Category Archives: Personal injury

Claiming compensation for a facial injury

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When our loved ones look at us, it is not our legs or arms that they recognise – it is our face. Our very perception of ourselves and the way in which other people recognise us is based upon our facial characteristics and when our names our mentioned, it is our face that people visualise rather than anything else. Without even realising, we convey our inner thoughts through our facial expressions and our face says so much about our moods and feelings.

Given the role of the face in forming our identity it is no surprise that when our faces end up permanently changed as a result of an accident or incident it can lead to unthinkable trauma. The thought that our faces may end up heavily scarred, require prosthetics or have to be surgically altered is terrifying because of the effect that it would have on the way we recognise ourselves and the way in which other people view us. Relationships could change both at home and in work due to the loss of self-esteem and self-consciousness and senses such as sight and smell could even be permanently lost.

Dealing with a facial injury is therefore difficult enough but if the injuries resulted from the deliberate malice, legal omission or negligence of another individual, it would be particularly difficult to cope. Perhaps you were deliberately injured whist playing sports; or your employer refused to provide you with equipment to protect you from chemical burns; or maybe you suffered due to a negligent cosmetic surgeon. However you sustained your injuries, if I t was not your fault and you can prove that a third party was to blame you should be entitled to make a personal injury claim for compensation.

Winning compensation will never alleviate your emotional pain however it could go a long way towards securing your financial position at a difficult time. The amount you receive in damages should recognise the following:

• Pain and suffering of the victim: you deserve to be compensated for the physical and emotional trauma associated with your injuries

• Financial hardship: you may not be able to work and as a result you could lose income

• Extent of injuries: further costly procedures may be required and the worse the injuries the higher the compensation figure is likely to be

In order to win the full and fair amount of compensation you deserve it is crucial that you instruct a specialist personal injury solicitor. The solicitors at our firm specialise in facial injury compensation claims and have both the sensitivity needed to support through throughout the claims process and the unrelenting work ethic required to win what you deserve. We will carry out a thorough investigation into your claim so that you have all the evidence and documentation needed to succeed. Our links with experienced plastic surgeons mean that you will receive an in-depth report analysing the extent of your injuries and the necessity and cost of further procedures to correct damage.

For advice on facial injury compensation claims, call FREEPHONE FREEPHONE 0800 1404544

Sustaining an injury to your face can be particularly traumatic. Our expert personal injury solicitors can help you achieve justice in the form of a compensation payout if you have been injured through no fault of your own.

Dial FREEPHONE FREEPHONE 0800 1404544, or

Email us via the contact form below.

    Multiple fracture injury claims

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    Fracturing one bone is horrendously painful but some people are unfortunate to sustain multiple fracture injuries at the same time, from the same accident, leading to unspeakable agony. Moreover, these injuries are often sustained due to the carelessness or negligence of someone else and yet can lead to permanent physical damage. Whether several bones are fractured at the same time, or fracture lines spread through one bone, the consequences of a multiple fracture injury can be devastating and it is only right that those who sustain such injuries through no fault of their own can claim compensation.

    Multiple fracture injuries can be permanently incapacitating or fatal at their worst and even at their best; they can ruin months or years of one’s life. Such injuries are completely debilitating and as a result sufferers will probably need to take an extended period of time off work, which is particularly problematic for those who are self-employed of course. With no income coming in, individuals will find it extremely difficult to support themselves or provide for their family and they cannot carry out simple everyday tasks. As a result, extra help may need to be hired, on top of possible medical expenses.

    Entitled to multiple fracture injury compensation?

    If your injuries were caused through no fault of your own, you may find that you are entitled make a personal injury compensation claim. Our team of personal injury claim specialists can help you with any such claim. To start with, we will be able to determine whether or not your claim is likely to succeed and estimate the damages you may be paid on the basis of loss of earnings and the extent of your injuries. The claims process can be complicated, so it is crucial that you have a specialist personal injury solicitor on your side who can work to recover the full amount you are entitled to and relieve some of your stress.

    Multiple fracture injury claim? Contact our Personal Injury team today

    Time limits apply to compensation claims, and it’s easier to investigate your claim if you get the right legal advice early on.

    So for FREE advice from expert Personal Injury Solicitors you can rely on;

    Call FREEPHONE FREEPHONE 0800 1404544, or

    Email our personal injury solicitors using via the contact form below:

      Broken arm injury claims

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      Breaking an arm can have a serious impact on your life. Your arm may be completely immobilised for weeks and your cast may not enable you to move your wrist, shoulder or elbow, making those weeks extremely uncomfortable and frustrating. Arm fractures can be extremely serious especially if they are particularly complex. You may have crushed the bone, severed various blood vessels and nerves or had pieces of bone in shatter off. Sadly, in some cases, full movement will never return to the arm.

      Coping with a broken arm injury is difficult enough as it is but it can be far more traumatic when you know that your injury was not your fault. If the negligence, legal omission or deliberate actions of another individual were to blame for your fracture, you may find that you are eligible to claim compensation. This is because if you were not to blame for the injury itself, it is unfair for to have experience pain and suffering, shoulder the costs associated with losing income through time off work and have to pay for any follow up treatment. Damages are the least you are entitled to for such hardship and they are likely to reflect the seriousness of the injuries sustained (in the form of ‘special damages’) and the financial consequences of your fracture (in the form of ‘general damages’).

      Arm fractures can arise from many different circumstances such as:

      • A slip or trip at work (suggesting possible employer negligence)

      • A sports injury following an unnecessarily dangerous challenge (suggesting possible malice)

      • Or a road traffic accident involving a driver who failed concentrate

      In order to win your compensation you will need a specialist personal injury solicitor on you side. Our personal injury lawyers have vast experience dealing with broken arm compensation claims and could help you recover the full and fair amount of compensation you are entitled to. We will deal with the bureaucracy and formalities in making a claim so that you can focus on your recovery. Your solicitor will put you in touch with a medical expert who will assess your injuries and provide a report which will be central to the bundle of evidence used for your claim. Moreover, you will receive constant support throughout the claims process from your expert solicitor.

      Broken arm injury claim?Contact us today for FREE advice

      It’s always easier to investigate an injury claim if you make sure that you get great legal advice at an early stage.

      So for FREE advice from expert Personal Injury Solicitors you can trust;

      Call us on  FREEPHONE FREEPHONE 0800 1404544, or

      Email our personal injury solicitors using via the contact form below:

         

        How common are office injuries and accidents?

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        The myth that offices are safe places to work takes a considerable amount of demolishing, so entrenched is it in the national psyche. However, filled with hazards ranging from unsafe office machinery, furniture and fittings to none-ergonomic work stations, unsafe floors and storage, repetitive tasks such as typing and hours of sedentary work the potential for harm to come to an office worker is far from minimal.

        True, the rate of injuries and accidents is far higher is other sectors of the economy; indeed the 33 per 100,000 workers experiencing a serious injury in an office and 72 per 100,000 experiencing an injury requiring more than 3 days away from work, puts office work at the bottom of the Health and Safety Executive’s work injury incidence scale amongst the industry sectors for which there is data, but accidents and injuries in offices there most definitely are. To be precise, 1,035 serious injuries and 2,249 injuries requiring a three day plus absence from work in 2010-11 alone.

        Data from the UK’s Labour Force Survey for 2010-11 strongly suggests substantial under reporting of accidents that occur in offices. The main reason for this under reporting is apparently the victims’ reluctance to blame anyone other than themselves for their accident as it occurred in an environment that everyone knows is completely safe to work in. After all, you can’t kill yourself with a paper cut and you’re not going to fracture your foot if you drop a roll of sellotape onto it. If only all office mishaps were so minor.

        Contact our Injury Claim Specialists today

        If you need advice regarding a personal injury claim, don’t delay.

        For FREE compensation claim advice over the phone and a FREE first interview with expert Personal Injury Solicitors you can really trust call us on FREEPHONE FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 or e-mail us at advice@the-personal-injury-solicitors.co.uk

        The consequences of construction accidents

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        The obvious and most negative consequence of construction accidents is of course the sometimes terrible injuries that workers suffer. Multiple fractures of major bones, brain injuries, extensive burns, permanently damaged hearts due to electrocution, extensive damage to internal organs as a result of crushing injuries and nerve damage from conditions such as vibration white finger are amongst a list of injuries too varied and long to include here and which are all unfortunately still far from uncommon in the construction industry. Inevitably and tragically some of these injuries can prove fatal; in fact construction accidents accounted for a staggering 28% of all workplace deaths in the UK during the year 2011-2012.

        If there can be a positive aspect to the grim statistics detailing death and injury from construction accidents, it is that each fatality and injury serves to highlight, in many cases, the negligence of employers in failing to comply with their legal duty to provide a safe workplace and ensure as far as is reasonably practicable the health, safety and welfare of their employees at work. From these instances of negligence hard lessons can be learnt and the deterrent factor of ever increasing insurance costs and tarnished company reputations in the wake of unsuccessfully defended work injury compensation claims, weighed by construction companies against the morally unjustifiable benefits to be gained by skimping on health and safety in order to be able to undercut rival bids for construction projects or simply sinking back into a comfort zone of paying lip service to health and safety.

        On the evidence of the Health and Safety Executive’s data on accidents in the construction industry over the last couple of decades, lessons are indeed being learnt and the gradual reduction in deaths and serious injuries since the 1990s seems to reflect a more positive and pro-active approach to health and safety amongst companies working in the sector. However the numbers are still high compared to other sectors and whilst they remain so, the previously engrained misconception within the construction industry that the toll in human life and health is an inevitable and unavoidable consequence of the type of work being undertaken will stubbornly persist.

        Only increasingly proficient project planning, the elevation of health and safety above a merely paper exercise and the will to expunge the pockets of bad practice historically found in areas such as staff recruitment and training, workplace safety, personal protective equipment and the culture of long hours and bonus inducements, will continue the downwards trend in workplace fatality and injury rates.

        Contact our Construction Injury Claim Specialists now

        If you are in need of any advice or information regarding a Construction Injury, don’t delay, or you risk losing your right to be compensated for your personal injury.

        For a FREE first interview with expert Personal Injury Solicitors you can rely on;
        • e-mail our team at advice@the-personal-injury-solicitors.co.uk

        Common causes of accidents and injury in warehouses

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        Over recent decades, in order to become more efficient, warehouses have generally become larger which has generated the requirement for processes become increasingly automated and mechanised. The results of these changes have resulted in workplaces in which many more vehicles and equipment, than was formerly the case, have to be safely accommodated alongside the employees who themselves often have to manually move roll cages and pallets to tighter timescales than ever before. It can be a stressful environment to work in, often noisy and sometimes, unfortunately, more dangerous than it should be.

        By far the most common major accidents in warehouses in the UK since the turn of the century have been slips and trips, accounting for 26% of all injuries. A truly astonishing 45% of all injuries sustained in course of warehouse work that necessitated workers taking three or more days off work were caused by manual handling accidents. Trailing in the statistical wake of those two work accident types are:

        • Falls from height.

        • Being hit by a moving or falling object.

        • Being struck by a vehicle.

        • Impact with a stationery or fixed object.

        • Other kinds of accident.

        The main causes of these accidents fall under two main headings:

        1) Environmental

        2) Work processes

        Environmental factors include:

        • An insufficiently clean workplace.

        • Poorly maintained systems, devices and equipment.

        • Inadequate lighting.

        • Poor floor surface, due to presence of contaminants or inadequate maintainance, inappropriate covering, slopes, ramps and holes.

        • Accumulations of waste.

        • Staircases without handrails (one or two).

        • Insufficient space for employees to work.

        • Temperature too hot or cold.

        • Poorly designed warehouse floor plan.

        • Vehicles not separated from pedestrians.

        • Vehicle movement, not controlled when operating in an environment with pedestrians.

        Work processes factors include:

        • Inadequate job and health and safety training for employees.

        • Managers/supervisors not challenging unsafe behaviour by employees.

        • Jobs that require repetitive heavy lifting or the application of excessive physical force.

        • Absence of personal protective equipment or a lack of training on how to use it.

        • Inadequate communication with non-employees (visiting lorry drivers, members of the public) regarding site health and safety rules.

        • Lack of lifting and carrying equipment to enable manual handling to be avoided.

        • Overstocking causing packs to fall off shelves.

        • Poorly designed shift rotas leading to employee fatigue.

        • Insufficient training on the movement and storage of hazardous substances, leading to mishandling that causes hazardous contents to be accidentally released from their packs.

        The list is almost endless. The factors are all addressable and indeed, under the current and extensive UK workplace health and safety legislation it is the legal duty of employers to maintain their workplaces in safe and good order and as far as is reasonably practicable ensure the health, safety and welfare of their employees at work  – or risk the chance of a personal injury compensation claim.

        For further advice, contact one of our specialist work accident team now

        For FREE phone advice and a FREE first interview with expert Personal Injury Solicitors you trust;

        • Call us on FREEPHONE FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 or
        • e-mail our team at advice@the-personal-injury-solicitors.co.uk

        Can I claim compensation for an injury caused by working at height?

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        Some of the injuries sustained by victims of workplace falls from great height can be appalling and permanently life changing. Falls from lower heights can also easily result in injuries sufficient to incapacitate for lengthy periods and perhaps leave the victim with an on-going disability. If the victim of such a fall strongly suspects that their accident would not have occurred had their employer not been negligent in their legal duty to ensure that the workplace was safe, then they might be able to bring a claim for personal injury compensation.

        Apart from their natural dissatisfaction or even anger about the circumstances of their accident, the workplace fall victim will probably also be coping with recovering from extensive multiple injuries and facing the prospect of the kind of life he or she could not have possibly imagined in their worst nightmares – perhaps confined to a wheelchair and needing constant assistance with even the most basic daily tasks. In such circumstances claiming compensation goes beyond merely being their right, to being their duty to themselves, their family and indeed other workers who might be yet to fall victim to a similar slipshod engagement with health and safety by their employers.

        Whether you can claim compensation for you accident or not, is, as indicated above, to do with a question of blame. Analysing the circumstances of your accident and determining who was to blame for it can be a complicated business involving consideration of all the available facts. These facts might be drawn from witness statements, photographic evidence, medical reports, reports from health and safety experts on the condition and fitness for purpose of the equipment you were using and even from the similarity of your accident to those that have occurred in the past for which compensation was awarded.

        It’s no game for the inexperienced ‘amateur’ and certainly not for someone struggling to cope with the aftermath of their injuries. That is the reason why specialist work accident solicitors developed – legal professionals whose experience and expert knowledge regarding work related personal injury compensation claims place them in an unrivalled position to be able to advise potential claimants on the viability of their proposed claims and then negotiate the claim to the most successful conclusion possible for their client.

        Making a claim for fall injury compensation?

        For a FREE discussion with one of our personal injury solicitors, just phone us on FREEPHONE FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 or e-mail our team at  advice@the-personal-injury-solicitors.co.uk

        Common Causes of chemical injury claims at work

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        The presence of chemicals, capable of causing personal injury, is more prevalent and across a wider range of workplaces than most people realise. From chemicals capable of causing varying degrees of occupational contact dermatitis and found in such commonplace goods as adhesives, cleaning materials and beauty and hairdressing products all the way through to chemicals that are capable of killing, serious personal injury or causing acute, long term health conditions with very little exposure and which are encountered mainly in the petro-chemical and other heavy industries.

        These hazardous chemicals affect workers most commonly by the following means:

        • Direct physical contact with the body, predominantly eyes and hands and usually the combined result of a chemical spillage due to incorrect storage, handling or use and the worker not wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) which would have provided an impermeable barrier, i.e. gloves or goggles.

        • Inhalation of the vapours and gases of some chemicals, due to an accidental release of the vapour/gas or the lack of or inadequacy of a hazardous gas extraction system or as a normal part of the work process being undertaken by workers who haven’t been equipped with effective PPE.

        • Affecting workers whose physiological constitution renders them more susceptible to the harmful effects than their co-workers who might not show any ill effects at all.

        • Low level exposure over a long period of time, the harmful effects of which might not manifest for months or years after the commencement (and indeed ending) of that exposure, as in the case of fertilisers, sheep dip and weed-killers used, or previously used, in the farming industry.

        Chemical injuries can thus be seen to be caused mainly by that ‘perfect storm’ of hazardous substance coming into contact with unprotected or/and untrained worker who might perhaps be working in an environment in which the control, containment or other engineering or process mechanisms for hazard elimination or reduction are not or only partially in place. This brings us on to the role of the employer.

        If an employer due to his failure to discharge his duty of care to keep his employees safe and his lack of compliance with health and safety legislation is the reason or contributory reason that an employee suffers a chemical injury, then that employee could make a claim for chemical injury compensation. It’s as simple as that; bad employer + employee injured at work can = a valid claim for personal injury compensation.

        Contact us about your Chemical Injury Claims now

        For FREE phone advice and a FREE first appointment with expert Personal Injury Solicitors you can really trust;

        • Call us on FREEPHONE FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 or

        • e-mail advice@the-personal-injury-solicitors.co.uk today

        How to avoid dermatitis at work

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        Occupational contact dermatitis is a widespread, under-reported, painful and unsightly disease which attacks the skin of workers exposed to any one or more of a surprisingly wide range of allergenic and irritant substances in the workplace, and can leave it swollen, reddened, cracked and blistered. The fact that so many employees contract dermatitis in the UK annually as a result of their work provides pretty conclusive evidence that some businesses risk management systems are in need of a revisit – or those businesses risk the chance of an expensive personal injury claim.

        Preventing incidences of contact dermatitis at work is not a herculean undertaking for employers. Despite the relative ease with which this skin disease could be eliminated or greatly reduced in the UK workforce and the fact that undertaking to protect their employees from it is a legal obligation on employers under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (amongst other regulations), the problem of employers failing in their duty of care to their employees in this respect refuses to go away.

         

        Employers are legally obliged to identify hazards, environmental and work-related, assess risk and have control measures in place to protect their employees and this system should be regularly revisited and updated as necessary. When it comes to avoiding contact dermatitis at work, current best industry practice stipulates a three prong strategy designed to fulfil employers’ duty of care obligations:

        1) Employee health and safety training – regular skin checks for indications of dermatitis, either carried out by a health professional or by way of self-examination. Training for employees about the nature of the substances they are exposed to in the course of their work, the risks the substances pose and the precautions that must be taken remove or reduce those risks. How to use the personal protective equipment supplied, such as barrier creams and gloves. Employees informed of the results of any exposure monitoring.

        2) Protecting skin – skincare information available, including on recommended hand washing techniques and the use of pre and post work skin moisturisers.

        3) Avoiding contact – by substituting the allergenic or irritant substances with safer alternatives, remove physical contact with the allergenic or irritant substances from the work process, automate the process or use equipment for handling.

        It’s really not rocket science, and all that dealing with contact dermatitis requires is common sense and compliance with health and safety legislation.

        Contact us about industrial disease injury claim now

        If you are the victim of industrial disease, it’s essential that you don’t delay claiming , or you may lose your right to compensation entirely. Wherever you live in England or Wales, one of our specialist personal injury solicitors can explain to you all about claiming injury compensation.

        To arrange a FREE discussion with one of our personal injury team call us on FREEPHONE FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 e-mail our team at advice@the-personal-injury-solicitors.co.uk

        Can I claim compensation for an accident in a school?

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        The fact that you work in a school rather than in any other type of employment has no adverse effect on your right to claim personal injury compensation if you are the victim of a workplace accident. Your employer has a clearly defined legal duty to ensure both that your school is a safe working environment for all employees and also to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable your health, safety and welfare whilst you are at work.

        If you are unfortunate enough to have an accident at work that you feel wasn’t your fault you need to be able to determine whose fault it actually was. At this point it is well worth considering retaining the services of a specialist work accident solicitor, who will be able to accurately determine who was to blame for your accident and advise you as to whether or not you can bring your claim.

        To be able to bring that claim for compensation for the accident you had at your school, the cause of your accident needs to be investigated. If that cause would not have existed if your employer had taken all reasonably practicable steps to eliminate it as they are legally obliged to do and if your accident was clearly a reasonably foreseeable consequence of your employer not taking those steps, then you might well be able to pursue your claim.

        A relatively clear cut example of determining the viability of a personal injury compensation claim would be if a school employee broke her ankle falling into a water filled pothole as she supervised a playground. The Head Teacher had long been aware of the poor condition of the playground surface but remedial work had not been carried out. The poor surface constituted hazard and risk to the health and safety of staff and pupils alike.

        The Head Teacher or controlling authority for the school has a legal duty to control that risk either by ideally repairing the playground surface or if that wasn’t immediately possible, preventing staff and students accessing it and erecting warning signs. If none of these steps had been taken the controlling authority for the school could have been clearly demonstrated to have been in breach of their legal health and safety obligations and duty of care to staff and students and as an injury was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of this breach, they could be held responsible for the accident.

        Making your Injury Claim

        If you would like our expert Personal Injury Claim Solicitors on your side please email us on advice@the-personal-injury-solicitors.co.uk and we will be in touch with you very soon.

        Remember, it costs nothing to ask and you receive 100% of your compensation.