If you have recently suffered a facial injury, even if minor, it may have been life-altering. A facial injury claim can be pursued when you are caused an injury to your face due to the negligence of those who have a legal duty of care towards you.
This guide will give you an idea of the personal injury claims process and what it means for your steam burn claim.
Our team of advisors who are available 24 hours a day 7 days a week can provide free advice through a consultation with no obligation to proceed with a claim. If you need a question answering right away please call 0800 408 7825. You can also write to the team here.
Select a Section
- A Guide To Calculate Compensation For A Facial Injury Caused By Steam
- Injuries From Steam
- Financial Loss From Face Steam Incidents
- What Is A Steam Accident?
- Grab A Care Claim
- Lawyers Value Compensation Settlements For A Facial Injury Claim
- Case Study: £23,000 Compensation For A Facial Injury Caused By Steam
- Steam Facial Injury Compensation Calculation Estimates
- No Win No Fee Agreements For A Facial Injury Claim
- Uncover High-Quality Personal Injury Lawyers
- Quick Action
- Extra Reads
A Guide To Calculate Compensation For A Facial Injury Caused By Steam
Personal injury claims can include any road traffic accidents, accidents in public places or accidents at work that were caused by a third party who had a duty of care to your health. To have a valid facial injury claim it must have been caused through a breach in the duty of care owed to you. There are a number of third parties that owe you a duty of care these could include your employer, medical practitioners, business owners, the local authority and road uses.
In this guide, we have included an example case study to show you how the claims process works, why negligence must be established and how compensation is calculated. Although you are not required by law to have a solicitor represent your case, they can prove most useful. We also explain how you can acquire legal services without paying an upfront fee.
If you have any questions after reading through, please call our advice team free of charge on the number at the top of the screen, or message them through the live chat feature.
Injuries From Steam
When considering making a facial injury claim, it is helpful to have a clear understanding of how and why the incident happened. This is because the predicted outcome of personal injury claims rest on the answers to three questions:
- Did the third party lawfully have a duty of care towards you?
- Did they breach that duty?
- Were the steam burn injuries a consequence of the incident?
Employers
Under the law, all employers must do what is reasonably possible to prevent employees from enduring workplace accidents. Their health, safety and wellbeing must be protected. If you believe your employer breached their duties, you may consider asking yourself:
- Did they provide me with adequate training?
- Did they advise me of risks in a way that I understood?
- Was all equipment involved maintained to proper standards?
You may also want to take into account whether you were compliant with your employer’s health and safety regulations, ensuring you weren’t accountable.
Public Liability
The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 was established so that those using public services, premises open to the public and those visiting business were protected so far as is reasonably possible from any dangers.
Occupier’s must reasonably establish that a visitor will be safe in the area under their power. In order to determine whether they did, you should ask yourself:
- Did they forewarn you of the risk at the property?
- Were all measures taken to ensure your safety?
- Did they abide and adhere to health and safety legislation.
You may also want to consider whether or not you accepted the risk of injury and continued at the site despite being apprised. If so, discuss this with a personal injury solicitor so they can advise how it may affect your claim.
A Facial Injury Claim
If you are to make a facial injury claim, it is crucial that the injuries received were a result of the accident. We will review the necessity of medical evidence later in the guide.
Should you need any deeper guidance on third party responsibilities or your’s, call our team of advisors on the number at the top of the page. Their advice is free and they are available around the clock.
Financial Loss From Face Steam Incidents
Aside from the injuries you sustained from steam scalding, you may have lost out financially. For example, injuries can often prompt numerous visits to hospitals and clinics. If you paid for travel, therapy or medication as a result of the accident, you may be able to claim back the costs through your facial injury claim.
Perhaps a family member looked after you while you recovered? Maybe you paid for a cleaner or cook? Or you had to take unpaid leave from work or lost out on a workplace bonus? All of these could be seen as financial loss, meaning that the costs could be recovered if your personal injury claim is successful.
Our panel of trusted solicitors will be able to help you determine other financial losses you may have suffered, and you can also call our team of advisors about it for free on the number at the top of the page.
What Is A Steam Accident?
Steam pipework is often used to distribute heat through an area (in some cases entire districts, famously New York). If not pressure-tested and without proper insulating, it can cause accidents in public places. Roadworks also use emulsions that produce hazardous levels of steam to those in close proximity.
Steam generators (such as most boilers, including electric) can be sources of a workplace accident or an accident in a public place. You can also get a serious steam burn from kettles or ovens, the former appliance being often used on UK properties and in workplaces.
If a third party neglected to maintain the machine, appliance or object that caused your injury, you may have a right to make a facial injury claim. Medically, the NHS advises that your injury would be classed as a scald rather than a burn because steam is wet rather than dry heat. However, your injury would still be treated under the three burns degrees:
- First-degree: painful; no blisters; treatable without medical professional aid; no scarring; heals within a week.
- Second-degree: skin is red and blistering; treatable without medical professional aid but skin grafting might be needed for deeper scalding; might scar; heals in up to three weeks.
- Third-degree: skin is pale, brown-ish or leathery; hospital admittance usually required; skin grafts may be needed; scarring likely; can take months to heal.
A qualified medical professional is best-placed to help you understand what scalding means for your health and wellbeing. A personal injury solicitor is best-placed to advise you on what the medical evidence means for burn compensation amounts. If you’d like help with your facial injury claim, call our team on the number at the top of the page. You can also message them using our live chat feature.
Grab A Care Claim
The facial injury you suffered may have impacted your wellbeing more than you’d believed it would. Sometimes claimants need friends or family to care for them while they recover physically and mentally. You may have even paid for services such as childcare. Either way, if the care you received was due to the incident caused by third party negligence, you may be able to claim back the costs.
Personal injury lawyers can go through what care you may have received and how you may recover costs. If you’d prefer to hear answers to your questions now, message our advisors through the live chat feature. You can also call on the number at the top of the screen.
Lawyers Value Compensation Settlements For A Facial Injury Claim
After experiencing a personal injury, you may have required medical attention. Whether you were hospitalised or visited your GP, a medical recording of your symptoms would’ve begun. These notes can be highly useful in the subsequent facial injury claim.
If you decide to use a personal injury solicitor they will arrange an independent medical assessment for you. The report the medical professional creates is shared with the court and your solicitor uses it to value your claim. It is, accordingly, important to ensure you disclose to your solicitor any pre-existing conditions that might be seen as related to the facial injury.
General Damages
Using the medical report’s conclusions and estimation of recovery, your personal injury solicitor will calculate what you may claim in general damages. This is the compensation you receive to cover the pain and disruption of comfort you experienced.
Special Damages
Special damages intend to recompense you for any additional care you’ve received or financial damage inflicted due to the personal injury. To prove special damages, it is crucial that you provide some form of evidence such as bills, receipts, or even travel documents related to medical appointments.
Our advisors are on hand to put you in touch with our panel of solicitors but can also give you free advice with no obligation. Give them a call any day of the week on the number at the top of the page or send a message in our live chatbox.
Case Study: £23,000 Compensation For A Facial Injury Caused By Steam
Mr Singh was a young customer services coordinator for a paper supplier in Norwich. He worked at Head Office, but the company held annual training days in their factory nearby. On one of these days, Mr Singh was part of a group touring the factory when he passed a steam valve that unexpectedly opened.
The steam missed most of his face as he turned away, but the skin over his lower jaw was scalded. Mr Singh was distressed and confused, and a factory colleague administered first aid before a different co-worker transported him to hospital. As the temperature of the steam had been considerably high part of his face near his ear needed surgery so that the cosmetic disability was not great.
Mr Singh spent a few days in the hospital and recuperate the rest at home. He was only paid minimum sick pay and did not receive his full pay.
He lived with his mother who was able to care for him and look after the general running of the house. His mother put him in touch with a personal injury solicitor.
Investigations found that the valve had been installed incorrectly long ago and finally failed as the group were passing it.
The defendant argued that Mr Singh had listened to the health and safety guidance before the tour, which illuminated potential risks. However, the defendant had not been warned of potential valves opening. Plus maintenance records following the incident confirmed the valve had been incorrectly installed.
As a result, Mr Singh’s solicitor recovered £23,000 and the breakdown of special damages can be seen below.
| Type of Special Damages: | Includes: | How much?: |
|---|---|---|
| Travel Expenses | To and from appointments/treatment | Trains and taxis to appointments: £50 |
| Medications/Prescriptions | Prescriptions, treatment, physiotherapy, walking aids, etc. | Painkillers and dressings: £100 |
| Additional Care | Professional care at home, from family, childcare, etc. | Mother’s care: £700 |
| Loss of Earnings | £2500 to make up the wage shortfall. |
Mr Singh’s facial injury claim serves as an example. It draws from our experiences valuing and working on claims. It is being used here to convey the causes of accidents and the claims process.
Steam Facial Injury Compensation Calculation Estimates
In the case study above, Mr Singh may have been awarded more compensation had his scarring been more significant and the psychological impact longer-lasting and damaging.
Similarly, your facial injury claim will be particular to your circumstances. This guide aims to help you estimate burn compensation amounts, but more accurate predictions can be determined by a personal injury solicitor, such as those on our panel.
If you’d like to get free advice, call our team of personal injury claims advisors on the number at the top of the screen. They offer non-committal services and you can also message them via our live chatbox, 24/7.
No Win No Fee Agreements For A Facial Injury Claim
A No Win No Fee agreement is often used by those who have been subject to an accident at work, road traffic accident or accidents in public places, that were not their fault. A No Win No Fee agreement allows a claimant access to legal representation when their personal funds would not allow for them to do so.
To conclude under the agreement, known in law as a Conditional Fee Agreement, you are not entitled to pay solicitor fees if your facial injury claim loses. Winning means that you will pay a fee to your solicitor, deducted from the compensation won. The fee is lawfully limited to a small amount.
If you have any questions about No Win No Fee agreements call our team. Or if you’d like to understand the agreement through discussion, you can call our team of advisors on the number at the top of the page for free. Alternatively, you can use our live chat feature any day, any time.
Uncover High-Quality Personal Injury Lawyers
You may be lucky enough to have never required a personal injury lawyer before, in which case it would be sensible to find a seasoned solicitor for your facial injury claim.
You may find yourself disgruntled with a substandard solicitor if:
- They want to settle for less than you reasonably deserve.
- Their client reviews are not reliable or very positive.
- They are not communicating with you properly.
- You’re not sure if you trust them.
If you’re concerned about the quality of solicitors in your area, call our team of advisors today. For further information (free and with no commitment to use our services), or to make a connection with our panel of expert personal injury solicitors, call our team of advisors on the number below.
Quick Action
For any queries regarding your facial injury claim or any other injury claim, contact our team:
- Our number is 0800 408 7825
- Send a message.
- Use the live chat feature.
Extra Reads
Specified Injuries to Workers – Health and Safety Executive criteria on reportable workplace burns and scalds.
Overview: Burns and Scalds – NHS general advice on burns and scalding.
Facial Scar Compensation Case Study Guide – Our advice on facial scar compensation.
Head Injury Compensation Case Study Guide – We discuss compensation for head injuries.
Accident in a Public Place What to Do? Injury Claim Guide – Our guidance on how to action public liability claims.
Thank you for reading our guide on how to make a facial injury claim.