Monday 11 June 2012

Personal Injury Claims Against Employers


The employer has to ensure that the workplace is safe for his/her employees. Even when workplace accidents occur because defects in machinery, or faults in machines provided by outside sources the employer is still liable for injuries sustained while an employee is working.

There are laws and guidelines that govern workplace safety, and employers must adhere to these guidelines.

When an injury or sickness occurs in the workplace the first step would be to report this in the work accident book. The report must clearly state the cause of the accident, and resultant injury. This is important for record keeping in the event the employee decides to make a compensation claim against the employer.

Depending on how much of the responsibility lies on the employee themselves, there is a good chance that the compensation will be reduced by out of court negotiations, or by a judge.

Once an employee decides to make a personal injury claim against their employer they will have to solicit the assistance of work injury lawyers. Many of these lawyers are prepared to assist on a no-win no-fee basis. This simply means that the claimant does not receive compensation in the final judgement of their case the lawyer will not charge them for their services. However, should the claim be successful the employer, or their injury insurer, will have to pay the legal fees of the claimant. This agreement between the claimant and their work injury lawyer must be made prior to the claim being made and the legal proceedings beginning.

If the personal injury is clearly the fault of the employer than the claimant will have a very good compensation case. And, if they win their case they will be compensated as UK law stipulates that employers must have workplace injury insurance.

The purpose of the work injury lawyer is to argue on behalf of the victim during a compensation claim procedure. These lawyers are versed in the laws governing work place injuries, from physical impact injuries, to stress related health problems, and industrial illnesses. Part of their responsibility is to compile the necessary evidence to prove their client's claim of employer negligence.

Work injury lawyers assist from the beginning stages of filing the claim, all the way until the compensation has been decided in or out of court.