Construction Health and Safety - Accident At Work Claims

Welcome to our article on construction health and safety claims. In this article, we will be looking at how your employer should take reasonable steps to keep you safe at work if you’re in the construction industry.

To make an accident at work personal injury claim, it is necessary to prove that the negligence of your employer caused your injury. Your employer owes you a duty of care in the workplace. In this guide, we will look at what duty of care could mean to you and how you could go about making a valid claim.

When working in construction, you could potentially be at risk of personal injury due to the physical labour required. Therefore, employers should always abide by health and safety laws.

If you’re thinking about making a claim, our team of advisors can offer free legal advice to help you. They could also connect you with a solicitor from our panel who can help you start an accident at work claim today. Contact us today by calling us at the number at the top of the page or using our contact form.

Choose A Section

The Importance Of Construction Health And Safety
How Can Employers Comply With Construction Health And Safety Law?
What Can I Do If Injured On A Construction Site?
Accident At Work Compensation Examples
Get Help From No Win No Fee Personal Injury Solicitors
Learn More About Construction Health And Safety

The Importance Of Construction Health And Safety

The laws, rules and principles around health and safety in the workplace are important because they are designed to keep employees safe from injury or illness. When regulations aren’t followed, accidents and harm could potentially occur.

Construction may be considered one of the more hazardous industries due to the physical nature of the work. Employers may often require employees to work at height or operate heavy machinery.

The employer has a duty of care towards all employees to take all reasonably practicable steps to keep them from harm in the workplace. This could include regularly checking equipment and performing routine risk assessments in the workplace. You could potentially claim compensation from your employer if this duty of care has been breached, leading to harm.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s regulator for health and safety in the workplace. They provide plenty of information on health and safety in construction that employers can follow. There is a particular focus on working from height, as falls are seen to be the largest cause of accidental death in the construction industry, accounting for 50% of all fatalities.

Accident And Injury Statistics From The Construction Industry

The HSE also provides helpful statistics on ill-health and injury in the workplace. From these statistics, gathered from self-reports in the Labour Force Survey in 2020/21, we can see that 3,360 (per 100,000) workers in the construction industry reported work-related ill-health.

To prevent work-related ill health, employers can take measures. For example, they might provide the correct ventilation where needed or personal protective equipment (PPE) if risks can’t be reduced or removed any further.

Another finding from these statistics was that the construction industry was second highest for self-reported non-fatal workplace injuries. 2,870 (per 100,000) construction workers reported sustaining some form of work-related injury in 2020/21.

According to the HSE, this is significantly higher than the average rate across all industries. We can infer from these statistics that construction workers could be considered more at risk when compared with some other industries such as education.

How Can Employers Comply With Construction Health And Safety Law?

All employers are obliged to keep their employees safe under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. This legislation is central to governing health and safety in the workplace and outlines the employer’s duty of care in detail. It is because of this document that you could potentially claim if you can prove that your employer has breached their duty of care towards you.

An employer could breach their duty of care in a multitude of ways. Let’s look at a few examples.

As an employee at a construction site, you should have the appropriate training and awareness of hazards. If the site conditions are poor or hazards aren’t reduced or removed, and you’re injured as a result, your employer may have breached their duty of care.

For something more specific, say you are working at height and fall. You could sustain a traumatic brain injury if your employer did not provide you with an appropriate hardhat or other necessary PPE. Your employer is obligated to provide you with any obligatory protective gear that could keep you safe in the event of an accident.

However, these examples are not exhaustive. If you have been harmed in another way as a construction worker, you could still potentially claim compensation. Get in touch with our team of advisors today if poor construction health and safety has led to your injuries.

What Can I Do If Injured On A Construction Site?

If you’ve been injured on a construction site, we first recommend that you seek medical attention. If you think your injuries could be less serious, you could seek the advice of your GP or ring 111. However, you may need to ring 999 or seek your nearest emergency service if you think it may be necessary.

Before starting a claim, you could gather evidence. You can do this without the help of a solicitor, but we always recommend that you hire one. Their expertise and experience can make the entire claims process smoother for you because they will know what forms of evidence will give your case the best chance for success.

Desirable evidence types could include:

The contact details of any witnesses (so they can provide statements)
Accident report book records
CCTV footage
Photographs of injuries and the accident site
Medical reports

As part of the claims process, it is required that you attend an independent medical appointment. A medical professional will assess the severity and effects of your injuries and create a report. Your solicitor, if you have one, will likely use this as key evidence for your claim. They can also use it to help value your injuries.

If you have any queries about construction health and safety claims, why not get in touch?

Accident At Work Compensation Examples

This section will have a table of possible compensation amounts relating to construction injuries. These figures are taken from the Judicial College Guidelines. Legal professionals use this document to help value injuries for claims. The law refers to this element of your compensation as general damages.

Injury	Severity	Amount	Notes
Brain	Moderately Severe	£205,580 to £264,650	You could claim for a brain injury that has left a serious disability with a substantial depedence on others and a need for constant care. There may also be related physical disabilities, such as limb paralysis and a risk of future issues.
Back	Severe (i)	£85,470 to £151,070	You could claim for severe damage to the spinal cord and nerve roots, leading to serious consequences. There could be serious pain with a disability such as paralysis.
Back	Moderate (ii)	£11,730 to £26,050	You could claim for prolapsed discs, or soft tissue injuries that exacerbate the symptoms of a pre-existing condition.
Arm	(d)	£6,190 to £18,020	You could claim for a simple fracture of the forearm.
Neck	Severe (i)	Around £139,210	You could claim for injuries that have resulted in part paraplegia or little to no movement in the neck despite extensive treatment. There may also be severe headaches that are difficult to treat.
Shoulder	Serious	£11,980 to £18,020	You could claim for injuries such as a dislocation that causes pain in the shoulder, neck and elbow with a related weakness of grip.
Knee	Moderate (i)	£13,920 to £24,580	You could claim for injuries such as torn cartilage or dislocation which results in some instability or weakness. Or, the injury may have exacerbated symptoms of a pre-existing condition.
Toe	(a)	£34,270 to £52,620	You could claim for the amputation of all toes, whether it was traumatic or surgical.
Pelvis & Hip	Moderate (i)	£24,950 to £36,770	You could claim for injuries that have caused permanent but not major disabilities and future risk is not great.

You may also be able to claim special damages as part of your compensation. This aims to cover any financial losses you incurred as a result of your injury. You could also potentially claim for financial losses that you may incur in the future. Some examples of what you could claim for are:

Lost wages
The price of necessary mobility supports
Adjustments to the home if needed
Travel costs (to and from hospital, for example)
Medical expenses not covered by the NHS

To claim special damages, you would need to provide evidence that your financial loss was a direct result of your injury. You could provide payslips to show a loss of earnings or receipts to display travel costs.

Get Help From No Win No Fee Personal Injury Solicitors

Making a workplace accident personal injury claim against your employer may seem daunting. What’s more, if you are already struggling financially, you might be put off seeking the services of a solicitor. In this case, a No Win No Fee agreement could be for you.

If a solicitor offers their services on a No Win No Fee basis, it means you will not have to worry about any upfront or ongoing solicitor fees. You won’t even have to worry about any solicitor fees if your claim does not succeed.

However, your solicitor will deduct a success fee from your compensation amount if your claim is successful. This success fee is legally capped so you can keep the majority of the compensation you are owed.

Your solicitor will inform you of their fees before they take on your case, so there are no nasty surprises. Once the defendant fully pays your compensation, only then will your solicitor deduct this fee.

So why not start your claim today? If health and safety at your construction site was not taken seriously, leading to harm, you could potentially claim compensation from your employer.

Contact Us

Our team of advisors can offer you expert legal advice about how you could make a valid claim. They may even connect you with a solicitor from our panel who can help you start your case today. Our advisors are available 24/7 and you can reach them by:

Contacting us via our website
Calling us on the number at the top of the page
Using our live chat to talk to an advisor

Learn More About Construction Health And Safety

Thank you for reading our guide on construction health and safety claims. We hope you found it helpful. To learn more, please see below.

NHS: Falls – The NHS page on falls and how they may be prevented.

Health and Safety in the Construction Industry – Another HSE page looking at health and safety guidance for the construction industry.

Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents – A charity aiming to reduce the number of accidents using advice and guidance.

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