A Guide To Claiming If Injured Due To There Being No Risk Assessment At Work
This guide examines if you could make an accident at work claim against your employer for an injury that could have been avoided had a risk assessment been carried out. We will look at the eligibility criteria required to make a personal injury claim and how an injury could result from no risk assessment at work being carried out.
We will also look at how compensation is calculated for a personal injury claim that is successful; this includes the types of damages you may receive and how a solicitor could assign a value to them. Evidence is key to proving negligence, so we will provide a section on what you can gather in support of your case: this includes how you could prove your injuries.
Finally, you may consider hiring legal representation to support your personal injury claim. This guide will look at the benefits of instructing a solicitor on a No Win No Fee basis.
To find out the validity of your case and if you can use a solicitor on our panel to claim compensation, contact our team of advisors by:
- Calling us on 0161 696 9685
- Provide your details in our Contact Us form; or
- Speaking with us by using the live chat function on our website
Browse Our Guide
- Can You Claim If Injured Due To There Being No Risk Assessment At Work?
- How Could No Risk Assessment At Work Being Done Lead To A Workplace Injury?
- Potential Compensation From A Work Injury Claim
- How To Claim For An Injury At Work
- Claim Compensation For An Injury At Work On A No Win No Fee Basis
- Learn More About Claiming For An Accident At The Workplace
Can You Claim If Injured Due To There Being No Risk Assessment At Work?
Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA), your employer owes a duty of care to take reasonable steps to keep you safe. Furthermore, The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 outlines that your employer should make suitable and sufficient assessments to identify and minimise risks.
Therefore, if your employer carries out no risk assessment at work and you suffer an injury due to a hazard that would have been picked up by this assessment and removed or reduced, you could sue your employer for negligence.
To be eligible to make a personal injury claim following a workplace injury, you must prove that:
- Your employer owed you a duty of care which is outlined in HASAWA
- Your employer breached their duty of care owed to you through their acts or omissions
- You suffered an injury as a result of your employer’s breach
Contact our advisors today for a free case assessment if you have strong grounds to make a workplace injury claim, they may offer to pass you over to our panel of solicitors.
What Is A Risk Assessment At Work?
This section of the guide will provide more information on what risk assessments can include. Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, a risk assessment should include: identifying what could cause injury or illness, evaluating how serious the risk is, eliminating the hazard, or controlling the risk.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the national workplace health and safety regulator, provides guidance on steps needed to manage risk. The HSE outline the components of a risk assessment and explains that your employer should:
- Identify hazards – looking at what could cause their employees harm
- Assess and control risks – determining the likeness and seriousness of one being harmed, as well as what they are currently doing to minimise those risks
- Record any significant findings – but this is only required if they have more than four employees
- Review their controls – Checking to see if the current controls work or if improvements are needed
Now that we have established what a risk assessment is, we will look at how you could be injured if your employer carried out no risk assessment at work.
How Could No Risk Assessment At Work Being Done Lead To A Workplace Injury?
Risk assessments are designed to minimise hazards; therefore, you could be injured if your employer carries out no risk assessment at work. In this section, we look at examples of how no risk assessment could cause an accident.
Injuries that could be caused by no risk assessment taking place include:
- Slip, trip and fall injuries caused by trailing office wires. A risk assessment would have highlighted that the trailing wires were a clear tripping hazard.
- Back injuries are exacerbated due to your employer failing to risk assess your condition before asking you to carry out manual handling jobs at work.
- Your employer failed to risk assess your job once you became pregnant, and this caused you to be injured.
These are just some ways you might be injured due to your employer not completing a risk assessment. If you believe you have been injured due to your employer acting negligently, get in touch to see if your case is eligible.
Potential Compensation From A Work Injury Claim
If your accident at work claim for being injured due to no risk assessment at work is successful, you could receive up to two heads of claim. The first is general damages, which compensate you for the pain and suffering you have experienced due to your injuries.
Factors considered in the figure you are awarded include:
- The severity of your injuries and how they have impacted your quality of life
- Any loss of enjoyment you have dealt with due to missing an event because of your injuries
- Treatments you underwent and the time it takes you to recover
To help solicitors work out how much you could receive, they could use the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This document has valuation brackets for injuries of different types and severities. Solicitors may also compare your medical reports with the JCG, helping them assign a value to your injuries.
Below is a table of guideline brackets given to some injuries by the JCG. Please remember that these figures cannot be guaranteed in your case, as each personal injury claim differs.
Compensation Table
| Injury | Severity | Compensation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Back | Severe (i) | £91,090 to £160,980 | Spinal cord and nerve damage, with severe pain and disability and incomplete paralysis. |
| Moderate (ii) | £12,510 to £27,760 | Prolapsed discs necessitating laminectomy or resulting in repeated relapses. | |
| Neck | Severe (ii) | £65,740 to £130,930 | Serious fractures in the cervical spine, leaving permanent damage and disability. |
| Moderate (i) | £24,990 to £38,490 | Fractures and dislocations, giving rise to immediate severe symptoms. Could also experience chronic conditions. | |
| Leg | Severe (ii) | £54,830 to £87,890 | Permanent mobility issues, with need of mobility aids. Multiple fractures will be suffered that take years to heal and require lots of treatment. |
| Severe (iv) | £27,760 to £39,200 | Complicated fractures, generally to one leg. | |
| Arm | Permanent and Substantial Disablement | £39,170 to £59,860 | Serious fractures to one or both forearms, with significant disability that is permanent. |
| Pelvis and Hips | Severe (iii) | £39,170 to £52,500 | Fractures, degenerative changes and leg instability. Likelihood of the need for a hip replacement. |
| Moderate (i) | £26,590 to £39,170 | Significant injury but any permanent disability is not major. | |
| Shoulder | Serious | £12,770 to £19,200 | Dislocation, causing pain from neck and shoulder down to the elbow. Potential rotator cuff injuries with symptoms persisting post surgery. |
Special Damages As Part Of Your Accident At Work Compensation
The second head of claim is special damages, which compensate you for past and future losses incurred because of your injury. Some of the losses you could recover include:
- Loss of earnings
- Medical expenses; and
- Public transport costs
Additionally, evidence is important, ensuring you recoup the maximum award possible. Such evidence includes:
- Payslips that show your potential earnings had you not been injured
- Receipts or invoices outlining prescriptions you have paid for to recover
- Bus tickets proving the costs you incurred from being unable to drive
If you want a solicitor on our panel to help you gather evidence, contact one of our advisors.
How To Claim For An Injury At Work
If you suffered workplace injuries, you should seek medical attention. Doing so will ensure you receive the treatment you require whilst producing medical records that could be used as evidence. Obtaining such evidence is important as it will help you prove what kind of injury you suffered and its severity.
You could gather other evidence by:
- Requesting CCTV footage of yourself
- Taking note of witnesses’ contact details in case a statement is needed from them at a later date
- Keeping a diary of your symptoms and treatments
A solicitor could help with your evidence portfolio to prove an accident at work claim. Contact one of our advisors now to determine eligibility for your case.
Claim Compensation For An Injury At Work On A No Win No Fee Basis
Instructing a solicitor could help you navigate the claims process. Our panel of solicitors work on a type of No Win No Fee basis, called a ‘Conditional Fee Agreement‘. The benefits of this agreement are:
- No upfront fees for instructing a solicitor
- No fees to keep the claim moving forward
- If your claim is unsuccessful, you will have no fees to pay for your solicitor’s service
- If your claim succeeded, your solicitor would take a small, legally capped percentage of your compensation, called a success fee.
To find out more, contact our team of advisors today. If your case is valid, they may offer to pass you over to a No Win No Fee solicitor on our panel. You can contact one of our advisors today by:
- Calling us on 0161 696 9685
- Provide your details in our Contact Us form; or
- Speaking with us by using the live chat function on our website
Learn More About Claiming For An Accident At The Workplace
We hope this guide has answered your questions about making a personal injury claim if your employer has performed no risk assessment at work. To read more of our guides on claiming for accidents at the workplace, please look below:
- Inadequate Training In The Workplace – A Guide for when you could claim
- New Employee? – Find out when you could claim
- In Your Probation Period? – Find out if you can claim
For some external resources, look here:
- Statutory Sick Pay – A Guide by Gov.UK
- Back Pain – A Guide by the NHS
- When to use 111 – An NHS guide