What Steps Should I Take After Suffering A Hand Injury At Work?

If you’ve suffered a hand injury at work, you could claim compensation. However, you would need to show that employer negligence contributed to you sustaining your injury.

This guide will explain how personal injury claims work, what employer negligence means and how compensation is calculated. We will also explain exactly what your employer’s duty of care towards you consists of, as well as how they can breach this.

If you would like to speak to someone about your situation, our advisers are available and do offer free initial consultations.

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How To Get Compensation For A Hand Injury At Work Claim
What Could Lead To You Making A Hand Injury At Work Claim?
Building Evidence After A Work Accident
Values Of Compensation Payouts For Hand Injuries
Using No Win No Fee Solicitors For Injured Hand Claims
More Resources For Hand Injury At Work Claims

How To Get Compensation For A Hand Injury At Work Claim

To be awarded compensation in a hand injury at work claim, you would need to prove your employer was negligent in their duty of providing a safe working environment.

It is a requirement under the Health and Safety At Work Act et 1974 (HASAWA) for your employer to take reasonably practicable steps to make sure that you’re safe in the workplace; this applies both in terms of the area you are working in, and the tasks you are asked to carry out.

If you are injured because your employer did not adhere to the duty of care that they owe you, then you could be eligible to make a personal injury claim for compensation.

There are some other considerations to bear in mind when making a claim. For instance, you need to make sure that you begin your claim within the appropriate time limit for doing so.

This limitation period is usually three years from the date of the incident; however, exceptions can apply. Please get in touch with our team for more information.

Current Statistics For Hand Injuries

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the government agency responsible for the regulation and enforcement of workplace health and safety. The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR), requires employers to report certain accidents and injuries to the HSE.

For the year 2020/21, the data reported under RIDDOR showed 3,200 hand injuries, with an additional 5,181 injuries affecting fingers and thumbs.

What Could Lead To You Making A Hand Injury At Work Claim?

HASAWA outlines the duty of care that employers have. They should look for, recognise and reduce risk wherever they practically can. If they do not, they could be found at fault for an accident at work resulting in injury.

Some of the things that are expected as part of a duty of care include:

Performing risk assessments. If a risk assessment is not performed, or if the results are not acted upon, then this could result in an employee being injured. For example, they could slip, trip or fall because the risk assessment that recommended non-slip shoes was ignored.
Provide training. If employees are not trained, then this could result in injury. For example, you could sustain a lifting injury if you were not trained on proper manual handling techniques.
Check on equipment. All equipment should be safe and well-maintained. If a piece of machinery were to malfunction and this was because an inspection was missed, an injury could occur as a result.
Provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Your employer needs to provide you with the PPE you need to do your role safely. If they fail to do this, you could be injured as a result.

If you would like to discuss your own situation, to see if it would be deemed employer negligence, you can contact an adviser now for a free consultation over your hand injury at work claim.

Building Evidence After A Work Accident

Evidence you can gather about the circumstances of the accident, and how your employer was responsible, could be useful in your hand injury at work claim. If you choose to work with a personal injury solicitor, then they could help you collect the evidence you need.

Examples of some of the evidence you could show include:

Correspondence between you and your employer. You may have been injured by a hazard that you previously raised to your employer. For example, you may have told them that the hard hat they supplied you with was too small but they failed to provide you with a new one. If you fill out an accident at work form, this could also help.
Photographs. You could show photos of the hazard that caused the injury or of your injuries themselves.
Witness statements. If others saw your accident take place, you can take their contact details so that they can make a statement at a later date.
Medical evidence. You should seek medical attention as standard if you’ve been injured in an accident. As part of your claim, you might also be asked to attend an independent assessment with a medical expert, the report from which will be used to value your claim.

Knowing as much as you can about your injury and how it has affected you will be useful in your claim. It can enable you to get the maximum workers’ compensation for your circumstances. Evidence you can keep to help you in that regard is:

Day-to-day notes of how the injury is affecting you
Financial records of the costs the injury is causing you to incur

You can get in touch with an adviser to discuss more about your hand injury at work claim.

Values Of Compensation Payouts For Hand Injuries

When you make a compensation claim for a hand injury at work, your compensation could consist of two different heads.

The head of claim that compensates you for the pain and suffering caused by your injuries is known as general damages. The Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) are a collection of guideline compensation brackets based on previous court settlements. They can be used to give you an idea of how much compensation for this head of your claim you could be entitled to.

Below, we’ve included a list of relevant injuries from these guidelines:

Injury	Notes	Award
Hand Injuries: (g)	Severe crush injury resulting in significantly impaired function	£13,570 to £27,220
Hand Injuries: (e)	Serious hand injuries that will have reduced the hand to 50% capacity	£27,220 to £58,100
Hand Injuries: (c)	Total or effective loss of one hand	£90,250 to £102,890
Hand Injuries: (b)	Serious damage to both hands	£52,310 to £79,360
Hand Injuries: (a)	Total or effective loss of both hands	£132,040 to £189,110
Wrist Injuries: (e)	An uncomplicated Colles' fracture	In the region of £6,970
Wrist Injuries: (d)	Recovery takes longer but is complete	Rarely exceed £9,620
Wrist Injuries: (c)	Less severe injuries where these still result in some permanent disability	£11,820 to £22,990
Wrist Injuries: (b)	Permanent disability, but some useful movement remains.	£22,990 to £36,770
Wrist Injuries: (a)	Complete loss of function in the wrist	£44,690 to £56,180

The second head of compensation, known as special damages, is intended for any financial losses you have suffered as a result of the injury. If you were unable to work you could reclaim the salary you had missed out on.

This is why it is important to keep receipts and collect evidence showing how the injury has affected you.

You can contact one of our advisers now to discuss what you could receive in a hand injury at work claim.

Using No Win No Fee Solicitors For Injured Hand Claims

A solicitor working on a No Win No Fee basis would not require an upfront fee, nor charge you ongoing fees for their services.

This could be useful if you are interested in suing your employer with the help of a solicitor but don’t want them to charge you large upfront or ongoing fees as the case goes on.

If you have a No Win No Fee agreement (otherwise known as a Conditional Fee Agreement or CFA), and the case is successful, your solicitor will charge you a legally-capped amount of compensation from your settlement. If it was not, they would not charge you a fee at all.

You can get in touch with our advisers now to see if you could be eligible to claim on a No Win No Fee basis.

Talk To Our Advisors About Your Hand Injury At Work Claim

Our advisors offer free initial consultations and can discuss your situation and compensation valuations. They can offer you free legal advice about the process of claiming.

You can reach them by:

Following the banner above
Filling out the contact page
Using the live chat feature on this page

More Resources For Hand Injury At Work Claims

We’ve included below additional information you might find useful:

Government advice on Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
NHS guidance on hand pain
HSE guidance on PPE at work

We’ve also provided some more of our guides below:

If you have any more questions about making a hand injury at work claim, speak with our advisors today.

Writer Marlon Creek

Publisher Fern Stein