Back Injury At Work – Can You Claim Compensation?

By Ian Morris | Updated December 12th, 2022

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

Whatever your job, your employer has a duty to keep you from injuring your back by providing the right training, equipment and a safe working environment. Here we look at how to claim if you injure your back at work and what level of compensation you can expect. While most back injuries are usually caused by lifting heavy items or falls at work, they can also result from repetitive tasks, prolonged time in one position or poor seating that doesn’t support the spine, neck or shoulders properly. Back injuries can have long-lasting implications, and as such, compensation amounts can be fairly substantial.

Employer responsibilities to ensure safe lifting at work
If you’ve had no manual handling training and injure your back
Can you still claim if you’ve had manual handling training?
The maximum weight you should be lifting at work
How to claim for a back injury at work
What if you have a pre-existing back injury that’s made worse by your job?
Back injury compensation amounts
Can you be sacked for making a back injury claim?
Comments – your questions answered

Employer responsibilities to ensure safe lifting at work

Most back injury claims arise from lifting or moving heavy items at work. All employers have a responsibility to ensure that staff members are adequately trained in how to lift items safely. Safe lifting and carrying is commonly known as manual handling training.

Your employer’s duty of care in this respect is set out by the Health & Safety Executive in the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. This requires an employer to implement policies and procedures to ‘prevent or reduce the risk of injury’ faced by workers required to perform manual handling.

This applies whether you are loading and unloading deliveries, an NHS or care worker handling patients, shifting stock in a shop, or simply moving boxes in an office.

Good employers will ensure new staff undergo a basic health and safety induction to the workplace, as well as manual handling training to prevent back injuries.

As well as training new staff, employers should also ensure that existing staff are provided with regular refresher training (usually every 3 years) and updated guidance.

If you’ve had no manual handling training and injure your back

If you work for an employer who has not provided proper manual handling training, and you hurt your back lifting or moving objects, you will have a very strong work injury claim. They are putting all staff at risk of injury and could be liable to pay manual handing injury compensation as a result.

Can you still claim if you’ve had manual handling training?

Yes, you can still claim. We regularly help workers who have had manual handling training claim for back injuries. Commonly, they have been forced to work in places that prevent them lifting or moving safely, or have not been provided with the correct equipment to do so.

Providing manual handling training does not mean an employer is not responsible for any back injuries caused by lifting at work – it’s also essential to provide an environment that enables staff to work safely and in accordance with that training.

The maximum weight you should be lifting at work

Health and safety guidelines recommend that no person should attempt to lift an item that exceeds 25kgs in weight without the assistance of a second staff member or hoist.

Trolleys should also be provided to move items once lifted, as this will reduce the stress placed on the employee’s lower back.

If you work for an employer who expects you to lift items of 25kgs or more without assistance, you are likely to suffer a back injury, and if so, would have a very strong claim for compensation.

However, some types of back injury, such as a slipped disc, can be caused by lifting light items, so the weight of what you’re lifting isn’t the only factor at play.

How to claim for a back injury at work

Whatever the cause, a back injury claim will only succeed if you can prove your employer is at fault because they were negligent. In other words, that they failed to prevent or minimise the risk of a back injury. The HSE provides specific advice for employers on how to protect workers from back pain.

If you or your colleagues already warned your employer that a potential risk of back injury existed due to unsafe lifting practices, the weight of an object, a lack of equipment or otherwise, try to find a written record or witness evidence of this.

To make a claim, you will at least need to ensure that your injury is properly reported and recorded and medical treatment is received.

If your employer refuses you access to the accident book, you should contact us for advice. There are still things you can do if no record of the accident has been made.

You should also see your GP or attend an A&E department to ensure that the details of your back injury are noted on your medical records as this will provide evidence to support your claim at a later stage.

Don’t worry if this all seems a bit complicated – if you are in any doubt about what to do and need some clear, honest advice, tell us about your situation and we’ll be glad to help.

What if you have a pre-existing back injury that’s made worse by your job?

Having a pre-existing back injury does not prevent you from claiming compensation. If it is made worse, you can claim for this aggravation. If you have a previous history of back problems reported on your medical records, they will be taken into account when determining what you can claim for.

Back injury compensation amounts

How much you can claim for a back injury at work depends on the severity of the injury and how it impacts your life. Minor soft-tissue injuries will obviously be valued lower than severe spinal injury claims.

Settlement values are comprised of what are known as general and special damages. General damages cover the injury itself and the effect it has on your life. For instance, whether the injury affects your ability to earn money, do your job, perform your usual activities outside work and how long you are likely to experience such problems. Special damages cover the financial costs you incur because of the injury – lost income, medical treatments, travel expenses, property damage, for example.

The table below provides a guide to average compensation amounts for back injuries suffered at work, not including the special damages element of a claim:

Severity of back injury	Compensation amount
Severe	£36k - £151k
Moderate	£12k - £36k
Minor	£2k - £12k

Can you be sacked for making a back injury claim?

Making a back injury claim against your employer can be a worrying prospect. You may be concerned how it will affect the business and your job security, or that of your colleagues. Rest assured, these worries are typically unfounded.

Firstly, it’s your employer’s liability insurance that will pay any compensation, rather than the business itself.

Secondly, employers are not allowed to dismiss you or threaten you with the sack for making a claim. Your employer has responsibilities to injured staff and you have rights after an injury to help you recover, which includes claiming compensation.

At Direct2Compensation making a no win no fee claim for back injury compensation is easy. With over 25 years’ experience, you can use our knowledge and expertise to get your claim off to the best start. There is no charge for assessing your case, so you have nothing to lose and much to gain if you can make a successful claim. It’s usually really quick for us to find out if you have a valid claim, just leave a question below, call us on 01225 430285, or .

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

Comments & Questions

Read on for questions and advice about claiming, plus work back injury claim examples...

I’m a hgv driver working for a removal company, about 11 months ago (April 2017 approx), I lifted something heavy and I twisted my back. From then I have good days and bad days with pain. This continued until December when the pain began to go down to my left leg (sciatica). I have attempted a few treatments without improvements and now because of the pain, I can’t drive and I have to take painkillers just to go to work. The employers have given me light work but the injury still hurts. I’m waiting now for an MRI scan. This injury and pain has stopped me from enjoying my life and playing with my kids as I did before, because every time I am active in anyway, I then have to lay in bed to recover and it seems to be getting worse everyday. I would like to know if I can do a claim. Thank you.

You would have a claim for compensation if your employer has either failed to provide you with Manual Handling Training and create a working enviornment that allows you to work in accordance with safe lifting guidelines and the use of equipment such as trolleys to lift and move heavy items. If your employer hasn’t ticked all of these boxes, you may well have a claim for compensation.

Even if your employer has provided such training, you could still claim successfully if the nature of the work means that you can’t work or lift safely. I would strongly suggest that we speak with you to find out more and help you understand your rights.

Hi, I’ve worked for a photography company for 13 years now, different destinations everyday so I have a portable studio, lights, backdrops, printer, boxes of paper amongst other things. I class the equipment as heavy and every time we seem to renew an item it doesn’t benefit us at all always seems things are getting heavier. When I started if I’m remembering correctly I was given a couple of sheets of paper in my company manual on how to correctly lift and about 3 years ago 10 years on from my start date we had a very speedy 30 min conversation with a health and safety person at our main head office regarding lifting and cables etc.
Now I have just been through surgery to get a disc in my neck replaced due to prolapsed disc. I do believe this is work related and would like to know if my employer is responsible due to lack of manual handling training. I have suffered with the neck problems for a couple of years now but always put it down the strain of carrying the equipment and packing hundreds of envelopes a day. Then eventually it became more apparent it was disc damage resulting in nerve damage which after surgery has not returned yet, but early days.
Look forward to some knowledgeable advice.

Employers have a statutory duty to ensure that all staff are given adequate training, support and advice that will enable them to work safely and with the risk of injury minimised so far as practically possible. Clearly, in your job you do lift and move items regularly and given what you have said about the very infrequent and arguably insufficient training you have had with regards to moving and lifting the equipment you need for your work, we think that your enquiry is something that should be escalated and placed before our expert workplace injury Solicitors for consideration.

We will need to have a brief initial chat with you on the telephone to obtain some basic outline information in order that we can then identify the right specialist Solicitor for you to speak with.

I am working for a dairy and got injured while helping the supervisor to load a calf. I have suffered slipped discs which popped to the front. I was holding the calf on both back legs while he held on to the one front leg. We lifted the calf and were nearly to the top when the calf twisted the front of it’s body and fell to the ground which twisted me (as I was standing lined up straight to load). My back was aching and I thought maybe I had just hurt a muscle, so I my told supervisor that my back hurt and he said he does not have time for this.

I continued to work and complained about my back not realising the extent of the damage. Eventually, I went to see a GP and she told me that I had got a slipped disc and signed me off work as a result. After some rest, I returned to work but the pain has returned and is not going away at all. I was on leave for the Christmas period in which time I saw another Doctor and he said that I have a serious problem as the slipped discs are pinching the nerves and at the end and that I need to see whether a chiropractor can help. When I returned to work, I asked the company for an ‘IOD’ form and with my Doctors letter, I also wrote a report as to what had happened but no one asked me about it or assisted me with any help. So far, I have asked 3 times for an IOD form in which I received a form that was not filled in at all. I have asked my supervisor what I must do with this form as its all still not filled in.

I was supposed to start with physiotherapy after having seen 3 Doctors as I cant sleep with the pain. I am working with pain, waking up with pain and sleeping with it too. I have explained to my regional Boss as to what the problem was and showed them my x-ray of the bone that popped forward and what the damage is. I also discussed that if the injury is left untreated the nerves could get damaged further and this particular nerve has the function of controlling the bladder etc, which could result in me having no control over those functions anymore. Despite all of this, I have still had no assistance from anyone at work. My supervisor told me that I brought this on myself – even though I was helping him.

The only experience I have of how to handle this is from knowing that when an ex-partner of mine was injured at work, his employers helped him and told him what he should do and where to go. My back is aching and I try sometimes to carry on like normal but it hurts me a lot.

This sounds like a clear cut case of employer negligence. The way that they have asked you to lift a live animal would appear to be in breach of safe manual handling guidance and as such, you could well have a valid claim for accident at work compensation. We have an article on slipped disc injuries at work which will give you an idea of possible compensation amounts.

I work for an agency as a Ltd company hgv driver. On a recent job I hurt my lower back and have lost 5 work days so far due to the muscular injury. I was using a pump truck in the rear of a trailer and hurt my back whilst unloading some large pallets of frozen produce weight approx 1 tonne in weight each.
I never received any training but did have to sign a load of paperwork on day 1. I’m not quite sure what I signed. Unloading the truck in this way was something that happened pretty regular.
I went to my doctors and was told I had pulled the main muscles at the lower back area. I’ve also since had to go back for a prescription for pain killers.
I am still off work due to my back issue although it is getting easier day by day.
I’m looking to see if the agency or the client I worked at are liable for my lost revenue and back issues.

It looks as though your employer has been negligent towards your health and safety and failed to carry out their statutory requirement to provide adequate manual handling training to you. As such, it would seem that you have a valid claim for accident at work compensation.

Hi I injured my back lifting at work I was signed off by the doctor for 3 weeks. I returned to work and couple weeks later the injury had returned. My employer had shown me a manual handling video the day after I injured myself. I have had to leave the job as I am unable to work due to my lower back injury.

The failure of your former employer to provide you with adequate manual handling training before you sustained an injury is an act of employer negligence and would give you good prospects of succeeding with a claim for back injury at work compensation against the employer.

The fact that they showed you a manual handling training video the day after you sustained a back injury does not alter this fact as employers must provide manual handling training to employees tasked with lifting and moving items before they are placed at risk and in this case, your employer has failed to do that. As such, we believe that you have a viable and strong claim against that employer. As such, we invite you to contact us for further assistance as we would like to pursue your back injury at work compensation claim.

I was injured at work back in January whilst lifting 2500mm of stainless steel. It should have been a 2 man job, but my employer never have the manpower or anyone available to help me, so I did it on my own (like I have had to do hundreds of times before). However, this time as I turned the steel, it gripped the bed and I felt the pain shoot up my back and in to my legs. I’m at hospital every other week having physiotherapy on my back. I lost the job as I was signed off sick for over 26 weeks and I am now trying to survive on E.S.A. I was wondering what can I do if I have a case ?

You describe what would seem to be a clear case of employer negligence here, with specific regard to the employers attitude towards manual handling and the lifting and moving of extremely heavy items.

Given what you have described, my view is that you have a valid claim for accident at work compensation and that you should pursue this immediately. I would be very happy to assist you in getting this up and running and would only need a few minutes on the phone with you to obtain the initial information needed to enable me to get the right specialist back injury at work compensation Solicitor to pursue your claim for you.

The fact that you have been off work for over 26 weeks indicates that you have clearly suffered a nasty back injury. If successful with a claim for compensation, you would not only be able to claim compensation for the injury sustained but also for the loss of income that this injury has caused.

My husband has hurt his back lifting at work, he did not report it but he is now on sick due to it. He is agency, he phoned the employer to say he hurt his back last Friday the 18th. he’s been in terrible pain since and is now not earning.

Whether or not you work via an agency or directly for an employer, all workers are afforded the same rights to health and safety and also to any possible claim for compensation when an employer has failed in their duty of care towards health and safety at work. In this case, did the employer provide training with regards to lifting and moving items (manual handling training)? Did they provide assistance or equipment to lift heavy items? Was the working environment and practices such that it made safe lifting impossible?

I think it best that we speak with your Husband directly to find out more about the work and what happened as he may well have a valid claim for compensation that would – if he was successful with the claim – enable him to recover any lost income as well as compensation for the injury.

I fell down some metal fire exits stairs and hurt my back , as cleaners we have to carry heavy bedding loads up 3 flights of metal stairs which we end up doing about 3 cages of bedding to be carried up 3 flights of metal stairs , I fell down the stairs and hurt my back , who is at fault ?

We have a very similar accident at work claim under process at this moment in time, with the case resting on whether the requirement to carry heavy bags of linen up the stairs prevents workers from working safely.

If you are being expected to carry items up 3 flights of stairs, it is important that you can see clearly when you are carrying the items. Further, steps are a known and foreseeable hazard so there is a case for holding the employer liable in this incident. Of course, they may have a sound defence in that there may not be an alternative route available or method (lift) to get the linen to the upper floors. However, they may well not have adequately risk assessed the stairs or made you adequately aware of the risks.

We would be keen to look further in to this case for you with a view to helping you claim accident at work compensation.

Im 31 years old, i work for a major distribution company as a warehouse operative, i have been off work for 2 weeks now with severe back pain and sciatic nerve pain, had multiple cases of incontinence, been to a&e twice, second time with suspected cauda equina and had to see an orthopedic surgeon, rushed an MRI on friday and found out today i have a ruptured disc, and possibly more damage due to abnormalities in the bottom of my spine showing up on the MRI scan. Im waiting to be booked into the spinal clinic for further investigation and tests to see if the damage requires surgery, and im also waiting on physio referral.

My job involves lifting blue chep pallets from various heights and placing them at various heights depending on the job im doing. Most of the time we are required to life these on our own, the average weight of a blue chep pallet is 28kg, our pallets are stored outside in an open yard soaking up all the rain that hits them. Sometimes these pallets are double the weight easily when wet, and if nobody is around to help us we simply have to lift them as its a job requirement. We dont have any sort of hoist system installed or any sort of lifting aid other than forklift trucks and bendi trucks, and you are required to have a license to operate and my employer still in nearly 4 years of working there has still failed to train myself and lots of others members of staff on, requiring us to life these some time nearly 60kg pallets on our own.

The manual handling techniques have all just been re designed as well basically debunking the old manual handling techniques they have been telling us to use and stick by in the workplace, now saying that they werent any good for our backs and the new system is what we should now adopt in the workplace. Also, our manual handling only focuses on how to pick up small boxes from between our legs, not how to lift up pallets that weigh double because the employer cant provide sufficient shelter for them from the elements.

Can i claim for my back taking these factors into consideration?

The damage to your back is clearly serious and I hope that your treatment and recovery goes well.

Given the injuries/damage you describe, it would certainly match with a repetitive strain injury and the continual lifting you cite would appear to the the cause.

I think we should pursue a claim for compensation here. Of course, there can be no guarantee of success, but we can guarantee that it would not cost you any fees should the claim fail.

I’m 26 years old and I’ve been with my employer for 9 years now and haven’t received any form of manual handling training or health and safety training. My job involves lifting 10 to 25kg bags of animal feed on a daily basis.
I’ve been suffering with mid back/shoulder pain now for the past two years. It sometimes wakes me up and night and go’s when I start moving around. Ive been to a chiropractor to see if they could help me out but I couldn’t afford to keep up the appointments fees so had to stop before I could fix myself.
Also i’m a rather fit person as I like to keep myself fit by playing sports and going to the gym. I’m just looking for advice on if I can claim against them and also I don’t want to get anyone fired.

Thomas

Thank you for visiting our website to seek help. The situation you describe is sadly a common one in that many employers fail to ensure that workers know how to lift and move heavy items safely. As a result, many employees suffer from back pain that would have often been avoidable if only manual handling training had been provided.

Firstly, you do not need to worry about getting anyone fired or in trouble if you were to opt to pursue a claim. Any claim you opted to make would be made against your employers ’employer liability insurance’ policy and it would not directly affect the employer in anyway. Many people worry about claiming compensation when it involves injuries caused in an accident at work or as a result of employer negligence. It is understandable that you would not want to upset an employer or cause any trouble by claiming compensation.

The lack of manual handling training in your workplace indicates to me that you have a valid and viable claim for compensation against your employer. The injuries you are suffering from are likely to be as a result of not lifting properly or knowing how to identify weights that are unsafe to lift and are worthy of claiming compensation for.

You mentioned that you had seen a chiropractor to help with your symptoms, but had been unable to continue to see them due to the cost of the treatment. With this in mind, pursuing a claim for compensation would enable you to (if successful) reclaim the costs you have already incurred for these sessions but also provide the possibility of obtaining further rehabilitation therapies at the cost of the insurers on top of any compensation settlement awarded to you.

I would definitely recommend that you pursue a claim for compensation and I confirm that this is something we would like to assist you with.

I have just spoke to my employer he says he knows nothing about the injury cos it’s not in the accident book, but like I said I told my team leader I had hurt my back. I took half day holiday cos I thought it was minor but it’s just got worse everyday since and pain relief doesn’t work so I’m stuck in bed in agony with no job now I’m gutted.

Shaun

Thanks for coming back to us. If your employer is refusing to acknowledge your accident and is denying that you have reported the matter (that it isn’t in the accident book) I would suggest that you either write to the employer or email them to report your injuries and how they happened at work. You should outline what happened to your back, what you were doing and the pain. You can then advise them that you left for the day and subsequently had to see your GP. You should simply state that you want the details of your injury recorded and you DON’T need to mention anything about making a claim.

If you would like us to help you pursue a claim for the back injury as a workplace injury claim against the employer, we’d be happy to do this for you. If so, please send me your phone number – or call us on 01225430285

Yours sincerely

Ian

Hi I have been off work for 2 weeks with a strained muscles in my back which I did in work. On the day I took half day holiday to go home and rest it but since then it’s got worse. I have took a sick note in off the doctor but today I got a letter saying they are terminating my contract. I have been there just under a year can they do that?

Shaun

If you have worked for an employer for less than 2 years, your employment can be terminated by the employer fairly easily – all they need to do is give you notice and pay you for the work you have done (and holiday entitlement) up to the date of termination. The laws regarding employee rights were changed by the Government fairly recently and it has to be said that the changes made the system far less fair for workers like yourself.

I am interested in your back injury though. If the back pain/injury was caused by your work, you may have grounds to pursue a claim for workplace injury compensation against the employer. I would be very keen to speak to you about this to see if there is someway that we can help you at least claim compensation for the injuries and any lost income/costs you have incurred.

Please call us on 01225430285. We’ll then be able to advise you as to whether or not you can pursue a claim for compensation and help you better understand your rights.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Ian

Hi I have just started work after maternity leave, I’ve been there 3 weeks, I’ve had back problems since I was pregnant and I never received a risk assessment when I was pregnant in the workplace. I lifted a child at work with a colleague we have had manual handling training but did not receive any training on a 2 man lift which is how I have hurt my back, when I was holding the child upright he jumped pulling me down. I recorded the accident at work and have been to the doctors also and received medication, can I make a claim?

Debbie

Thank you for letting us know about your situation. On the basis of what you have disclosed so far, it would certainly be fair to say that your employers do have a case to answer with regards to an allegation of employer negligence towards your health and safety at work.

It is good that they have given you manual handling training, but failing to ensure that you have been trained and supported to safely use an important and commonly used item needed for your work (the 2 man lift) has exposed you to the risk of injury.

Given that you have recorded the details of this matter within the accident book at work and your employers are aware of the situation, we would certainly be keen to address this matter with them and represent you with a claim for compensation. Please contact us on 01225430285 to discuss your situation in greater depth and help you to better understand your rights and how the No Win No Fee claims process works. We have excellent specialist personal injury solicitors available to help you pursue this matter.

We very much look forward to helping you and I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

Ian Morris

I work at tesco, my back went and i had to go doctors, i’ve been off sick by a doctors note and now they’re trying to sack me. I used to take the deliveries and i never did get shown how to move the cages properly or use the machines, and now i’m not working they’re being funny with me. Every time i’ve asked to have the training they kept saying, we will soon, we’re busy at the min. Do you think i have a claim? i didn’t understand it much.

Regarding a potential claim, I would say that if what you say is correct, you have every right to make a compensation claim against your employer as it sounds like they have been negligent towards your health and safety.

You should definitely make sure that your employer has recorded your assertion that your injuries were caused by work, due to heavy lifting and a lack of training. If this has not already been placed within an employers accident book/incident reporting system, you should email your employer or write to them (retaining a copy for your records) outlining what has happened to you and how. You should also make sure that it is noted that you had requested training and been told that it would be provided as soon as there was an opportunity but that they were always too busy to provide it.

I sustained a back injury at work and informed my boss, who was not on-site at the time. We do not have an accident book to record it in. I told her and she is insisting on me coming in tomorrow when I can barely walk. I am going to seek medical attention ASAP. Also, I don’t have a formal written contract. Can I still make a claim?

Lucy

You can most definitely still make a claim for injury compensation and given that it seems that your employer isn’t really too caring about your situation and your health, I would expect that you have every intention of doing just that.

We would be more than happy to help you get this claim up and running. I will email you directly also and look forward to hearing from you and helping with your claim.

Best wishes

Ian