Unreported injuries – claiming compensation when there is no record in an accident book

The fact that your previous employer failed to provide manual handling training to you was a breach of duty and clear employer negligence. As such, you would have valid grounds to pursue a claim.

However, you mention that the injury happened almost 3 years ago and this could be problematic in terms of finding a specialist Solicitor able to act for you on a No Win No Fee basis. Although claimants are afforded a period of 3 years from the date of an accident or injury within which they can pursue a claim, the reality is that if there is less than 6 months of that 3 years available, Solicitors will be reluctant to act on a no win no fee basis. Certainly, when there is less than 3 months remaining, it becomes very difficult to place a claim with a Solicitor. The reason for this is that a claimant will need to establish evidence to support a claim, including medical records (which can take some time to obtain), a medical experts report and other vital information.

Although a Solicitor (or a claimant) can seek for an extension to the 3 year limit at court, or list the claim with the courts ahead of the 3 year period and therefore keep the matter open, without having had adequate time to get the right evidence in place and to review that evidence, the risks that a Solicitor faces in a claim not being sufficiently strong or not having the right evidence available means that there is an understandable reluctance to take on such a matter.

Given the nature of the incident in question, it is totally understandable that you would not have noted it in the accident book. As there is no accident book record, you should make your own written report of the incident and injury and email the same to your employer to ensure that the details of your accident have been recorded and reported to the right people.

With regards to your potential claim, the accident book issue would not prevent a claim from proceeding, but we need to know how the incident happened and why your elbow hit the metal part of the llop to be able to advise as to whether or not you have a viable claim for personal injury. If the incident can be attributed to a lack of training, a working environment that was cramped or unsafe or some other issue of employer negligence you would have a strong basis upon which to pursue a claim.

Have you signed a Conditional Fee Agreement to formally instruct a Solicitor to act for you? If you have and the claim has failed, there is unlikely to be anything further that can be done. If you have not formally instructed a Solicitor, we would be happy to look in to this matter for you.

Making sure that the details of your fall are recorded properly is important. With this in mind, you should certainly chase them up to ensure that it has been reported and it would be wise to write to the garage in question to make your own report to ensure that you are happy that it appropriately reflects the incident that happened. The fact that you didn’t feel too bad immediately is not uncommon. Typically, with falling injuries, if no bones are broken and the injuries are of a ‘soft tissue’ nature, the symptoms will present in the hours after the accident rather than immediately. As such, the fact that you didn’t make a fuss at the time or have the matter recorded immediately will not count against you.

The accident scenario you describe was completely avoidable and there should have either been a barrier around the hole in question or at the very least a visible warning of the hazards presence. As these safety measures were not in place, you have a valid right to make a claim for personal injury compensation. Our Solicitors can act for you in your claim on a No Win No Fee basis and would ensure that you are appropriately compensated for the injuries sustained and the impact that they may have on your day-to-day life as well as recovering any associated costs or lost income.

There is clearly an argument to say that the heavy chair was a foreseeable hazard as it was left unsecured in a public area. As such, we would be more than happy to further investigate your claim, with a view to obtaining compensation for you via our specialist Solicitors.

You don’t have to allow a customer to see or write in the accident book, but it is sensible to allow them to view what has been written.

As your boss was made aware of the incident at the time, they should already have made a record of the accident in their accident reporting system/accident book. If they have not, they should allow you to do so as you had told them at the time.

This would appear to be a case of employer negligence, specifically with regards to safe lifting and manual handling training provision. As such, you have a right to make a back injury at work claim. This is something our Solicitors would be happy to pursue for you.

The fact that the ‘new’ injury or worsening of the pre-existing condition has been recorded at work and reported to the care worker, there should be no problem in terms of making a claim for compensation for this recent accident. Make sure you ask your Consultant to record in their notes that you have had another accident which has exacerbated your knee problem as your medical notes may be relevant in any claim.

If you would like help in making a claim for the recent accident, please call us on 01225430285.

It is important to ensure that an accurate record of your injury and the incident that caused it are made with your employer. Therefore, you should email them regarding the incident and give a full, detailed explanation of what happened and what injuries you have sustained.

Please call us on 01225430285 so that we can discuss your accident at work, with a view to helping you pursue a claim for personal injury compensation.

The method of transporting work equipment from site to site is something an employer must consider carefully, including the potential risk of injury to those tasked with carrying or moving such an item. Whilst an employer must ensure that they have provided manual handling training, they must also ensure that the work that they are expecting a staff member to perform can be completed within the framework of manual handling guidance.

It would appear that your employer has not adequately considered the risk of injury in the way that they have expected you to lift and move this item. They appear to have provided inadequate equipment and exposed you to the risk of injury as a result. Our initial view is that you have a valid claim against your employer and that this is a matter our Solicitors would wish to pursue for you.

Any dishonest act is potentially illegal. If a report has been made that accurately records the details of an accident at work and that record is then changed to alter the facts and make it appear that the fault of the accident rests with the employee instead of the employer, that is fraudulent and should be reported to the authorities.

As for the dismissal query, that is a matter you should discuss with an employment law expert.

Sciatica is a very upsetting, painful and debilitating condition. However, in your case I don’t see that you could make a claim against your employers for 2 reasons.

Firstly, there is the lack of the incident being reported at the time and although your colleagues were aware of your pain, the company would deny responsibility due to lack of evidence.

Secondly, you would struggle to prove a causal link between your work and the injury and as such, a Solicitor would most likely not wish to pursue your claim on a No Win No Fee basis due to the obvious risks of not succeeding.

Alright thankyou for the advice.

You’re welcome. If we can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

The lack of an accident book entry could be problematic in terms of making a claim, but wouldn’t necessarily stop you from pursuing a claim against the employer.

However, the main immediate issue to ascertaining whether or not you can make a claim for personal injury compensation is understanding where your employer may have been negligent in this accident. To make a claim for personal injury a claimant must be able to identify an act of negligence by another party. In this case, your employer. You mention that you knocked your finger with force on a wooden bed frame. How did that happen?

You may be too late to make a claim as more than 3 years has passed since the accident you had at work in 2015. You may be able to make a claim for the carpal tunnel syndrome problem, if you first developed symptoms within the past 3 years?

As you may appreciate, having not reported the injury you suffered at work to your employer could undermine the strength of any claim for compensation. In this case, the employer and their insurers will fight any claim and demonstrate that they were never informed of the incident.

Your Partner’s employers cannot ask him to sign something that he has not read and he should refuse to sign anything under such circumstances. The employer does not necessarily have to give him a copy of the report to take and keep, but they should allow him to read anything he is being asked to sign.

Yes, you would still be able to make a claim for this injury. The employer will be held liable if it can be shown that they have been negligent towards your health and safety at work. In such a case, the claim will be won if your employer failed to properly train you or if they failed to adequately risk assess the service user in question and warn you of the risks that they could present to you in your work.

The lack of manual handling training could be relevant to your injury and you could look at making a claim. However, the lack of a report to the employer could be damaging to your claim.

What accident did you have? What work do you do and how did the accident happen? To be able to advise you as to whether or not you can pursue a claim for compensation after an accident at work, we’ll need to find the answers to questions like these so that we can identify whether or not your employer has provided adequate training or if there is a possibility of attaching negligence to your employer.

The accident book entry, whilst a helpful piece of evidence to support a claim for compensation is not the be all and end all to allow you to make a claim, so don’t let the lack of such a record stop you from pursuing your claim enquiry further.

Given that 2 months has passed since you sustained your knee injury, your employer may refuse to allow you to record the details in their accident book. If so, the best course of action would be to make a written report of the knee injury and send it to your employer asking them to record the details for you. You could mention that you didn’t realise the severity of the injury initially and it has only recently become apparent that it is fairly serious. You should make mention of what you were doing, where and when and how you were injured. If you can identify any negligence or hazard that could be put at the responsibility of the employer, you should note that also.

If you have screenshots or print outs of the whatsapp conversations in which you report your injury and problems, that would provide useful supporting evidence for any claim you go on to make. An accident book entry is the ideal way to record a workplace injury, but a record does not mean a claim will succeed, it simply provides evidence that an injury happened in the workplace.

If your employer tasks you with lifting as part of your work, UK law obliges all employers to provide staff with manual handling training and a working environment that enables the employee to work safely and follow such training.

Clearly, it would have been wise (easy to say with the benefit of hindsight) to record this within your employers accident book. The lack of an accident book report does give the defendant insurers wriggle room and an easy way out by placing a burden on you to prove that your injury was caused at work. You could write to your former employer advising them of what you have said here – that you didn’t make an incident report at the time as you felt it wasn’t too serious and that overtime, the reality of the severity of your injury has become obvious and that you were forced to leave the workplace due to the injury sustained.

If your former employer failed to provide you with manual handling training or appropriate equipment and guidance to lift and move items safely, they are likely to have been negligent and as such, could face responsibly and liability for the injuries you have sustained whilst working for them.

Hi, all the years I worked there we never had any such training, no manual handling training at all or any risk assessment, the job involved heavy lifting all day, there isn’t even a first aider that I was aware of and it was only a small place, health and safety was pretty much non existent.

Regarding reporting it now would an email be appropriate ? And as I mentioned about working with my manager would him acknowledging the cause of my injury count towards helping with a claim ?

Thanks for your advice

Reporting the accident at this stage is certainly appropriate and sending an email is likely the only reasonable way of doing this.

Thank you for your quick reply, as for reporting my injury now would an email be appropriate ?? Also would my warehouse manager of had to report it in the accident book as well or is that entirely my responsibility ?

Also regarding manual handling training, risk assessment and health and safety, I never had any manual handling training in all the years I worked there even though heavy lifting was my job all day everyday, health and safety is non existent and I don’t even think there is a first aider in the work place.

Has your claim or complaint been handled by a specialist personal injury Solicitor or have you been liaising with McDonalds and their insurers directly?

The problem you have has already been brought to your attention by the two previous firms you have spoken with. The lack of supporting evidence (accident book and photographs), does make your situation more difficult.

You could of course return to the venue and obtain photographs – if it is still in the same condition and if the accident was recent, ask that they record the details in their accident book.

Have you subsequently returned to the Pub to report the accident and injury? In the interests of succeeding with a claim for personal injury compensation, a lack of the incident being reported at the time can undermine the strength of any claim.

The issues you raise are an important reminder as to why having evidence to support your claim is so important. Clearly, you have been badly let down by your supervisor in their failure to add your completed accident report to the book. Whilst we do not doubt that you are making an honest report to us of the incident, the lack of any evidence to support your claim does mean that the prospects of succeeding with a claim here are severely impaired. It may be wise to take out a grievance against the employer and supervisor with regards to their failure to properly administrate your written report of an accident and the fact that this has left you unable to seek any compensation for the worsening of your sciatic problems.

UK law affords any employee a legal right to make a claim for compensation for an injury caused in an accident at work if the cause of the accident can be attributed to employer negligence. The employer has no right to terminate an employees position if they choose to make a claim for compensation.

However, whilst the law would protect an employee from facing undue pressure from an employer, it does not always mean that an employer won’t create problems.

No, there is no requirement to provide a copy of the report. There is however, a requirement to ensure that the details of any accidents at work are reported within an internal accident book system. The details of accidents of a certain severity must then be referred externally to RIDDOR. You can read more about that in this useful article on our website: RIDDOR

The employer would appear to have a very negligent approach to health and safety at work and as such, it is likely that employer negligence could be established with regards to a possible claim for accident at work compensation.

Whilst they should have an accident book reporting system, the fact that they do not have one does not prevent you from reporting the accident or indeed, pursuing a claim for compensation. To this end, we would recommend that you email or write to the employer to put on record the details of the accident you have had in falling from the lorry. Of course, they may choose to ignore the letter/email, but you would have evidence of sending the same (postage receipt if sent by recorded delivery or a ‘sent’ email) and this could be used as evidence to support your claim.

We would be interested to know more about this accident and how you came to fall from the bed of the wagon in order to be able to advise you as to whether or not the cause of this accident would lead to a valid claim for compensation. We would also like to know more about the other accidents you have had as if any of those were within the past 3 years, you may have a right to make a claim for compensation in those matters.

Have you attempted to pursue a claim for compensation for the injuries you have sustained or not? Clearly, the lack of a report to the employer could be an issue in a claim as it does mean that there is no evidence to support that the accident happened at work. However, that should not stop you from further investigating a possible claim for compensation.

How did you injure your back?

There is no requirement to show you the accident book entry at this stage. The best thing to do would be to speak with the rep again and ask them to record your comment that you have not been able to review what was entered in the accident book. You should also write to Thomas Cook once back in the UK to make a report in your own words as to what happened and again make note that you were not allowed to review what had been recorded.

It is good to read that your partners employers have admitted liability in this claim as that admission of employer negligence confirms that he will now receive a compensation settlement award that will appropriately compensate him for the level of injuries sustained and any loss of income and costs incurred as a result of his accident at work.

As personal injury specialists, Direct2Compensation would be taking the same action as the firm your Partner has already instructed – seeking damages for the injuries and losses sustained on the basis of negligence.

To pursue the employer separately on the basis of their breach of health and safety protocol would not fall within the remit of a claim for personal injury compensation and as such, we can’t really advise on that. It may be possible to pursue the employer for procedural breaches, but that would be a civil matter and would require alternative legal advice as to the possibilities of doing the same and what the likely outcome of any action would be.

The CCTV footage that you have is something you should protect and retain as it could provide important evidence to support your claim if one can proceed. Whether or not you can claim compensation for the injuries you sustained will depend on what caused you to fall. Our staff will know whether the cause of your fall is something that you can hold the car park owner responsible for and whether or not you can make a tripping accident claim in this case.

You can call us on 01225430285.

You can ask your employer to make a record of your accident and it would be wise to try and do so, even after a few months.

If your employer won’t let you use the accident book given the time delay between your accident and now, you should write to the employer by email or post outlining what happened to you, how you were injured, what your injuries were and why you hadn’t made an immediate report of the accident. If you have any witnesses who can confirm your version of events, it would be helpful to mention their details in any report you make.

We would be happy to discuss your accident with you with regards to any claim for compensation.

We would be very keen to speak to you regarding your knee injury as we feel that you may well have a valid claim for work accident compensation. Much will depend on the working environment in which you are operating and what level of training your employer has provided you with.

Whilst you cannot be certain whether or not an accident book record has been made, you should not let that stop you from trying to pursue a claim against your employer. You clearly have a nasty injury and have already lost 2 months income due to this accident at work and therefore, you should seek to reclaim your losses and obtain compensation for your injuries. Whilst a lack of an accident book can cause problems, those problems can be overcome in some situations and our expert Solicitors will work hard to ensure that your claim succeeds if it can be pursued.

With regards to the accident book with your employer, now that you are off, you should contact the HR department at your workplace to discuss the details of your injury and describe, as you have in your comment here, what happened. You can state that you didn’t make an initial record as you had no idea of the severity of the injury and that it was only 48 hours later that you contacted your Supervisor to inform them and request that a record was made. You can put this in writing to them and request that they record the same.

You can certainly make a claim for compensation here. The lack of a hazard warning sign at an area where water had made a floor surface slippery would give strengthen any claim you were to make. The employers failure to report the matter in to the accident book is a breach of health and safety regulations and you could report that to the authorities.

I would suggest that you write to your employer – either by email or recorded delivery to advise them of the accident and of your injuries, citing your Manager’s failure to add the incident to the accident book. You can read more about what to do if your employer won’t let you use the accident book. This would ensure that the matter had been properly reported and recorded with the employer.

You do not need to see your Doctor ahead of starting the claims process with us as we can take the initial details and get the claim up and running, although it would be wise to see your Doctor in order to ensure that you have the medical evidence you need to maximise the settlement value of any claim settlement you could receive if you were to win your claim.

Your accident at work sounds awful and i’d imagine painful too. It would seem to be a clear case of employer negligence here and something we would be willing to look further into for you.

An accident book entry would be helpful, but if there is not one available or the employer refuses to allow access to one, there are steps you can take to protect your rights and record the accident. You can email or write to the employer (via recorded delivery) to report the details of the incident in which you were injured. You can cite the lack of an accident book entry and request that the employer acknowledges your accident and records the same. Any such letter/email should explain the incident in which you were injured, describe what happened and what the injuries were. If there is an area of negligence that feel was part of the cause (such as the wrong trolley), you should mention that also.

Michelle

Thank you for informing us of your accident at work. Whilst it would be helpful if the employer had recorded the details of the accident, the lack of an accident book entry should not prevent you from pursuing a claim for compensation against the employer. Given the lack of support from your team leader with the accident book, I would suggest that you contact the company by email or letter to raise this issue and report your accident to them. You should inform them of what happened, who helped you and what injuries you have sustained as a result.

I am confident that our specialist solicitors would be keen to run this claim even though the accident report has not been completed.

Lorenzo

Hi, you can certainly still try to make a claim for workplace injury compensation. Whilst it would be good if there were an accident book entry, the fact that you have a witness is a great help.

We would be happy to help you with this claim.

Jessica

Hi, thanks for commenting. I’m sorry to hear about your accident and how you now feel about the damage to your arm.

You are still entitled to make a claim and we would be willing to help with this, but it is worth being aware that there are a couple of possible barriers in the way of you succeeding with your claim. As you state, your employers failed to record the details of your accident in their accident book – despite you reporting it to them. Therefore, when a claim is made against your employer, they are likely to come back to the initial claim and say that they have no record of an accident. Therefore, proving your accident happened at work will be an issue. Did you receive medical treatment at a GP Surgery or Hospital? If so, did you advise them as to how the injury was sustained? If your medical records show treatment for burns caused at work, that could help.

The second barrier will be how long it has been since the accident? You have 3 years from the date of your accident (or until your 21st Birthday – whichever is longer) to register your claim in the courts (or with a firm like Direct2Compensation). If you are beyond the 3 years and over 21 years of age, there is nothing you can do. If you are within the 3 year period, I suggest that you contact us and let us see what we can do. We would certainly be willing to investigate this for you and may well be able to succeed with a claim.

I will email a copy of this response to you separately.

Many thanks and kind regards – I look forward to hearing from you.

Ian

Hi Edward,

I am sorry to hear about your situation. Recovering from a broken toe is not fun but to have the added worry about how your injury may affect your job and your Manager’s refusal to record your injury in the accident book cannot be helping.

I am pleased that you have made this comment as we often have contact from people who have been refused access to the work accident book and need advice. Thankfully, Direct2Compensation can help you. There are some useful tips for how to go about handling an employers refusal to record your accident or let you use the accident book. May I point you (and those in the same situation as you) to our article entitled: ‘My employer won’t let me use or see the accident book, what should I do?‘ as it gives some top tips to help you to protect and enforce your right to get the details of your accident and injuries recorded.

In your case, we have now spoken on the telephone about your situation. I am pleased that the information that I have given you and advice on this issue has been helpful and put your mind at rest and we look forward to helping you.

Yours sincerely

Ian Morris