Hand injury at work claim guide
Welcome to our guide on making a hand injury at work claim. If you’ve injured your hand in an accident at work, you may be seeking free advice about whether or not you could be entitled to make a compensation claim. If so, you have come to the right place.
We specialise in helping people by providing free advice so that they can make an informed decision about whether they are eligible to claim compensation. So, we can offer free advice, both through our helpful guides and through our team of specialist advisors.
In this particular guide, we are going to address the criteria for making an accident at work claim for an injured hand. Also, how your compensation could be calculated. If you would like to speak to our team to get free legal advice, then either call 0161 696 9685 or fill out our contact us page.
Select a Section
- A Guide To Claiming Compensation Payouts For A Hand Injury At Work
- What Is A Hand Injury?
- Top 3 Common Hand Injury At Work Causes
- Our Specialist Estimation Of Your Personal Injury Compensation
- What Are Special Damages?
- Case Study: £16,000 For A Hand Injury At Work Claim
- Receive Free Legal Advice On Your Case Here
- Let’s Breakdown What No Win No Fee Policies Are
- Our Team Can Provide Free Legal Advice
- More Resources And Guides On Hand Injuries At Work
- Hand Injury At Work FAQs
A Guide To Claiming Compensation Payouts For A Hand Injury At Work
This guide is going to explain the process of claiming compensation for a hand injury at work caused by the negligence of your employer. We will look at what kinds of injuries to the hand you could sustain in work and their causes.
Our guide will then go on to look at how hand injury at work claims are valued and the distinction between the two heads of claim that will make up your settlement. Additionally, we will then use an example case study involving a hand injury in the workplace to illustrate the claims process.
You may have heard the term No Win No Fee agreement before, but not be entirely sure what this entails. We will fully explain what a No Win No Fee agreement is, and the benefits it could have to you when making a hand injury at work claim.
If, by the end of this guide, you have any more questions regarding hand injury at work claims then please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Or you can call us right away to start your compensation claim.
What Is A Hand Injury?
The hands are a crucial part of the body. Without the full working use of your hands, it is difficult to do all of the normal day-to-day activities of the average lifestyle without support and assistance.
Even a relatively minor hand injury could prove to be an obstacle to normal tasks and activities. And if you’ve suffered a more serious injury, such as the loss of a finger or even the entire hand, then this can have a real and lasting impact on your quality of life.
You should always consult a doctor if you believe you have injured your hand or if you are exhibiting any symptoms of pain, swelling, stiffness or numbness. You can visit this NHS page for information on what to do if you’re experiencing hand pain.
Top 3 Common Hand Injury At Work Causes
Under the Health And Safety At Work Act 1974, all employers have a duty of care towards their employees. This means that they have a responsibility to take all reasonably practicable steps to prevent the risk of harm to their employees.
If you have been injured in a workplace accident and you can show that the accident was caused by your employer failing to uphold their duty of care to you, then you could be entitled to claim compensation.
Below are some brief descriptions of some of the common causes of workplace accidents that could potentially result in injuries to the hands and how these accidents could be the result of employer negligence.
Burns And Other Hazards
Some jobs entail working around or handling hazardous materials. For example, you might work with materials that are extremely hot in jobs that involve cooking or welding, for example. Likewise, you may work with or around corrosive chemicals or electricity.
While the inherent danger of certain things may not be within your employer’s control, it’s their responsibility to identify any risks to you and remove them. If the risk can’t be completely removed, it should be minimised as much as possible. There are steps that could and should be in place to keep people safe. These include proper training and personal protective equipment, labelling of hazards and the proper storage of dangerous materials.
Machinery With Moving Parts
When operating machinery with moving parts, especially large machinery, there is the chance of being injured by it. Faulty machinery or machinery that an employee has not been correctly trained to operate, can pose a severe threat of causing a hand injury.
It’s the responsibility of your employer to make sure that everyone working with machinery is properly trained. The Health and Safety Executive have provided a guide on the inspection of work equipment which outlines an employer’s responsibilities as far as the maintenance and inspection of machinery in work.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to the inspection and maintenance of work equipment. Instead, your employer should carry out risk assessments to determine how often equipment should be inspected. For instance, machinery which is subject to harsh conditions outdoors may require more regular inspections than equipment that is kept indoors.
Vibration White Finger.
Vibration White Finger (VWF) is a medical condition where the nerves and blood flow to the hand is disrupted by prolonged exposure to vibrations. It can often occur in people who use power tools a lot of the time.
VWF causes numbness, difficulty moving the fingers and pin and needles. There are a number of things that your employer can do to reduce the risk of VWF in the workplace. These include purchasing tools with a reduced level of vibration and providing training on proper tool use. If there are any alternative methods of doing the task that reduces or eliminate exposure to vibration, these are preferred.
If you’d like to know more about how much hand injury at work claims can be worth, please continue reading.
Our Specialist Estimation Of Your Personal Injury Compensation
In order to calculate how much compensation you could be entitled to there are various things that need to be taken into consideration. You may need to attend a medical assessment so that a doctor can determine the severity of your injuries and how they’ve impacted your quality of life. The part of your claim that compensated you for the pain and suffering you’ve experienced is known as general damages.
In order to value the general damages head of your claim, a solicitor will use the medical report from your assessment. Then refer to the Judicial College Guidelines. Which are guidelines of compensation brackets that can be awarded for certain injuries.
All of this is dependent on your individual circumstances. Because of this, we cannot value your compensation without speaking to you about the specifics of your case. You can get free legal advice on how much compensation you could be owed by talking to our team of advisors.
What Are Special Damages?
Special damages is the part of your settlement that is paid out to compensate you for any financial losses from your injuries. Compensation would not achieve its intended purpose if it did not cover things like loss of income and the cost of treatment or care. The purpose of special damages is to return you to the financial position you were in before the accident. You will need evidence to back up any financial losses you want to claim.
If you have suffered an injury find that you are suffering financially as a result, you should keep a record of any costs incurred. You will need proof in order for these expenses to be included in your claim.
Our next section will illustrate the hand injury at work claims process through an example case study. Please read on to find out more.
Case Study: £16,000 For A Hand Injury At Work Claim
Trevor, 25, was a technician who worked with machines that processed recycling materials. One of the machines he worked with was an industrial shredder that ground plastic waste into small granules for further processing.
One day while working, the cuff of his glove got caught up in the conveyor belt of the machine. The guard plate which usually prevented pieces of clothing from being caught in the machine was damaged. Unable to extract himself, he was pulled along by his hand by the moving machinery.
He reached out to hit the emergency stop button on the shredder, but a fault in the equipment prevented the machine from halting the first time he hit the button. Only after another employee became aware of what was happening and cut the power to the machine from a control panel did the machine stop. By this time, his left hand had already been partly dragged into the shredder. He suffered lacerations and broken bones in his fingers from the heavy moving parts of the plastic shredder.
Trevor was in shock immediately. After the accident took place, and the colleague who had brought the machine to a stop called an ambulance. In the ambulance, Trevor’s shock subsided and he became aware of the excruciating pain he felt in his injured hand. He had lost a lot of blood, and his hand was badly damaged.
Upon admission to the hospital, it was determined Trevor would need emergency surgery. This was to save his hand. Upon waking from surgery, Trevor was told that, although his hand had been saved, he may have a disability.
After Trevor’s Accident
Trevor had to take time off work. During which time he was unable to perform ordinary day-to-day tasks such as driving. He only had one functioning hand. This meant that he had to use public transport to get around. He also had to hire in-home care to help him with the tasks he was unable to do.
As well as the loss of earnings he experienced, he also had to pay out for pain medication.
Frustrated by this turn of events, Trevor decided to pursue a compensation claim. He recognised that, had the machine been properly inspected and maintained, the fault would have been spotted and Trevor’s accident would not have happened. He got in touch with a personal injury solicitor and moved forward with a claim.
The following table is the breakdown of the compensation that Trevor was eventually awarded. It shows the value of the different kinds of damages that his claim included. Contact us if you would like to hear from our team of advisors about how much compensation you could be entitled to.
General damages Special damages
Moderate hand injury £12 000 £4,350 in lost income
£150 Public transport expenses
£1000 in care costs
Gardener, cook, cleaner, child minder, dog walker £500
This is purely an example case study, compiled together from experience of past cases to show how the claims process works. It is not based on an actual case.
Receive Free Legal Advice On Your Case Here
You will almost certainly have a lot of questions about how making a claim works and how compensation is calculated. It is understandable that you would like them answered before you begin a claim. This is particularly true when it comes to the question of how much compensation you could be entitled to.
If you would like to receive some free legal advice about your claim, call our team today. Alternatively, read on to find out more about making hand injury at work claims on a No Win No Fee basis.
Let’s Breakdown What No Win No Fee Policies Are
A No Win No Fee agreement is an agreement whereby a solicitor only gets paid if the claim is a success. Their payment is deducted from the compensation paid out. This is known as a “success fee”, and it is a pre-negotiated amount. It is legally capped to prevent claimants from being overcharged.
Solicitors working on a No Win No Fee basis do not charge legal fees upfront, or while the claim is ongoing. All of the solicitors who work on our panel offer No Win No Fee terms. This means that if you claim through us, you will not have to pay upfront fees. You also won’t be asked to pay your solicitors fees for an unsuccessful claim.
If you would like to hear more details of the terms and conditions of a No Win No Fee agreement, please feel free to call our team.
Our Team Can Provide Free Legal Advice
Thank you for reading our guide to a hand injury at work claim. If you would like more information, such as free legal advice or a valuation of the amount of compensation you could be entitled to claim for, you can get a consultation from our team of advisors.
Call us on 0161 696 9685 to get in touch with a friendly and helpful adviser about hand injury at work claims, or arrange for them to call you back by filling out your contact details on this page. Alternatively, you could send a message via our live chat option at the bottom right of this page.
More Resources And Guides On Hand Injuries At Work
Reporting a workplace accident to RIDDOR
Making a claim for an accident at work
Hand Injury At Work FAQs
What Should You Do If Your Hand Is Wounded At Work?
If you suffer an injury to your hand while working, the first and most important thing you should do is to stop whatever task you were doing and arrange for a medical professional to look at your injury. This may necessitate a trip to the hospital or could be something that can be addressed in a walk-in centre.
The next thing you should also do if you have sustained an injury in the workplace is to report the injury and collect what evidence you can. If you’re too badly injured to report the accident, then a colleague can do this for you. If possible, get other members of staff to agree to make a statement, take photos of what caused the accident and write down everything you can recall about the incident.
What Are My Rights If I’m Injured At Work?
You have the right to make a compensation claim if were injured at work, and the accident happened because your employer neglected their duty of care towards you. You cannot be sacked for suffering an injury at work, and you cannot be sacked in retaliation for making a compensation claim against your employer.
Thank you for reading our guide on making a hand injury at work claim.
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