I Had An Accident At Work As A New Employee, Could I Claim Compensation?

Starting off in a new job can be both an exciting and nerve-wracking experience. The pressure to learn the ropes fast and to not make mistakes is great. You are likely keen to make a good first impression. The last thing you would want is to be injured in an accident in your new workplace. If you do get hurt in a workplace accident you may not be sure what to do next. This article aims to discuss what could happen if you have an accident at work as a new employee.

I had an accident at work as a new employee could I claim compensation guide

You may be wondering if you had an accident at work as a new employee would you have the same rights as an employee who has worked there much longer? Hopefully, this guide will answer all of your questions and show whether or not you could be entitled to make a compensation claim if you have had an injury in an accident that was not your fault. Also, this guide is also going to explain to you how to do that, how much compensation you could be awarded and how No Win No Fee solicitors could help.

Once you have read through this page, if there is anything you want to know about making a compensation claim, or if you would like to make an enquiry, you can get in touch using any of the following contact methods.

Calling 0161 696 9685 to reach our team and receive free legal advice.
Requesting a call back by filling in the form on this page
Sending a message through our live chat at the bottom of this page.

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A Guide To Claims For Injuries To New Employees At Work
Calculate Compensation For Injuries To New Employees
Types Of Damages Awarded For Work-Related Injuries
What Are Injuries To New Employees?
What To Do If You Have Been Injured As A New Employee
Workplace Safety Statistics
What Are Your Rights As A New Employee?
Employee Rights As A New Starter
What Are My Employee Statutory Rights?
Longer-Term Employment Rights
How Do I Claim For My Injuries As A New Employee?
No Win No Fee Claims For Injuries To New Employees
Talk To An Expert
More Information On Workplace Safety

A Guide To Claims For Injuries To New Employees At Work

You may be feeling worried about what to do next if you have recently suffered an injury in an accident at work as a new employee. You may be concerned that, as someone who has only recently started, you would not be entitled to make a personal injury claim. We want to dispel this right away. If you are injured in your place of work and you can prove that it was because your employer was negligent you could claim compensation for any harm suffered. This is because under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 you are fully entitled to all of the reasonable protection that your employer can provide. This is unconditional on your status within your new workplace or how long you have been there.

This guide will encompass other information on your workplace safety rights and your rights to claim compensation. In addition, we will explain what different employment rights come into effect when you are working in an organisation, what circumstances you might face injuries in that could be grounds for making a compensation claim and what some of the details of making a claim entail. This includes looking at what different types of compensation you could be entitled to claim and how these will be calculated.

Calculate Compensation For Injuries To New Employees

There are various different types of compensation that could be awarded to you if you were to make a compensation claim for injuries sustained in a workplace accident. We will address the different types of special damages compensation you could be entitled to in the next section. However, first, we will take a look at how the damages for the injury itself will be worked out.

Calculating the damages you could be entitled to for your injury means looking at the effects of the injury. Also, assessing how severe they are. This is measured on a number of different metrics. These include the amount of pain you have had to experience, the length of time you have spent recovering and the kind of treatment you have had to undergo. Also whether or not you will have any lasting effects from the injury such as scars, residual pain, or disability, and how severe these effects are.

It won’t be possible to give you a valuation of the compensation you could be entitled to on this page. However, you could benefit from reading the compensation table below. It shows rough estimates of the amount of money you could be awarded for different types of injuries. If you would like more details of the amounts of money you could receive, call our advice team.

Injury	Compensation
Crushed hand	£96,160 to £109,650
Amputation of foot	£83,960 to £109,650
Severe burns	Likely to exceed £104,830
Less facial scars	£17,960 to £48,420
Broken jaw	£30,490 to £45,540
Facial fractures	£23,810 to £36,740
Broken clavical	£5,150 to £12,240

Types Of Damages Awarded For Work-Related Injuries

There is more than one type of compensation that could be claimed as part of your injury claim. There are general damages and special damages. Below is a breakdown of what these types of damages involve and how they are calculated.

General Damages

General Damages refers to the compensation that you could have awarded for the injury itself. It reflects the degree of harm and suffering that you have experienced as a result of the injury. We have detailed the way in which it would be calculated in the section above.

Special damages

In Addition to making a claim for damages for the injury itself, you could also be entitled to make a claim for special damages as well. Special damages are the restitution you could get for the financial losses due to your injury. Below is a list of the different types of financial losses that you could experience following an injury for which you could be compensated.

Medical Expenses

Treatment for your injuries may necessitate spending money on medical treatment. This could include money spent on private option healthcare, prescriptions or physical rehabilitation therapy. Keep all of the invoices. Also, other paperwork associated with the costs of your medical treatment in order to be eligible to claim back these losses.

Travel Costs

Having an injury could incur financial costs of transport. These could result from having to travel back and forth to appointments in your treatment. It could also result from having to use public transport instead of driving due to the loss of your ability to drive as a result of an injury. You should keep track of all the receipts relating to the use of public transport in order to be eligible to make a compensation claim for your transport costs.

Loss of income

An injury could cause you to lose income by being unable to work. This could range from a few weeks of sick leave from work while you recover, to having to take on new, less well-paid work, to being permanently disabled. You could lose out on income that you would otherwise have earned if the injury had not occurred, including bonuses for performance or attendance. You could be entitled to claim back an equivalent amount of the money you have lost if you are able to provide a copy of a wage slip and other paperwork as supporting evidence of your lost income.

What Are Injuries To New Employees?

In any workplace, there could be a potential risk of being injured. Some workplaces, these dangers might be self-evident, such as workplaces where there is moving machinery, dangerous materials or in industries such as construction or fishing. However, in other workplaces, the risk of injury might be less severe or less obvious, such as offices or bars and restaurants, but still present.

A person who has only recently started working in a place of employment may not be concerned about an accident at work as a new employee. It may not even have entered their head. However, it always helps to be mindful when starting in a new place of work. There are a number of reasons why;

Lack of familiarity and experience leading to mistakes
Poor familiarity and experience with some of the hazards in the workplace
No training in the methods for performing a task safely
A lack of supervision and assistance with performing a new job for the first time.

These are some of the ways in which you might be injured in an accident at work as a new employee. This could include:

Being supplied with defective or insufficient Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Working with defective equipment
Being injured by moving vehicles
Being injured in a slip, trip or fall

If the accident and injury have occurred because your employer did not meet their obligations towards health and safety, you could be entitled to make a compensation claim for any injuries suffered.

What To Do If You Have Been Injured As A New Employee

It is always best to seek legal advice and discuss your potential options with an expert as soon as possible in situations where you have suffered an accident at work. There is a three-year time limit to making a compensation claim that starts from either the date of the accident or the date of knowledge. It can be much easier to remember what happened straight after the accident than it can 2 years down the line. Also, evidence will be easier to collect.

In the immediate aftermath of an accident, however, your first priority should be to seek medical attention. Once you have been checked out report the incident to your manager. importantly, ensure that it is logged in the accident book. You should also do what you can to gather evidence of your own. This can include taking photographs of the scene and the cause of the accident. Additionally, see whether or not any of the witnesses to the accident would be willing to provide statements in support of you. This could be of great help when it comes to making a claim.

Workplace Safety Statistics

In 2019/2020 there were 65,427 injuries in workplace accidents reported to RIDDOR. Whilst the Labour Workforce Survey showing that the figure was even higher at 693,000. The number of deaths in workplace accidents in that year was 111. 38.8 million days were lost to the time taken off work due to workplace injuries or illness.

1.6 million people working in the UK suffer from workplace illnesses. In 2019/20 2,446 deaths were recorded due to asbestos exposure. The figures of workplace deaths and injuries have followed a general pattern of decline for over 40 years now thanks to the progressive introduction of health and safety legislation. Also a decline in the proportion of the workforce who work in dangerous and physically demanding jobs. However, these figures do not give an indication about how many of these injuries or illness could have been prevented. Therefore, we cannot make assumptions about whether or not these accidents were caused by negligence. If you would like to read more about these statistics in more detail, you can visit the Health and Safety Executive website.

What Are Your Rights As A New Employee?

There are some rights that employees only become entitled to after they have been working for an employer for a certain amount of time. Other rights, however, are enshrined under law from the first day on which the employee begins working for an employer. Some of these rights are listed below.

The rights to be paid no less than the minimum wage
The right to not discriminated against in any fashion on the grounds of race, gender, sexuality, age, religion, gender identity or disability
The right to refuse to work in an environment which you believe to be unsafe
The rights to protection of your health and safety
The right to join a trade union and to have a trade union representative accompany you to a disciplinary hearing

Employee Rights As A New Starter

It is important that you know if your new job role means you are a ”worker” or an employee. These two roles may be entitled to different rights. If you are a new employee you will have similar rights to an employee who has been at the workplace for some time. If you are on probation or have worked there for less than 2 years you may have slightly different rights. For example, you can usually only make a claim for unfair dismissal if you have worked there for 2 years or more.

What Are My Employee Statutory Rights?

By law, you are given a set of rights. This includes;

Maternity or paternity leave
Paid holidays
National minimum wage
Receive a copy of your contract of employment
Receive a copy of your wage slip, with no deductions apart from tax and any deductions expressly stipulated in your contract
Paid compensation for being made redundant
Not being unfairly dismissed

Longer-Term Employment Rights

Other rights only come into effect once you have been employed for a period of several months.

The right to request flexible working hours comes into effect after twenty-six weeks
The right to paternity leave and shared parental leave comes into effect after 26 weeks

Other rights only come into effect after you have been an employee for at least two years or more.

The right to appeal an unfair dismissal in an employment tribunal
Right to receive a written notice of explanation for your dismissal or redundancy
The right to be given statutory redundancy pay

How Do I Claim For My Injuries As A New Employee?

If you have been injured in a workplace accident that wasn’t your fault while working as a new employee, you could be entitled to claim compensation for your injuries. The first step towards doing this could be to contact our team for free legal advice and speak to one of our friendly professional advisors. If they believe that your situation could be grounds for making a successful compensation claim, then they will offer to hand you over a solicitor on our panel. From there you can discuss the terms and conditions of making a claim. Also, how the case for your workplace injury claim will be put together.

No Win No Fee Claims For Injuries To New Employees

You might have concerns about how much money it would cost you to hire a solicitor. Therefore, we would like to assure you that you don’t have to worry so much about how to pay for a solicitor if you opt for one that works on a No Win No Fee basis. Importantly, a No Win No Fee solicitor, will not ask for up front fees. Instead, you will only be asked to provide your solicitor with a portion of your compensation as payment if you win the claim. Furthermore, in an unsuccessful claim, you will not have to pay your solicitor a penny.

Talk To An Expert

Finally, you have reached the end of the guide. Thank you for reading our guide about an accident at work as new employee. If you would like to talk to a legal expert and receive a free no-obligation consultation on whether or not you could be entitled to make a workplace injury claim, or if you would like to enquire about working with a solicitor from our panel on making a claim, then you can do any of the following.

Call 0161 696 9685
Filling in this contact page
Sending a message through our live chat

More Information On Workplace Safety

Below, you can find links to lots more guides on accidents at work:

Page by KT

Published by AL.

Accident At Work Claims

Road Traffic Accident Claims

Public Place Claims

Medical Negligence Claims

Personal Injury Claims

Accident At Work Compensation Claim Specialists

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