This guide aims to help people who are asking the question ‘What are my rights after I had an accident at work?’ If you have been injured in a workplace accident, you may be wondering what steps you could take next, and whether you may be entitled to compensation.
We start this guide by explaining some of the rights you are legally entitled to after suffering an injury in an accident at work. Following this we also discuss the various laws that are in place to help protect you from various types of accidents while you are working, including the duty of care your employer owes you regarding your health and safety.
If you have taken time off work to recover from your injuries, you may also be wondering whether you are entitled to sick pay. We will discuss whether you are and also whether you may be eligible to receive compensation for your injuries and any financial losses they may have caused you to suffer.
This guide ends by explaining how we could help you if you have suffered a workplace injury. We will also discuss how one of the personal injury solicitors on our panel could help you seek compensation on a No Win No Fee basis.
If you have any questions regarding the accident at work claims process, or if you would like to discuss your specific case, you can contact a member of our advisory team today:
- Call our advisors today on 0800 408 7825
- Start a conversation with our team using the live chat pop-up.
- Request a call back through the contact us form.
Select A Section
- What Are My Rights After An Accident At Work?
- What Laws Protect Me After An Accident At Work?
- Am I Entitled To Sick Pay After A Workplace Accident?
- When Can I Claim Compensation For An Accident At Work?
- How Can We Help You Claim For A Workplace Accident?
- Learn More About What Your Rights Are After An Accident At Work
What Are My Rights After An Accident At Work?
If you have been injured in a workplace accident, you may be wondering ‘What are my rights after I had an accident at work?’.
If you have suffered injuries in an accident at work, you various rights. These include:
- You have a right to record the accident in the workplace accident book. All workplaces with 10 or more employees need to keep an accident book on their premises.
- You have a right to receive first aid and medical care.
- All employees have a right to receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). You may also be able to receive contractual sick pay whilst recovering (we discuss this in more detail in a later section).
- You have a right to report safety issues or any hazards and concerns in the workplace.
- You have the right to make a claim for compensation after suffering workplace injuries. You also have a right to seek legal advice regarding this.
- Furthermore, you can join a trade union and access support and advice from them.
- Lastly, you have a right to request reasonable adjustments that help you upon returning to work. For example, being allocated a seated position rather than a standing one.
All of these rights apply regardless if you are a full-time or part-time employee or if you work as a zero-hour contract staff member.
To discuss any of these rights or learn about the personal injury claims process, you can contact our advisors.
What Laws Protect Me After An Accident At Work?
Employers have a legal responsibility to safeguard the well-being of their employees. This means that all employers need to take reasonable and practicable steps to prevent employees from suffering harm as they do their jobs. An employer can do their best to achieve this by:
- Carrying out workplace safety inspections on a regular basis.
- Ensuring that staff are properly trained and aware of health and safety procedures.
- Maintaining equipment, tools and machinery so that it is safe to work with.
- Providing personal protective equipment (PPE) such as goggles, gloves and boots as needed.
What Legislations Are In Place To Protect Me?
There are various pieces of UK legislation that enforces an employer’s duty of care. Some examples include:
- The Health And Safety At Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA) – This places a general duty of care on employers in all UK workplaces to reduce and remove the risk of harm to employees as much as possible.
- The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) – This places a legal duty on employers, people in control of premises and the self-employed to report certain types of workplace accidents and injuries.
- The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 – This requires employers to assess risk levels when working with hazardous substances and to know how to appropriately handle emergencies that may arise from a hazardous spillage.
- The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992 – This states every employer needs to ensure work equipment is maintained in good working order and that it is suitable for the intended purpose.
- The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 – This states that an employer needs to identify any risks that employees, contractors or the public might encounter. They must also take the necessary steps to mitigate those risks through a process of risk assessment.
If you have suffered an injury due to your employer breaching their duty of care, we may be able to help you. Contact us today to find out how.
Am I Entitled To Sick Pay After A Workplace Accident?
You may be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if you needed to take time off work due to the injuries sustained in the workplace accident.
To be eligible to receive SSP, you will need to meet the following requirements:
- Some work must have been done for your employer and you must be classed as an employee.
- You must have been off sick for three consecutive days (including non-working days).
- You must earn an average of £123 per week.
If you qualify for SSP, you could receive £116.75 per week for up to 28 weeks. However, you will not be paid for the first 3 days that you were off sick.
You may also be eligible to receive contractual sick pay. However, you would need to check your employment contract to see whether you are entitled to this, as it is not a legal requirement for your employer to offer this to you.
Do I Need To Report My Accident To My Employer?
It is important to report your accident and injury to your employer. This is not just to form a record of the incident, but to possibly prevent others from being harmed in a similar manner. Also, reporting the hazard and accident gives your employer a fair opportunity to address the problem, as they may have been unaware of it.
Employers also must log certain types of reportable accidents under RIDDOR. Some of the accidents that need to be reported are workplace fatalities, amputations, explosions, serious burns, electrocution, sight loss and head or internal organ damage. Injuries that require admission to the hospital must also be reported.
If you still have any question regarding ‘What are my rights after I had an accident at work?’, you can contact our advisory team.
When Can I Claim Compensation For An Accident At Work?
As previously aforementioned, you employer owes a duty of care regarding your health and safety while in the workplace and performing your duties. You may be able to claim compensation for your accident at work, if you can prove that your case meets the personal injury claiming criteria. These are:
- You can demonstrate your employer owed you a duty of care.
- You can show that your accident was caused by your employer breaching their duty of care.
- The injuries you suffered in this accident were a direct result of this breached duty.
These three points constitutes employer negligence. Some examples of workplace accidents that may lead to a personal injury compensation claim include:
- An employer could fail to conduct assessments of risk in the workplace. An employee could trip on broken flooring as a result and suffer a leg injury.
- Inadequate staff training by an employer could result in an employee being told to operate unfamiliar machinery or workplace tools. They could suffer lacerations and cuts due to this.
- An employer could fail to provide an employee with the essential personal protective equipment (PPE) needed to do their job. As a result, the employee could suffer burns to the hand and face or a serious eye injury.
How To Prove An Accident At Work Claim
Gathering evidence is a crucial part of the personal injury claims process. Having sufficient evidence could help with proving how your employer was liable for the injuries you suffered. Some examples of evidence that could be used to support an accident at work claim include:
- Photos or CCTV footage of the accident.
- Receipts and bank statements that prove you incurred costs and expenses because of your injuries.
- Your medical records that detail the injuries suffered and the medical attention you received for them.
- Eyewitness contact information. A legal professional, such as a solicitor, could approach them at a later date for a statement.
Speak to our team about how a solicitor from our panel could help you with gathering evidence to support your case.
How Can We Help You Claim For A Workplace Accident?
If you have been injured in an accident at work, our advisors could inform you whether you may be eligible to claim compensation. In addition to offering you free advice, and answering your questions, they could also put you in contact with a solicitor on our panel.
The solicitors on our panel have years of experience working on various types of accident at work claims and could help with:
- Answering any questions you may have such as ‘What are my rights after I had an accident at work?’.
- Helping you gather evidence to support your case such as witness statements.
- Explaining any legal jargon used throughout the claims process.
- Negotiating your compensation for you.
Additionally, the solicitors on our panel usually represent their clients on a No Win No Fee basis by offering them a Conditional Fee Agreement. With this contract in place, you will not need to pay for your solicitor’s services prior to the claim starting or if the claim is unsuccessful.
However, you will pay them a small percentage of your compensation if your claim is a success. This percentage is known as a success fee, and the law caps the maximum amount this percentage can be.
Contact our advisors today to see how one of the No Win No Fee solicitors on our panel could help you.
- Call us at a time that suits you on 0800 408 7825
- Use our online live chat to ask a question.
- Fill out your details in our contact form to request a callback.
Learn More About What Your Rights Are After An Accident At Work
More accident at work claims guides by us:
- This guide looks at temporary workers’ rights.
- To read more about claiming for a loss of earnings following a workplace accident, read this guide.
- Additional information regarding whether you receive full pay if injured in an accident at work.
Further external resources:
- This Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publication looks at the reporting procedure for RIDDOR and what actions to follow.
- This page explains benefits and compensation at work from GOV.UK.
- Guidance on when to call 999 from the NHS.
We hope you now have a clearer answer to the question ‘What are my rights after I had an accident at work?’. Contact our advisors to see how we may be able to help you today.