How To Claim Compensation After an Accident at Work Due to Faulty Equipment

This guide explores whether you could make a claim following an accident at work due to faulty equipment. If your employer breached the duty of care they owed you resulting in you sustaining harm, you may be eligible to seek compensation for your injuries.

However, if you’re unsure whether your employer was liable for the accident in which you sustained harm, this guide could help. We will provide examples of the injuries you could suffer as a result of employer negligence.

Additionally, we will provide information on the steps you could take to put forward a personal injury claim and seek compensation.

Furthermore, we will also look at how a No Win No Fee arrangement offered by the solicitors on our panel could provide you with a way to hire legal representation without paying upfront for their services.

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What Is An Accident At Work Due To Faulty Equipment?
How Could Faulty Equipment Cause An Accident At Work?
How Could I Prove A Workplace Injury Occurred?
Calculating Compensation After An Accident At Work Due To Faulty Equipment
Can I Use No Win No Fee Lawyers?
More Guidance About An Accident At Work Due To Faulty Equipment

What Is An Accident At Work Due To Faulty Equipment?

As laid out in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA), all employers owe a duty of care to their employees. This means your employer must take all reasonably practical steps to ensure a safe working environment.

As part of these reasonably practical steps, employers must carry out regular risk assessments to identify any hazards that may pose a risk of injury to employees. In addition, they should address the hazards found and do everything they reasonably can to completely remove or reduce the risk it poses.

However, there are instances where your employer might fail to do so causing you to be injured due to damaged or faulty equipment.

If you have experienced a similar incident of negligence, you may wish to find out whether you’re eligible to claim. Please get in touch to discuss your potential accident at work claim.

General Workplace Accident Statistics

Workplace injury statistics are collected by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). As such, in 2020/21, 51,211 injuries were reported by employers under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR).

Of these:

1,860 non-fatal injuries occurred due to contact with moving machinery
5,117 non-fatal injuries were caused by being struck by moving objects
177 non-fatal injuries were caused by an object collapsing or overturning.

The figures above are provisional.

How Could Faulty Equipment Cause An Accident At Work?

Regular safety inspections should be carried out on any equipment required for work-related duties. However, if your employer fails to carry out these checks adequately or at all, it could result in the following accidents and injuries:

Your employer may inspect a ladder rung and notice that it’s loose. However, they may fail to take action to fix the ladder before it’s used or inform staff of the fault. As a result, an employee might fall from the ladder and sustain a leg injury.
Your employer might fail to carry out regular checks on factory machinery. As a result, you may have sustained a severely crushed and broken hand due to the emergency stop button not working while you were using a faulty piece of machinery.

There are other instances where you may have experienced an accident at work due to faulty equipment. If you would like to discuss your case in more detail, please get in touch with our team.

How Could I Prove A Workplace Injury Occurred?

In order to claim compensation for your injuries, you must be able to prove your employer was negligent. To help strengthen your claim, you could gather evidence as part of the accident at work procedure. This could include:

Medical records. Medical records from a hospital or your doctor that provide details on your injuries could be submitted as evidence. Also, you may be invited to attend a medical appointment that is completed by an independent medical professional. The findings of the assessment can provide more in-depth details about your injuries including the future impact they may have.
Contact details of witnesses. If anyone witnessed the accident that caused your injuries, you could make a note of their details. They could be used to take statements at a later date.
Accident log book. Workplaces with ten or more employees are required to have an accident log book. You could fill it out with your name, the time and date, and any relevant details of your accident and the injuries you sustained.

Additionally, if you have suffered injuries in an accident at work due to faulty equipment, you may wish to hire a solicitor.

If so, an experienced personal injury solicitor from our panel could ensure you have evidence that’s relevant to your case. Also, they could arrange for you to attend a medical appointment in your local area.

Call us for more information on working with a solicitor from our panel.

Calculating Compensation After An Accident At Work Due To Faulty Equipment

The payout you receive following a successful claim may comprise two heads of claim. These are known as general damages and special damages.

General damages award compensation for the impact your injuries have had, including the pain and suffering you experienced. Both your physical and psychological injuries, such as emotional distress are covered under general damages.

In order to determine how much compensation you could receive, solicitors often use the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help them calculate the value of your injuries. This is a publication that provides bracket awards for different injuries. Below is a table including some injuries and the corresponding guideline figures from the JCG.

Please only use the figures as a guide because other factors will affect the amount of compensation you receive under general damages. For instance, medical reports may be used to assess the severity of your injuries.

Injury	Potential Compensation	Notes
Eye Injuries (g)	£8,550 to £19,690	Where one or both eyes are impaired permanently but the damage is minor.
Minor brain or head injury (e)	£2,070 to £11,980	This bracket includes cases where there is minimal or no brain damage.
Severe injuries to the pelvis and hips (a) (i)	£73,580 to £122,860	Injuries might include an extensive pelvic fractures that involve a lower back joint dislocation and a ruptured bladder.
Arm injuries (b)	£36,770 to £56,180	Permanent and significant disability that results from serious fractures affecting one or both forearms.
Wrist injuries (b)	£22,990 to £36,770	A wrist injury that causes a significant disability but the person will still have some useful movement.
Hand injuries (c)	£90,250 to £102,890	Where one hand has been completely or effectively lost.
Severe leg injuries (b) (ii)	£51,460 to £85,600	Injuries that might cause permanent mobility issues.
Severe foot injuries (d)	£39,390 to £65,710	Injuries might include fractures of both heels or feet which cause issues with mobility.
Severe toe injuries (c)	£12,900 to £29,770	This bracket includes severe crush injuries which result in amputation of one or two toes or partial amputation.
Serious jaw fractures (e) (ii)	£16,860 to £28,610	Serious fracture causing permanent consequences which could include difficulty opening the mouth.

What Are Special Damages?

If you seek compensation after suffering injuries in an accident at work, you might be able to claim back costs incurred as a result of your injuries. These are awarded under special damages provided you have evidence of the costs such as receipts or payslips.

Examples of the costs you could claim back might include:

Medical aids. This could include any aids you need to rent or purchase, such as a wheelchair or crutches.

Travel costs. For example, if you are travelling to medical appointments you could claim the travel costs back.

Loss of earnings. You could claim for the time spent off work due to your injuries.

To talk about your potential compensation following an accident at work due to faulty equipment that resulted in an injury, contact our advisors.

Can I Use No Win No Fee Lawyers?

A No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel could help you seek compensation for injuries you suffered in an accident at work due to faulty equipment.

They offer arrangements such as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) which allows you to avoid paying upfront for the services your solicitor offers.

As part of the CFA, you will pay a success fee from your compensation should your claim succeed. However, if the claim fails, you won’t need to pay the success fee to your solicitor.

If you’d like to find out whether you’re eligible to work with a solicitor from our panel, get in touch with our team on the details below.

Call Us About Faulty Equipment Accident Claims

For more information about seeking legal advice from accident at work lawyers or about your potential claim, please contact our team.

To get in touch:

Use the details at the top of the page
Contact us by filling out our online form
Use the live chat feature below.

More Guidance About An Accident At Work Due To Faulty Equipment

Below, have provided some additional links that you may find helpful.

We hope this guide on seeking compensation after sustaining injuries after an accident at work due to faulty equipment has helped. However, if you have any other questions, please get in touch with our team on the number above.

Claims For An Accident At Work Due To Faulty Equipment