Claiming Compensation for Accidents at Work

Accidents often occur at the workplace. In fact, the Health and Safety Executive estimates the annual loss caused by accidents occurring at workplaces at around six million working days.

The onus for ensuring the safety of employees lies with the employers. Laws in the UK stipulate strict rules and regulations for employers to ensure adequate safety standards in workplaces.

In spite of this, accidents can and do occur. In such cases, employees are entitled to receive compensation for the injuries they have sustained. If you have suffered an injury at work, these are some important points that will determine whether you will win workplace injury compensation from your employers.

• You should have been injured at work. For you to receive workplace injury compensation, it is important that you should have suffered the injury during the course of your employment. This means that the injury should have been caused while you were on professional duty. An injury caused due to an accident while travelling to or from work, for instance, will not typically be compensated.

• You should not have been at fault. This means that you should not have suffered the accident because of a lapse on your part. If it can be proved that the accident occurred because of your mistake, you would not be eligible for compensation. On the other hand, accidents occurring due to failure on your employer's part, such as inadequate safety precautions, faulty or unsuitable machinery or lack of training, will entitle you to receive compensation.

• You should prove your loss. The amount of compensation depends on the extent of loss sustained. Apart from the full cost of treatment, this would include incidental costs, such as travelling to and from the hospital, homecare and loss of earnings due to inability to work. However, you will have to submit documentary evidence in the form of medical reports and bills as proof of your loss. This injury claim calculator can tell you how much your claim MAY be worth.

Diana Joseph has an in-depth knowledge in dealing with injury claims. She has written numerous articles on injury claims issues, particularly those involving car accident and other topics of claims. Please contact her to apply for your claim compensation.