We are often asked how you go about making an accident at work claim? After all, it’s your employer you are potentially going to be taking action against. But you are well within your rights to claim for any injuries sustained at work if your accident was caused by your employer’s negligence. It’s actually illegal for anyone to be dismissed, disciplined or treated differently because of your compensation claim after an accident at work.
What is an accident at work?
An accident at work is defined by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as ‘an event that results in injury or ill health‘. This covers a broad range of circumstances that can result in an injury or illness in the workplace. They also report that in the year 2020/2021 there were 1.7m people suffering from a workplace related illness or injury.
The most common workplace injuries as reported by the HSE are currently:
- Slips, trips or falls on the same level
- Handling, lifting or carrying
- Being struck by a moving object
- Acts of violence
- Falls from a height
…but we know there are many other ways of becoming injured at work too.
What to do if you’ve been injured at work.
If you’ve been injured in an accident at work, having records of what’s happened will be useful for both claiming compensation or for claiming benefits like Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). You should also have your accident reported formally both at work and with a doctor. It can also be a good idea to:
- Take photos of your injury and of whatever caused your accident, if you’re able
- Get contact details for anyone who witnessed your accident and as if they will share notes with you about what they saw.
- Make notes or drawings about your accident as soon as you can while it’s fresh in your memory
Get in touch with a personal injury specialist lawyer like us as soon as you are able to. We can then talk through the next steps and work with you towards lodging a successful accident at work claim for compensation.