driWelcome to our crushed finger injury claims guide. Here, we’ll look at an example to illustrate how our panel of personal injury lawyers could value your claim for an amputated or crushed finger injury and how much compensation you could be entitled to. Whether you’re considering making a personal injury claim for an accident at work, a road traffic accident (RTA) or an accident in a public place, we can help.
Crushed finger injuries compensation
In addition, we’ll discuss the types of evidence you may need to support your claim and what types of damage it could be possible to include in your potential settlement. To conclude, we’ll show you how our panel of personal injury lawyers could assist you through the claims process on a No Win No Fee basis and give you some options on how to get in touch.
You might be ready to start a claim right now. If so, getting in touch is very easy. You can:
- Call us on 0161 696 9685
- Fill out a contact form for us to call you back
- Chat to us using the ‘live support’ option on your screen
Select a Section
- A Guide To Claiming Compensation Payouts For Crushed Finger Injuries
- What Are Crushed Finger Injuries?
- How Can You Suffer Crushed Finger Injuries At Work?
- Crushed Finger Injuries In A Public Place
- How Can You Suffer Crushed Finger Injuries In A Road Traffic Accident?
- Personal Injury Compensation Calculations Made Simple
- What Are Special Damages?
- Case Study: £55,000 For Crushed Finger Injuries
- Our Specialist Free Legal Advice Can Help Value Your Compensation
- No Win No Fee Policies For You
- Your Specialist Free Legal Advice
- More Resources And Guides On Crushed Finger Injuries
- Crushed Finger Injuries FAQs
A Guide To Claiming Compensation Payouts For Crushed Finger Injuries
Have you suffered a crushed finger injury through no fault of your own? Could you prove that third-party negligence was to blame? If so, this guide can help you learn how to make a personal injury claim and pursue the compensation that you deserve.
We’ll begin by defining what a crushed finger injury is, including some common symptoms you can look out for. Next, we’ll explore how this type of injury could be sustained, including accidents at work, road traffic accidents and public place accidents.
We’ll then move on to discussing the claims process, including how to determine liability for your injury, what types of damage you could claim for and how much compensation you could be entitled to.
To illustrate, we’ve included an example case study, explaining how a claim for a crushed finger injury at work resulted in a £55,000 payout. What’s more, we’ve detailed a break-down of this payout to demonstrate the different types of damage that can be claimed for.
Lastly, we’ll conclude by explaining how a No Win No Fee agreement could benefit you and introduce you to the services offered by our panel of personal injury lawyers. If you’d like a free consultation on your case, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at any time. In the meantime, please read on.
What Are Crushed Finger Injuries?
Our fingers perform many different tasks day-to-day and any injury to them can result in significant pain and feel particularly debilitating. Nerve-endings terminate in the extremities of fingers and toes which makes them both uniquely sensitive. Pain in this area can often feel much more acute than an injury might suggest because of this.
Common symptoms of crushed finger injuries include:
- Broken or protruding bones
- Loss of a digit, torn free from the hand
- Soft tissue damage
- Limited movement of the area
- Degloved skin and lacerations
- Acute pain
- Faintness, nausea or vomiting
The NHS gives advice about how to diagnose and treat a fractured or crushed finger. The case study we present later in our guide involves an injury that left the fingers badly deformed with some residual permanent damage.
Depending on the severity of your crushed finger injury, a doctor may try to straighten your finger after administering a local anaesthetic. They may then place the finger into a splint or cast to keep it in the right position, often accompanied by a round of antibiotics to stop infection.
Typically, healing should take around 2-8 weeks but it can be 3-4 months before full strength returns. Gentle rehabilitation exercises could also help if encouraged by your doctor.
If you suffered this injury as a result of your employer’s negligence, please see the next section to learn more about how to make a claim after an accident at work that wasn’t your fault.
How Can You Suffer Crushed Finger Injuries At Work?
According to statistics from the Health and Safety Executive, the Labour Force Survey found that 693,000 workers sustained an injury at work between 2019 and 2020. In addition, 65,427 injuries to employees were reported to RIDDOR.
A further break down of these non-fatal injuries shows that the following accidents were most commonly responsible:
- Slips, trips and falls
- Handling, lifting and carrying
- Being struck by a moving object
- Acts of violence
- Falling from a height
However you sustained your crushed finger injury, you could be entitled to compensation providing that you can prove third-party negligence was to blame for it. To determine negligence, you’ll have to establish whether a duty of care was breached. Please see the next section for more information.
What Is An Employer’s Duty Of Care?
The Health And Safety At Work etc Act 1974 is the legislation that outlines the duty of care for every employer in the UK to uphold. This duty is to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of their employees. Specific sections of the Act worth noting include:
- Section 2 places a duty on employers to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all employees (as far as reasonably practicable)
- In Section 3, this responsibility is extended to all visitors, contractors, and members of the public who may interact with the business.
- We have a responsibility as employees under Section 7 to take reasonable care of our own safety and wellbeing, as well as that of our colleagues. It’s important to note that a compensation claim cannot be started simply for an accident. There needs to be injury or illness which was the fault of the employer.
- Section 33 clearly states that if employers allowed or ignored circumstances that led to injury, they could be liable to prosecution. Anything that is attributable to their neglect holds the owners or managers directly accountable.
Other duties include regular written risk assessments, meetings with safety representatives, proper training and supervision, and regular maintenance checks and repairs. These are all essential duties of employers, which if breached, could result in workplace accidents. To see how an employer could breach their duty of care, please read on.
How Can My Employer Breach Their Duty Of Care?
There are many different scenarios that could result in crushed finger injuries in a work-related accident. Workers’ compensation settlements could be sought by anyone that uses their hands for work. For instance, your fingers could be:
- Crushed in faulty machinery or under heavy items
- Torn from the hand by a sudden severe motion
- Burned by extreme heat or toxic chemicals without proper PPE
- As a result of workplace violence
- Trapped in doors, windows, or faulty fittings
However your accident happened, if it resulted in your crushed finger injury and could have reasonably been prevented by your employer, you may have valid grounds to make a claim.
If you have any questions about how to make a personal injury claim against your employer, whether you’re wondering how to establish liability or what damage you can be compensated for, please get in touch today for a free consultation.
Crushed Finger Injuries In A Public Place
Just as employers owe their employees a duty of care, those in control of public places also owe visitors or users a duty of care under The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957.
The idea of this duty of care is to try and ensure that those in control of public places can do their best to spot hazards and prevent accidents from happening on their premises. However, should they fail to do so and you’re injured as a result, you could be entitled to compensation by making a personal injury claim against their public liability insurance.
Which areas are covered by this duty?
- Any council or local authority-run area
- Shopping centres and retail outlets
- Leisure centres, gyms and swimming pools
- Public transport
- Roads and pavements
- Libraries, schools and universities
- Open spaces, parks andplaygrounds
- Car parks
- Restaurants, bars and nightclubs
If you’ve been injured in a public place through no fault of your own and suffered a crushed finger injury, you could be entitled to compensation. Providing you can prove that the third-party responsible for the space failed to uphold their duty of care to you and you suffered as a result, you could have grounds to make a personal injury claim. Please get in touch today for a free consultation on your situation or read on to learn more.
The Duty Of Care Of Those In Control Of Public Spaces
In short, anywhere that is legally accessible to the general public carries an implicit understanding that it should be safe to use. People in control of public spaces must assume this responsibility unless they make it very clear with signs and disclaimers such as ‘keep out’ signs, that they do not wish to uphold this duty of care.
The Occupier’s Liability Act explains the extent of this duty in Section 2, outlining how it expects those in charge of public places to comply, such as to:
- Owe a common duty of care to all visitors on their premises
- See that the visitor will be reasonably safe using the premises for the purpose that they intend to or are permitted to
- Be prepared for children who may need extra provision as they cannot be as careful as adults
Whether they have permission or not, visitors have a right to be treated as though they are permitted to be there
How Can This Duty Be Breached?
Trying to uphold this duty of care as much as reasonably possible is vital to keeping public places safe. If those in control of a public place chooses to ignore or disregard such safety measures, someone could get injured as a result. Furthermore, strict penalties, in addition to the risk of becoming the subject of personal injury claims, often awaits owners and operators that neglect their duty of care.
Some examples of how crushed finger injuries could be sustained in public place accidents include:
- Fingers getting trapped in faulty lift doors
- Slipping on ungritted ground in icy weather
- Falling on a poorly maintained staircase
- Being struck by stock falling from poorly-stacked shelves
- Slipping on a wet floor with no hazard sign
How Can You Suffer Crushed Finger Injuries In A Road Traffic Accident?
If you’re involved in a road traffic accident, any number of injuries could be sustained as a result, including crushed finger injuries. If these injuries are sustained as a result of third-party negligence, you could be able to claim compensation for them.
All road users owe one another a duty of care under the Highway Code. As part of this code, road users must not drive in the following manners:
- Dangerously or recklessly
- Without appropriate care and attention
- Lacking general consideration for fellow road users
.There are a range of other guidelines that road users must follow as part of this code, which if breached, could mean the negligent party is held responsible for any subsequent damage sustained.
Duty Of Care Of Road Users
Some basic legal obligations that road users must follow as part of the Highway Code include:
- Have a correct driving license
- Be of minimum age to drive
- Pass minimum eyesight requirements
- Be registered with the DVLA
- Have proper road tax and insurance
- Be in possession of a current MOT certificate
- Be driving a roadworthy vehicle
How Can A Road User Breach Their Duty Of Care?
Road users could breach their duty of care by neglecting to follow Highway Code. Some examples of this could include:
- Speeding
- Using at a mobile phone whilst driving
- Driving recklessly or erratically
- Taking unnecessary risks (over-taking, ‘cutting up’ etc)
- Driving whilst intoxicated from drink or drugs
- Reversing without checking mirrors
Some recent statistics from the Department of Transport can help illustrate how common road traffic accidents are, as well as how many people suffer as a result of them. Between 2019 and 2020:
- 1,472 fatalities resulted from road traffic accidents
- 115,333 casualties of all severities were reported
- 23,486 people were killed or seriously injured (KSI)
If another road user neglected to uphold their duty of care and you suffered a crushed finger injury as a result, you could be able to claim compensation by making a personal injury claim against their insurance. Furthermore, The Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) can help you seek damages against uninsured drivers. In some cases, they are able to provide compensation.
Personal Injury Compensation Calculations Made Simple
When making a personal injury claim, including those for crushed finger injuries, there are two heads of damage that you can claim, known as for general damages and special damages.
General damages can compensate for your suffering, both physically and mentally, that you experienced as a result of your injury. For example, this could cover the pain of your injury and the trauma you experienced in the wake of it. The Judicial College gives recommended compensation brackets in their guidelines for a whole array of personal injuries, which we’ll provide some examples of shortly.
What Are Special Damages?
Special damages are the second head of damages that could make-up your personal injury compensation award. Any expense you incurred as a result of your injuries could be included as special damages if you can provide evidence to prove it, in the form of receipts, bank statements, wage slips and the like. Some examples include:
- Loss of earnings from being unable to work
- Loss of future earning opportunities
- Medical bills for private care or treatment
- Care costs as you try to cope with domestic needs, like washing
- Travel costs to work, hospital appointments or childcare
- Impacted pension scheme
- Forfeited attendance bonus
- Wasted holiday deposits or other such payments
These sums all add up and can be particularly stressful to have to deal with in the wake of your accident. If you’re unsure about what costs you could recover by claiming special damages, please get in touch with our team of specialist advisors today for a free consultation.
Case Study: £55,000 For Crushed Finger Injuries
Mrs Jones’s accident would not have happened if her employers had heeded her warnings. As an operator of one of the packaging machines at a plant, Mrs Jones noticed that it had been malfunctioning on and off for several weeks.
Despite reporting the issue to her employers, nothing was done to fix the matter. As a result, Mrs Jones was involved in an accident in which the malfunctioning machinery trapped and crushed three fingers on her dominant hand.
She needed 6 weeks to recover and suffered permanent damage to her index finger. Rehabilitation and physiotherapy restored most movement but not all. As Mrs Jones knew her employer neglected the issue with the malfunctioning machinery, she decided to sue them for breaching their duty of care that resulted in her injury.
After considering her options, Mrs Jones decided that a No Win No Fee arrangement offered her the best option moving forward. There were no upfront costs to hiring her solicitors and no running fees to pay during the process, and she didn’t have to pay them unless they won her claim. The more detail Mrs Jones gave her lawyers, the more accurately they could calculate how much compensation she could claim, ensuring they got the maximum payout she deserved.
After initially rejecting liability, Mrs Jones’s employers were forced to accept they were at fault after her reports about the malfunctioning machinery were uncovered. Eventually, Mrs Jones was awarded £55,000 in compensation. Please see the table below for more detail about the damages included in the final settlement.
Only a typical example, the above case illustrates how a personal injury claim for crushed finger injuries could be settled.
| general damages | how much? | special damages | how much? |
|---|---|---|---|
| The JCG recommend awards of up to £34,480 can be appropriate for several crushed fingers that may result in deformity or impairment of grip, reduced mechanical function and disturbed sensation. | £34,480 | Lost wages | £3,500 |
| physiotherapy and corrective surgeries | £5,000 | ||
| modifications at home | £2,000 | ||
| care costs for 3 weeks | £1,500 | ||
| lost attendance bonus | £2,000 | ||
| missed planned event - lost deposit | £1,500 | ||
| gardening and pet care for 2 months | £3,000 | ||
| travel costs to hospital and work | £1,500 | ||
| Stress counseling | £520 | ||
| TOTAL | £55,000 |
Our Specialist Free Legal Advice Can Help Value Your Compensation
If you’re interested in learning whether you could be entitled to compensation and what types of damage you could claim for, please get in touch today for a free consultation. Rather than seeking this information online using tools claiming to be personal injury claims calculators, you should contact us instead. These so-called calculators can offer generalised estimates of how much you could
Instead, we have a team of specialist advisors that are on hand to answer any questions you may have over the course of this guide, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
We also work with a panel of personal injury lawyers that we can connect you to if you have valid grounds to make a claim. All work on a No Win No Fee basis, meaning you can get legal help regardless of your financial standing without having to worry about the usual monetary risk. To learn more about how this arrangement could benefit you, please read on.
No Win No Fee Policies For You
You may have heard the expression ‘No Win No Fee’ countless times before. Also referred to as Conditional Fee Agreements (CFAs), here are some of the benefits that this type of agreement can offer:
- Instant legal representation at no upfront cost to you
- No costs to pay as your claim progresses
- If your claim fails, you don’t have to cover your solicitor’s legal fees
- A successful compensation claim means you only pay your lawyer a small percentage of your settlement, legally capped to ensure you get the payout you deserve
Your Specialist Free Legal Advice
Thank you for reading our crushed finger injury claims guide. If you’re interested in getting started on a personal injury claim, please don’t hesitate to get in touch today for your free consultation:
- Call us on 0161 696 9685
- Fill out a contact form to get a call back
- Use the live chat on your screen
More Resources And Guides On Crushed Finger Injuries
Here are some additional links to follow if you’re interested in learning more:
- Accident at work claims guide
- Car accident claims guide
- Cycling accident claims guide
- How to make a report to RIDDOR
- NHS guide to broken fingers
- Statistics on road casualties in Britain for 2020
Crushed Finger Injuries FAQs
Should I see a doctor for a crushed finger?
You should always seek immediate medical attention for any injury, particularly if you believe you could need treatment for it. This is also a wise step if you’re considering making a claim, as it will log the incident on your medical records as evidence.
What does a fractured finger look like?
In some cases, a fractured finger may appear slightly deformed. If injuries are more severe, the bone may be protruding out from the skin.
Is it possible to recover from crushed finger injuries?
There may be some deformity but in most cases, crushed finger injuries heal with medical attention in 2-8 weeks.
Guide by NS
Edited by AS