After an accident at work, you may be wondering, ‘How do you make a head injury at work claim?’. This may be because you suffered a significant injury in the accident. You may have also expereinced financial losses and would like to be reimbursed for them.
In the guide below, we will explain when you could be eligible to make a head injury compensation claim following a workplace accident. Additionally, we will provide you with examples of evidence that could support your case as well as examples of different workplace accidents you may be able to claim compensation for.
Furthermore, we will provide you with information on the different forms of compensation that could be awarded if your claim is successful. We will also share how a No Win No Fee solicitor could help you with claiming compensation and the benefits of working with them.
If, after finishing this guide, you still have any questions regarding how to claim compensation for a head injury sustained in an accident at work, you can contact our team. Our advisors are on-hand to help answer your questions and offer free advice for your potential claim. To connect with them today, you can:
- Use our live chat option.
- Fill out our online contact form.
- Call us on 0800 408 7825
Select A Section
- Can You Claim Head Injury At Work Compensation?
- How Do You Make A Head Injury At Work Claim?
- When Can You Make A Head Injury At Work Claim?
- How Much Compensation For Head And Brain Injuries?
- Can You Make A Head Injury Claim With A No Win No Fee Solicitor?
- Learn More About How You Do Make An Injury At Work Claim
Can You Claim Head Injury At Work Compensation?
In the UK, all employers owe a duty of care to their employees, as outlined by the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA). It places an obligation on them to take steps considered reasonable and practicable to prevent their employees from coming to harm while they perform their job roles.
For example, this could include:
- Providing employees with appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) when necessary, such as hard hats or goggles.
- Ensuring all employees have received sufficient training to perform their work duties, such as manual handling training.
- Performing regular risk assessments within the workplace and maintenance checks on workplace equipment and machinery.
If you have suffered a head injury at work, to be eligible to make a personal injury claim, you will need to prove the following criteria apply to your case:
- A duty of care was owed to you by your employer at the time and place of your accident.
- Your accident was caused by your employer breaching their duty of care. For example, they failed to provide you with PPE.
- As a result of this breach, you suffered your head injury.
How Many Head Injuries Are Reported In Work?
Under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR), employers are obligated to report certain workplace accidents and injuries to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The HSE is Britain’s regulatory body for workplace safety.
From these employer reports under RIDDOR, the HSE reported that 60,645 non-fatal employee work injuries were suffered in 2022/23. Of these injuries, 5,454 were suffered to head locations. In the graph below, we have broken down the specific head locations where these injuries were suffered.
If you are wondering ‘How do you make a head injury at work claim?’, you can contact our advisors. Our team can also offer you a free eligibility assessment of your case and provide you with free advice.
How Do You Make A Head Injury At Work Claim?
Now that we have explained the eligibility requirements that need to be met for head injury claims, you may also be wondering, ‘How do you make a head injury at work claim?’.
When pursuing compensation for your workplace injuries, you will need to provide evidence that supports your case. Some examples of evidence you could gather include:
- Photos of your head injury and the accident scene.
- Eyewitness contact details. Gathering this information means they can approached at a later date for a statement.
- Medical evidence of your head injury, such as MRI scans, X-rays and your medical records.
- A copy of the accident book entry for your workplace accident. This could include useful information about how and when the accident occurred.
- Video evidence of the accident taking place, such as CCTV footage.
A personal injury solicitor from our panel could help you with gathering evidence for your case as part of their services. To see if you could work with one of them, or to ask any questions about the head injury compensation claims process, you can contact our advisors.
When Can You Make A Head Injury At Work Claim?
There are various ways that you may suffer a head or brain injury in an accident at work. Some examples could include:
- Your employer fails to properly secure down some loose cable wires. This causes you to trip over them and suffer multiple injuries, including a broken wrist and minor head injury.
- While working on a construction site, your employer failed to provide you with a hard hat. Whilst performing your job duties, a falling object hits you on the head and leads to you suffering a severe head injury.
- Your employer failed to notice that stock was stored incorrectly and unsafely within your warehouse job due to them not performing regular risk assessments. This causes the stock to fall on top of you, and you suffer a fractured skull along with other injuries.
Head Injury Compensation Case Studies
Below are some real-life case studies of workplace accidents that lead to head injuries, taken from the HSE.
- A kitchen worker was awarded over £36,000 in compensation after suffering a skull fracture in a slip and fall accident. It was found that the tiles within the kitchen became very slippery when wet. On the day of the kitchen worker’s accident, the floor safety mats had also been removed, causing her to slip on the floor contaminated with food waste, water and oils and hit her head on the tiles.
- A farm worker stood in a bucket that was attached to the fore-end loader of a tractor while replacing some overhead pipework. The pipe slipped from his grip and fell onto the loader’s mechanical trip lever. This caused the bucket to tip over, and the farm worker fell over 2 meters to the ground and suffered a head injury.
If you have been involved in a workplace accident and would like to know whether you could be eligible to claim head injury compensation, you can contact our advisors.
How Much Compensation For Head And Brain Injuries?
How much compensation you could be awarded in your personal injury claim will depend on various factors, such as:
- The severity of your initial injury.
- Your expected recovery period.
- Whether you suffered any financial losses.
However, your compensation settlement may include two heads of loss if your claim is a success. The first head of loss compensates you for your injuries and the suffering they have caused you. This is head of loss is known as general damages.
Those tasked with calculating your claim for general damages can use medical evidence as a guide. Also, publications such as the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) can be utilized to value claims.
The JCG provides guideline compensation brackets for a range of injuries based on the type and severity. We have used the entries from the JCG relating to head injuries when creating the following table. Please only use it as a guide, and note that the first entry does not come from the JCG.
Compensation Guidelines
| Injury Type | Severity | Award Bracket Guideline |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Severe Injuries with Special Damages | Severe | Up to £1,000,000+ |
| Head | (a) Very Severe | £344,150 to £493,000 |
| (b) Moderately Severe | £267,340 to £344,150 | |
| (c) Moderate (i) | £183,190 to £267,340 | |
| (c) Moderate (ii) | £110,720 to £183,190 | |
| (c) Moderate (iii) | £52,550 to £110,720 | |
| (d) Less Severe | £18,700 to £52,550 | |
| (e) Minor | £2,690 to £15,580 | |
| Epilepsy | (a) Established Grand Mal | £124,470 to £183,190 |
| (b) Established Petit Mal | £66,920 to £160,360 | |
| Other Epileptic Conditions | One or two episodes but little risk of future occurrences. | £12,990 to £32,090 |
The second head of loss you may also be awarded is special damages. Under this heading, you could be awarded compensation for the monetary losses you have incurred due to your head injury. Some examples of the costs and losses you could claim compensation for include:
- A loss of earnings for time taken off work to recover.
- The expense of paying for professional care.
- Travel costs to medical appointments.
- The cost of any prescriptions.
It’s important to keep hold of any relevant receipts, bank statements, payslips and invoices that prove financial damage caused by your head injury.
What Is The Time Limit When Claiming Head Injury Compensation?
For personal injury claims, there is a standard time limit of three years in which to launch a claim. This is set out in the Limitation Act 1980 and runs from the date your accident took place.
However, those injured at work under the age of 18 or lacking the mental capacity to manage their own claim will have certain exceptions applied to this time limit.
To learn what these exceptions are or to see if you are within the time limit to begin your own accident at work claim, you can contact our advisory team today. They can also provide you with a free valuation of your potential compensation.
Can You Make A Head Injury Claim With A No Win No Fee Solicitor?
If you have suffered a head injury at work and your case meets the personal injury claims eligibility requirements, one of the solicitors on our panel could help you. Additionally, the solicitors on our panel often offer their services to their clients on a No Win No Fee basis. The specific arrangement they offer is a Conditional Fee Agreement. With this in place, some of the benefits include:
- There are no service fees that need to be paid to start your claim, or as the claim develops.
- Nothing to pay for their completed work if the claim fails.
- Your solicitor will deduct a small percentage of your compensaton if the claim wins, known as a success fee. The success fee percentage is capped by law. This ensures you receive the majority of the compensation.
To see whether you could be eligible to work with one of the specialist head injury solicitors on our panel, you can contact our friendly team of advisors. They can also help answer any other you may have about the claims process. You can connect with them via any of the following methods:
- Use our live chat to ask a question.
- Fill out our online contact form for a callback.
- Call us on 0800 408 7825
Learn More About How You Do Make An Injury At Work Claim
Other accident at work claims guides by us:
- This guide discusses some of the most common accidents at work and whether you could claim for them.
- The accident at work claims process is discussed in more depth within this guide.
- Learn what your rights are after you had an accident at work with this helpful guide.
Further Resources:
- Here is some information on managing risks and risk assessments at work from the HSE.
- Guidance on head injuries and concussions from the NHS.
- Guidance on receiving Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if you need time off work from Gov.UK.
We hope that this guide has answered the question, ‘How do you make a head injury at work claim?’. If you have any further questions or you would like the eligibility of your case assessed, you can ask our advisors.