Falling Object Compensation – Claim For Your Injuries

By Ian Morris | Updated May 3rd, 2024

109 questions have been answered on this subject - ask us your question

You’re entitled to claim compensation if you have been injured by a falling object at work or in public and it can be proven your employer or a third party was responsible.

Falling objects can cause head injuries such as concussion, brain damage, severe lacerations and psychological trauma. Claims for compensation commonly relate to an accident at work where an employer has failed to adequately ensure the safety of workers or visitors. Alternatively, it could be a public liability claim if a pedestrian or passer by is injured by an item that falls from height, such as a loose or unsecured part of a building, a falling shop or pub sign, or dangerous practices on construction sites that are adjacent to pedestrian areas.

When it can be shown that there has been a failure to comply with legal statutory duties to minimise and prevent the risk of injury from falling objects, a compensation claim will succeed.

When you can make a falling object claim

A compensation settlement will be awarded to the claimant if it can be proven that the object fell as a result of negligence and a lack of adequate risk management.

Falling object injuries often happen when people are working at height, and commonly on construction or demolition sites. In these environments, the site management company should have adequately assessed the risk of such accidents and taken every precaution to reduce the risk of injury as far as possible. This should include requiring workers and visitors to wear personal protective equipment such as hard hats, and also establishing safety zones with adequate signage near which pedestrians are prohibited from passing. Alternative walkways with adequate signage should be created to ensure that people are not likely to be standing in an area where masonry or other items could fall. If you have been injured by a falling object in this sort of situation, you are likely to have a very strong claim.

Other claims relate to dangerous buildings in disrepair that have footpaths beside them. Building owners and local authorities have a legal responsibility to ensure that unsafe buildings are either cordoned off and repaired, again with pedestrian exclusion zones clearly marked, or where repair is not possible such buildings should be demolished. If you have been injured because of an object that has fallen from a such a building, again you will have a strong claim for injury compensation.

Other common causes of falling object injuries include:

Shop or building signs that fall from height on to pedestrians standing or walking below.
Wall mounted pictures or mirrors in venues such as pubs or restaurants that fall on to patrons sitting or standing below.
Ceiling tiles in public venues that fall on to people standing or sitting below

Why claim injury compensation if you’re hit by a falling object?

If you have been injured as a result of a falling object, claiming personal injury compensation can help ease some of the problems you’ll experience and help in a number of ways:

It will compensate you for injuries that were not your fault.
A successful claim could fund private medical treatment and rehabilitation therapies to speed your recovery.
Settlements can help you recover any lost income now and in the future if you are prevented from working again.
In the case of a fatal accident, loved ones can claim compensation for their loss.

As all claims are made on a No Win No Fee basis, you will never be charged if your claim does not succeed. A successful claim will lead to a compensation settlement being made to you, with the value of the claim including any lost income and incurred costs as well as a settlement for the injuries and medical treatment that you have sustained.

How Direct2Compensation can help with your claim

Any person who suffers an injury because of a falling object is entitled to make a claim for personal injury compensation. As with all claims, it is important to make sure that the details of your accident have been recorded properly and that medical attention is sought for any injuries that you have sustained. For help with reporting your accident correctly, contact us for free advice.

At Direct2Compensation we have the right expertise to manage your claim successfully. We know your rights and can help you to understand whether you have a valid claim or not.

Direct2Compensation work with some of the best expert injury compensation solicitors in the UK. With our easy to understand claims process and ability to handle your claim quickly, simply and transparently, there are many reasons that make us the right choice.

To start your claim today, or even to find out a little bit more about the claims process and how we can help, call us on 01225 430285 or if you prefer, . In just a few minutes on the telephone with you, we’ll obtain the initial information needed for our solicitors to commence a claim.

109 questions have been answered on this subject - ask us your question

Comments & Questions

Read on for questions and advice about claiming, plus falling object claim examples...

As a teacher I tripped over improperly stacked exam desks that fell over. The teachers were leaning them against a wall after a meeting “to help out the estates team” and this was done in a hurry without instruction. I suffered bruised and swollen knees and a lower back injury.
Were the school negligent? I wasn’t aware of the correct way to store the exam desks – there is no method or storage system.

The school are likely to be found negligent in this scenario as the tables could certainly be hazardous to health if stacked dangerously or in a poor location – as has happened in your case.

If you would like to start a claim for personal injury compensation for the injuries to your knees and lower back, we would be very happy to help you.

If you have not already done so, please ensure that an incident report is completed at your workplace and seek medical attention for the injuries sustained.

Hi a work colleague dropped approximately half a tonne of tarmac footway on my foot. I’m at home atm, just had surgery i had three open fractures. The big toe’s tendons was damaged and they think that 2 of my toes have died. Do I have a claim please? Thank you.

You have suffered serious injuries with long term implications to your earning capability and normal lifestyle. You certainly should make a claim for compensation and appear to have strong prospects of succeeding with such action.

We build huge data cooling systems, which includes putting industrial fans of approximately 30 kilos or more into a metal frame that becomes the roof.
We have to do this by hand, two people. Yesterday the other person dropped that one side too early and the fan with its sharp metal front fell on my left forearm. I needed emergency surgery since it destroyed an artery and nerves. I’m on heavy painkillers and the doctor reckons a recovery time from 2-3 months, she also told me my arm and hand will never be at 100%.

Your situation and potential claim is something we would like to discuss with you. Our Solicitors will be keen to assist you in making a claim and would be able to recover compensation for the potentially permanent damage to your arm/hand and any associated loss of income in the future (if successful with a claim of course).

Hi.
April 2018 while at work I was putting glass bottle of drink on top shelf.
I then began to clean the mess on the floor below when the whole shelf with 50 glass bottle fell on my head and neck.
Moving forward two days which I hadn’t been able to get out of bed. On the 3 day I manage to get up but lost all vision and numbness down one side of face and very dizzy.
I was admitted into hospital as they thought I had a bleed on the brain. I was kept in two days.
Scan showed that I had chairi so I was sent to see a neurologist and head ache specialists. However this isn’t the cause for my headache. Still 2 years later I’m I have terrible headache daily.
A accident report was filled by my co worker.

Under UK law, any person at work in the UK is afforded a period of 3 years from the date of an accident at work in which they can seek to make a claim for personal injury compensation. As 2 years appear to have passed since your accident at work, you have a further period of 12 months (or until the 3rd anniversary of your accident) in which you can seek to make a claim. Therefore, if you have not already instructed a Solicitor to act for you, please call us on 01225430285 as our initial assessment of your comment indicates that you have valid grounds to pursue a claim for compensation.

I had an accident whilst alone on site after making a point I shouldn’t be working alone. Sods law happened and I was injured and was without help. The injury was because a big heavy bit of equipment fell on top of me after being told to move it. I filled in the accident book and now my manager is pushing for a second accident report, is this normal or strange?

There is nothing untoward in requesting a further, perhaps more detailed report of the accident in which you were injured. As you had already pointed out that working alone on that site was perhaps dangerous, you should ensure that you make note of that in any report you make.

Whilst we would need to know more about your accident at work before we could be certain, our initial view is that you would well have valid grounds to pursue a claim for compensation against your employer. If you would like to take that further and discuss your situation with our specialist team, please call us on 01225430285.

I got hurt at work when the crane dropped the pipe hook to pick up the pipe and I was in the walkway. The pipe crane hook that picks up the pipe came down and and hit me in the neck and my head. The jolt hurt my back too.

I had surgery on my back 3 years ago. My employer has said that as I have previously hurt my back, they will not pay for my surgery? Is this right? Can they refuse to compensate me even though I was hurt at work?

As you were injured at work in the way you describe, we would have every confidence that you would succeed with a claim for compensation against your employer. Whilst you have a pre-existing back condition that has previously been treated in surgery, that would not prevent you from being able to recover compensation for the exacerbation of that condition and the causing of new injuries such as concussion, neck pain and for your associated losses.

A lantern fell on me in the store I work at. One of my colleagues was stocking the top shelf in the next aisle & pushed an item which then hit a lantern on the top shelf of the aisle I was working at. I was bent down stocking shelves myself & the lantern then fell & hit the bottom of my head/my neck. I am suffering from a headache currently as it only happened a few hours ago. There is a mark on my neck & I feel slightly lightheaded. I was not asked if I wanted to go home but I need the money so I will stay on as I would not get paid if I went home. I do not believe any accident/injury report was filled out. Do you think I can claim?

Yes, you can make a claim. You should find out whether an accident report was completed and if not, make your own report in writing.

My partner had a wooden sofa frame fall from a shelf at work and cut the back of his head. He had a trip to A+E and was told that there was no need for any stitches/glue as it wasn’t too deep. He had a constant headache/neck ache all day yesterday but has gone back to work today (as he doesn’t get paid for sick days as he does piece work although employed by the company)

Is he able to make a claim?

Your partner is absolutely able to claim. The fact that the laceration did not require stitches or glue is irrelevant as an injury has clearly been sustained. Whilst the immediately obvious injury was the laceration, it is not uncommon for people who suffer a laceration to the head when an item falls from height to develop other symptoms associated with such incidents including headaches, concussion, blurred vision, nausea and neck pain. Your partner should re-attend his GP to discuss the headaches and ongoing symptoms as it is important that they are noted in his medical records.

We would be very happy to help your partner better understand his rights after his accident at work and would like to discuss a potential claim with him.

I received a back injury and aggravated the arthritis in my knee at work when an industrial work fridge door fell onto me. I had no help and had to lever the door up to avoid further injury to myself.

Because I have not been paid for 3 DAYS plus the shift when it happened and I had to go home within 2 hours. Is there anything I can do?

Yes, you can make a claim for personal injury compensation against your employers insurance cover. You would be entitled to recover compensation for the physical injuries sustained (including exacerbation of your knee problems) and recover all lost income and incurred cost – if you were to succeed.

Given that a heavy door has fallen on you, there is a good possibility that your claim would succeed.

Hi just looking for advice, I had an accident at work last year with my previous employer, what happened was my manager asked me to straighten a rug (I was a housekeeper) as I was on my knees doing this task he lifted/tilted an antique wardrobe, when he done this the wardrobe door became detached and fell on my head, I was offered no first aid and had to finish my shift as normal, another housekeeper witnessed this, would I have a claim? It was recorded in the accident book, not by me personally.

The incident you describe would certainly warrant a claim for compensation – but only if the injury sustained was sufficiently serious. You mention having to complete your shift. Did you suffer headaches afterwards? Perhaps neck/head pain for a while? Did you discuss any of these issues with your GP?

We would like to discuss this with you to find out whether or not you can take this further and make a claim for compensation.

Yes I did suffer with neck pain and sore heads, I eventually ended up on sick leave with depression, my doctor was fully aware of the accident.

Hi, I deal a lot with lifting at work. I’ve told them on numerous occasions box’s are too heavy, they have took photos but still nothing has changed because I lift boxes at top of a cage, I don’t know how heavy they are until I’ve picked it up. I caused injury to my shoulder, the box’s should be 10kg but a lot are way over that and they know about it. They have took photos of them and still nothing done about it and now I have a shoulder injury off work. I said I will put it in accident book, they said because it’s a injury and not a accident I don’t need to do that, which is right or wrong, thanks.

To ensure that your rights are protected, you should make sure that a record of your workplace injury is in place with your employer. If they refuse to allow you to record it in the accident book, you could email your Manager and HR department to report the injury and outline your attempts to have avoided injury by having previously reported the overweight items.

You would appear to have a valid claim against your employer on the grounds of negligence and we would be happy to help you make a claim. Please call us or we can call you to find out more about making a claim for compensation.

Hi I’m 18 weeks pregnant and I work in retail I’ve recently got a new manager who has me working in furniture and storage. I was in the warehouse trying to do the task he gave me and boxes came down on me I have been suffering with pains in my stomach and feeling bruised from this. I went to my doctor who also said it might be bruised on the inside. I feel as if the manager is pushing me out of the job as he can’t sack me. I explained to him I wasn’t able to work 12 to 9 at night because I don’t drive and live a hour away on the bus and don’t feel comfortable coming more into my pregnancy and a few days later he gave me the whole week 12 to 9 shifts is there anything I could do about this please? I also have hospital appointments and he has me to go to work straight after I am there 7 or 8 months now and I am part time but work full time hours. Am I entitled to be payed for my hospital appointments?

You have a right to make a claim for compensation for the injuries you sustained at work when those boxes fell upon you. If successful with the claim, you would be entitled to compensation for the injury (the value of which is based on medical evidence and your recovery) and importantly, you will be able to recover any lost income caused by the injuries sustained or time off for medical appointments.

If you haven’t already done so, please do ensure that the details of your accident at work are recorded within the accident book.

Hi. I was at work as I was called in for emergency. I was in the medication room where I was trying to look for service user tablets in the medication cabinet. The medication cabinet is metal and is attached to the wall and is just under 1 metre in size. As I was putting my hand right at the back to find tablet the full cabinet fell on me and hurting my head and causing me to fall and falling on top of me. I had a bump to my head and my neck was sore. I had to ambulances come and they observed me but i was dizzy. I was okay at the time and went home. Was advised if I have continuous headaxhes then go straight to hospital. I went home and rested but started to vomit and constant headaches. Went to A&E and they were concerned I had internal bleeding after checking it was all clear but I had a tender neck pain. Was given morphine and was told to rest and take time off work. Hospital said if that had hit my neck or spine then I could have been paralysed. Can you tell me if I have a valid claim as I was given the all clear?

You have a valid claim in this matter. Our specialist Solicitors can help you claim compensation for the injuries you have sustained in this accident at work.

I had a car cleaner bottle from the very top shelf fall on my head yesterday at work because a co worker on the other aisle was top stocking and knocked some over on me. My head hurts, but not to the point where I think it’s a serious injury or anything. Is that something I should file?

Any injury at work, no matter how small it may seem and insignificant the damage, should be recorded within the employers accident book or accident reporting system. Whilst you appear to have escaped any serious damage, having the initial incident reported is vitally important as it proves that an incident happened. This would be very important if you began to develop other, unexpected symptoms that indicated that you had actually suffered a more serious injury and needed Doctor or Hospital treatment. If that were to happen and you then needed to make a claim for compensation, it would be much easier for a specialist Solicitor to prove a causal link between the bottle falling on your head and the injury sustained.

I work in retail clothing shop and my manager was in rushed and she was trying to do stuff faster and by mistake she threw metal object on one of the racks and it didn’t go inside the box but fell on my head and neck. I am still in pain, she didn’t use the step ladder to put the things away – am I still able to claim for negligence of my manager?

Was your injury and the cause (the actions of your Manager) recorded in the workplace accident book? If so, you may be able to succeed with a claim for compensation.

A metal shelf fell on my head today as I opened a filing cabinet which had been moved. I was taken to A&E by a colleague but sent home as they had serious team as in and weren’t seeing any patients unless life threatening injuries. I’m going to try and get and emergency appointment at my GP’s tomorrow morning. I believe I have concussion as feel dizzy and nauseous.

I think you have a valid claim for compensation and it would appear that you have suffered concussion. Make sure that you have reported the incident to your employer and that your injuries and symptoms are on record.

I am a school escort working for a council. On 12th October last year during storm Callum, a tree fell on the taxi minibus I was in and i injured my back and was taken to hospital. I am still suffering pain now but have returned to work. The council say I can not claim compensation from them as it was an act of god…Where do I stand in this please?

As the passenger in this accident, you may have a chance of claiming compensation from the minibus insurers. However there is a chance that you could be blocked from claiming under the ‘act of god’ issue you have come up against so far.

To succeed with a claim against the owner of the tree, or organisation responsible for the management of it (the local authority), you would have to demonstrate that their Tree Officers and Parks Department were negligent and that the tree that fell was unsafe and should have been felled before the storm felled it. As you can imagine, to prove such negligence would be extremely difficult and it is most likely that the force of the storm was simply beyond mitigation.

Should I claim after a curtain rail support falls an hits my head in my supported housing accommodation?

Had you previously noticed any issues with the curtain rail? If no issue had been noticed and the landlord hadn’t been put on notice of a need to carry out some maintenance, it is unlikely that you would succeed with a claim.

We would be happy to discuss your accident in more detail with you in order to be able to advise you as to whether or not you could take this matter further.

Boxes were haphazardly stacked up in the ladies changing room at work over new year and one fell off onto my arm on my way to the toilet. This has caused me pain ever since. I went to the minor injury unit and they said it wasn’t broken. Do I have any recourse please?

On face value, you would appear to have a valid claim for accident at work compensation. The employer is likely to be seen as having acted negligently in allowing the boxes to be badly stacked and thus become a possible hazard. Did you report the accident at work?

We would be happy to assist you further with a No Win No Fee claim for this injury at work. Please use the ‘start a claim’ page of our website to make further contact in order that our team can speak with you to discuss this.

I broke my toe at work after dropping a heavy object on it. When I started my job I signed something which said I wouldn’t lift heavy objects. Would this mean I would not be able to claim?

You may still be able to make a claim for compensation against your employer. We would like to investigate your claim and take this matter forward for you.

Can I ask for interim pay, as I am unable to work.. large sign fell on me, where men were working on the building..this was 7 days ago!!
If I’m granted interim payment do you take any of it, or would you wait until the case is settled?

Any claimant who is pursuing a claim for personal injury compensation can seek an interim payment if it is appropriate for them to do so. However, an interim payment will only be claimable if an admission of liability is in place.

Therefore, a claim would have to be commenced and the defendant insurers would have to be allowed appropriate time to investigate the incident and then respond to the claim. If and when they admit liability, an interim payment can be made. In most cases, interim payments are applicable in claims of a fairly high settlement value.

In your case, as your accident was only 7 days ago, it is very unlikely that you will be able to get an interim payment for a considerable time. If you do obtain an interim payment, the amount received would be deducted from your final settlement value (for example, if you received an interim payment of £200 on a claim that had a final settlement value of £2000, your final settlement payment would be £1800 as you would have already had £200. In both cases, 25% would be deducted towards the costs of the claims process.

On the actual accident you have had, it would appear that you do have a strong claim for compensation. As such, we would recommend that you commence a claim at the earliest opportunity and use our ‘start a claim’ page to get the ball rolling.