By Jo Caine. Last Updated 13th July 2023. If you’ve been in an accident where an automatic door system malfunctioned, you might have suffered a range of faulty automatic door injuries. When something goes wrong with an automatic sliding door or automatic swing door, it could cause injuries from facial fractures to a traumatic brain injury. But whose fault could such an accident be? And could you claim compensation for your injuries?
We have created this guide to explain whose duty of care it is to ensure such doors are safe for you to use. In the sections below, we describe what type of faulty automatic door injuries you could sustain, as well as who could be liable for your injuries. Further to this, we explain how lawyers and courts calculate compensation amounts. We also offer some insight into how you could begin a claim for compensation for the pain and suffering caused by an automatic door related injury.
Making a faulty automatic door injury claim guide
If you’d like to obtain free legal advice regarding an automatic door accident, whether it happened in an accident at work or in a supermarket accident, we could provide this to you. All you need to do is call us on 0161 696 9685.
Select A Section
- A Guide To Claims For Faulty Automatic Door Injuries
- Compensation For Faulty Automatic Door Injuries
- Types Of Damages Awarded
- What Are Faulty Automatic Door Injuries?
- Types Of Injuries Caused By Faulty Automatic Doors
- Who Is Liable For An Automatic Door Accident?
- How To Start A Personal Injury Claim
- No Win No Fee Claims For Faulty Automatic Door Injuries
- Related Guides And Services
A Guide To Claims For Faulty Automatic Door Injuries
Many of us use automatic doors daily without a second thought about what could happen if they malfunction. But if you’ve suffered faulty automatic door injuries, whether, in an office workplace accident, or an accident in a pub or bar, you’ll know only too well the pain and suffering they could cause.
An automatic door system has several moving parts and the doors themselves can be quite heavy. If they malfunction, depending on whether you get trapped in them, or they close on you, you could be left with a variety of injuries. These could range from a fractured spine injury, to broken bones and head injuries. If someone has failed in their duty of care towards you to ensure the door’s safety, you could hold them liable for your injuries. This guide aims to explain everything you may need to know to make a personal injury claim for compensation.
Compensation For Faulty Automatic Door Injuries
If you want to calculate compensation for your faulty automatic door injuries, you might assume that a personal injury claims calculator would be a good tool to use. However, these tools don’t take into account the specific facts and evidence surrounding your case. Therefore, they would only be able to give you an extremely rough estimate on compensation payouts for your injuries. An independent medical assessment as part of your case could help determine the value of an injury. They could look at the resulting report against a publication called the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to hone in on an appropriate value for your claim.
To give you some idea of what compensation amounts could be appropriate for such injuries, we’ve taken some figures from the JCG. We hope this gives you a rough idea of how much these injuries could bring you.
| Injury type/location | Compensation Guideline Bracket | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate brain damage (iii) | £43,060 to £90,720 | This could include cases where the injured party’s memory and concentration are impacted. Their ability to work could be reduced, there could be a small risk of developing epilepsy. Their dependence on other people would be really limited. |
| Less severe brain damage (d) | £15,320 to £43,060 | The injured party would have the ability to work and enjoy a normal social life. However, there could be some ongoing issues with concentration or memory which could interfere with work or leisure activities. |
| Minor head/brain injury | £2,210 to £12,770 | Minimal damage to the brain, if any. The award could be affected by the presence of headaches and extent of symptoms that are ongoing. The period taken to recover and the severity of the initial injury could also impact the award. |
| Great toe amputation | In the region of £31,310 | - |
| Serious hand injuries | £29,000 to £61,910 | Where the use of the hand is reduced to around 50% of normal function. Several fingers may have been amputated and reattached for example. |
| Frontal facial bone fractures | £23,810 to £36,740 | Le fort fractures |
| Facial bone fractures | £14,900 to £23,950 | Multiple fractures leading to permanent deformity. |
| Fractures of the nose or nasal complex | £10,640 to £23,130 | Multiple or serious fractures leading to surgery on more than one occasion or those that lead to permanent airway damage/facial deformity/nerve or tear duct damage. |
| Serious toe injuries | £9,600 to £13,740 | Leading to some permanent disability, the injuries in this bracket could include serious great toe injuries and crush injuries or fractures to 2 or more toes. |
If we have not included your faulty automatic door injuries in the table above, please call us. We would be able to offer further insight on other injuries over the phone.
Types Of Damages Awarded
The table in the section above gives you some idea of the compensation amounts that could be appropriate for your suffering and pain. However, there are other damages that could be awarded within compensation payouts. When looking to calculate compensation amounts for faulty automatic door injuries, there are different damages that courts and lawyers could consider.
General Damages For Faulty Automatic Door Injuries
As we have illustrated above, you could receive general damages for the loss of amenity, pain and suffering of your injuries.
Special Damages For Faulty Automatic Door Injuries
In addition to receiving compensation for your injuries and the suffering you have borne because of them, you could also include financial expenses you suffer due to your injuries. These could include:
Care Costs
If you suffered a traumatic brain injury, a fractured spine or other severe injuries, you may not be able to look after yourself and you might need care. You could claim for care costs within your personal injury claim.
Medical Expenses
Should you incur expenses relating to medical care, whether it involves prescription costs, counselling fees or other treatments, you could include these costs too.
Loss Of Income
If you need to stay off work to recover from injuries such as dislocated discs, broken bones etc, you could lose some of your usual income. A claim for loss of income could bring you compensation for the pay you’ve lost out on.
Travel Costs
Have you paid train fares to get to the hospital, or had to pay for a taxi to meet with your personal injury lawyer? If so, you could include such travel costs within your claim.
We should mention that in order to claim for financial expenses caused by a faulty automatic door, you would need to provide evidence. It could be a wise idea to keep documents like payslips, bank statements and bills somewhere safe. That way, you could provide evidence to your personal injury solicitor to include such expenses within your claim.
What Are Faulty Automatic Door Injuries?
Faulty automatic door injuries are injuries a person receives when an automatic door system fails in some way. If you suffer injuries due to a malfunction of an automatic swing door or automatic sliding door, could you be eligible to claim compensation? You would need to prove that someone had a duty of care towards you and they failed to make the door safe for you to use, causing injury.
If you or a loved one has sustained faulty automatic door injuries, you would need to establish who had a duty of care towards your safety, and whose responsibility it was to look after automatic door safety. This could be an employer, a business such as a shop, hotel, gym or the local council, for example. If the door was poorly maintained, for example, or the person with duty of care had not restricted your access through the door when they knew it needed fixing, they could be held liable for your injuries.
Types Of Injuries Caused By Faulty Automatic Doors
There are lots of moving parts in an automatic door system. Whether it is an automatic swing door or an automatic sliding door you’ve been injured by, an automatic door accident could happen if any one of these moving parts malfunctioned.
Types Of Automatic Door Accidents That Could Cause Injury
An injury could be suffered in several different ways in an automatic door accident. For example, you could:
- Become trapped in a door when it closes on you
- Be hit by a door that closes while you are passing through it
Automatic doors are heavy and therefore could cause extensive injuries to lots of body parts. These could include your head and neck, your limbs and your extremities. Along with the physical injuries such an accident could cause, you might also be traumatised by the accident. If you have been, you could also have a case for mental trauma. If you’ve suffered faulty automatic door injuries, whether physical or mental, you could obtain free legal advice by getting in touch with our team.
Who Is Liable For An Automatic Door Accident?
Whether you run a shop, bar, restaurant or hotel, or even an office building, there are certain safety concerns that you should be aware of when it comes to automatic doors. According to the HSE, managing agents, owners, occupiers and landlords of commercial and some residential premises have an ongoing responsibility for the safety of the users of automatic doors. In addition to this, those working on powered doors and gates have responsibility for the work they carry out.
Under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, the owner/occupier of a building has a responsibility to ensure their premises are safe for people to use. The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1984 even extends this duty of care towards trespassers. Should someone fail in their duty of care to keep their premises safe, someone injured as a result could hold them liable for their injuries.
Liability Under The Supply Of Machinery (Safety) Regulation 2008
The requirement of the Machinery Directive (EU) or the Supply of Machinery Safety Regulations (UK) is that powered automatic doors for workplaces should be safely designed, manufactured, installed and maintained. If these requirements are not met, this could lead to an accident. It could also lead to an injured party being able to claim compensation for injuries they sustain as a result.
How To Start A Personal Injury Claim
If you intend to make a personal injury claim for faulty automatic door injuries, there are various actions you could take.
- Get medical attention – this is essential so you could receive the appropriate advice and treatment. It could also serve as a record of the incident and your injuries.
- Take photographs – you could photograph the scene of the incident, and the injuries you sustain.
- Get witness details – this could help your case, as they could provide a witness statement
- Obtain free legal advice – we could help with this. We’d be happy to assess your eligibility to claim. We could even connect you with a personal injury lawyer to help you claim on a No Win No Fee basis.
How Long Do I Have To Claim For Faulty Automatic Door Injuries?
If you are eligible to make a faulty automatic door injury claim, you will need to be mindful of the time limit for starting your claim. The Limitation Act 1980 states that you will generally have three years to start a personal injury claim from the date of the accident.
However, there are some exceptions to this limitation period. For example, if a child is injured by a faulty door, the three-year limitation period would pause until their 18th birthday. During this pause, a litigation friend could make a claim on their behalf. If no claim was made, they will have three years from their 18th birthday to start one.
To learn more about the other exceptions to this 3-year time limit, or to see if you could be eligible to make a claim, you can contact our advisors.
No Win No Fee Claims For Faulty Automatic Door Injuries
Would you like assistance from a personal injury solicitor when you make your personal injury claim? If so, you might be pleased to find that you could obtain legal help under No Win No Fee terms.
No Win No Fee mean you only pay your solicitor once your compensation comes through. You would not pay them upfront. They would send you a Conditional Fee Agreement to sign. This gives details of the success fee they’d expect you to pay from your payout. It is a small, capped amount, usually calculated as a percentage of your payout.
When you sign and return the agreement, they would be able to begin your case for you. They could negotiate a payout directly with the liable party/their insurers, or if necessary, help you take the liable party to court. Once your payout comes through, your solicitor deducts the success fee and you’ll benefit from the rest of your payout. Should your claim fail, and your solicitor doesn’t get you a payout, you wouldn’t pay the success fee.
Why not get in touch with us today to discuss your case? You can reach us by:
- Live Chat
- Calling 0161 696 9685
- Using our contact form
Related Guides And Services
Powered Gate Safety – The HSE has produced guidance on powered gate safety, which you can find here.
The Health And Safety At Work etc Act – If you’ve been injured in a workplace accident you might be interested in reading what your employer’s responsibilities are.
I Had A Pre-Existing Condition – If your faulty automatic door injuries exacerbated an existing injury, you might find this guide useful.
Claiming Against Your Employer – Our detailed employee injury claim guide could be useful to you if you suffer injuries in a workplace accident.
Claiming For Loss Of Earnings – You can find out how to claim for loss of income in this guide.