPE for the job she was doing. Miss Donnelly received a compensation settlement of £10,000, which was made up of £7,300 in general damages and £2,700 in special damages.
| Type Of Special Damages | Includes: | How Much? |
|---|---|---|
| Lost Earnings | Lost earnings from being unable to work for a month | £1,500 |
| Los deposit for trip | Lost deposit | £1,100 |
| Transport Costs | Costs of using public transport for journeys to and from medical appointments | £100 |
Note: This is an example case study that is based on our experience in handling claims and is not representative of real-life events.
Free Legal Advice That Can Help Calculate Your Payout
We hope that our guide has provided all the information you need to feel confident in pursuing a claim for compensation. But if you do have any further questions relating to making a claim, we’ll be happy to answer them.
We provide a free consultation for anyone considering the decision to make a personal injury claim. That way, we can handle any queries you may have and value your compensation award.
There’s no obligation to proceed with a claim if you speak to a member of our team today. We’re happy to offer you free legal advice; just call our friendly team for more information.
No Win No Fee Policies Made Easy For Claimants
You are well within your rights to pursue a compensation claim alone. However, having legal representation can make the whole process of claiming a lot less stressful. Furthermore, opting to make a claim with a No Win No Fee solicitor can reduce the stress levels even further.
When you have a No Win No Fee agreement (sometimes known as a Conditional Fee Agreement) with your solicitor, it means that:
- There’s nothing to pay your solicitor before the claim starts or while it’s ongoing.
- If your case is unsuccessful, then you won’t be asked to pay your solicitor’s fees.
- In the event that you win your claim, your solicitor’s fees will be taken from your compensation amount
- This “success fee” is agreed upon beforehand and legally capped to ensure you get the majority of the compensation awarded to you.
You can find out more by getting in touch with one of our advisors at any time.
Your Free Legal Advice From Our Team
Thank you so much for reading our guide on claiming after inhaling toxic fumes. We hope that the information we’ve provided has proved useful to those considering making a claim.
If you’d like to get in touch with us today about starting the claims process, then you can:
- Call us on 0161 696 9685
- Fill out our online form for a callback
- Speak to us at the Live Chat feature to the bottom right of this screen
More Resources And Guides On Inhaling Toxic Fumes
We have provided these additional resources for you to take a look at. The information here is in addition to what we have already outlined about inhaling toxic fumes.
No Win No Fee agreements– this guide will provide greater insight into claiming with a No Win No Fee agreement
Can I claim against my employer while still employed?– This guide will look at the process of claiming compensation against an employer that you still work for
Do I need a solicitor near me in order to claim?– If you’re wondering whether you need a local solicitor in order to be able to make a claim, this guide will help.
Poisoning: NHS guide- This NHS guide looks at the causes and available treatments for poisoning, including breathing in toxic fumes.
HSE Work equipment- If you’re wondering what responsibilities your employer has towards you in regards to work equipment, this page may help.
Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents- RoSPA are a registered charity working at preventing accidental injury and death in the home and elsewhere.
Inhaling Toxic Fumes FAQs
What does it mean to be inhaling toxic fumes?
This is where exposure to chemical fumes leads to you breathing in toxic substances.
Which symptoms suggest an inhalation of toxic fumes?
Symptoms could include a cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea and dizziness.
How should a victim clear their lungs after inhaling toxic fumes?
We aren’t able to provide medical advice as we are not medical experts. However, get in touch with us if you would like to start a claim after inhaling toxic fumes.
Could you catch pneumonia after inhaling toxic fumes?
This only happens in a small percentage of cases after inhaling toxic fumes, but it is possible.
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