Making a Work Wrist Injury Claim for Compensation
This article explains how it may be possible to claim compensation for a wrist injury at work when you have sustained an injury either in a preventable workplace accident or due to your work environment. It also explains some of the procedures that should be completed prior to making claims for wrist injuries at work, and some of the reasons why you might not qualify for work wrist injury compensation.
There are many different wrist injuries which can be sustained in the work environment and each will have different consequences to individuals. Therefore – should you be entitled to claim for injuring a wrist at work- in order to ensure you receive a fair and adequate settlement of a work wrist injury claim for compensation, it is recommended that you speak with a solicitor about the circumstances of your wrist injury at work at the first possible opportunity.
Reporting Wrist Injuries at Work
After being diagnosed with a wrist injury attributable to a workplace accident or environment, it is important that the injury is recorded in your employer´s “Accident Report Book”. Although a copy of this report is not included in the documents sent to the Injuries Board when applying for an assessment of compensation for a wrist injury at work, depending on the nature of your injury your report may initiate a Health and Safety Authority (HSA) investigation which could establish your employer´s liability in your claim for injuring a wrist at work.
If liability can be established before making claims for wrist injuries at work, it should accelerate the Injuries Board process or may enable a solicitor acting on your behalf to negotiate a settlement of work wrist injury compensation without the need for witness statements or photographic evidence of your employer´s negligence.
If your wrist injury is so severe that you are unable to complete the claims for wrist injuries at work formalities – or your employer fails to give you access to the Accident Report Book – you should speak with a solicitor. Wrist injuries acquired at work can be reported online at the HSA web site, but you will need an approval code to use the service and it may be a lot simpler for a solicitor to generate a report on your behalf and then use it in support of a work wrist injury claim for compensation.
Claims for Wrist Injuries at Work and the Duty of Care of Employers
In order to be eligible to claim compensation for a wrist injury at work, you must have sustained a wrist injury which could have been prevented had your employer – or other person with responsibility for your health and safety – fulfilled his or her duty of care to provide you with a safe environment in which to work.
An employer´s “duty of care” covers all his or her responsibilities to prevent a wrist injury wherever possible, and would include performing risk assessments to identify foreseeable hazards, providing training and supervision, and supplying personal protective equipment where necessary to eliminate the risk of an employee injuring their wrist at work.
Should an employer fail in their duty of care to eliminate the risk of an injury, and you subsequently sustain a wrist injury as a result, you should be entitled to make a work wrist injury claim for compensation. It should be noted, however, that an employer´s duty of care is not “absolute” and, if you injure your wrist in an accident at work which could not have been foreseen, claims for wrist injuries at work are unlikely to be successful.
Contributory Negligence and Work Wrist Injuries
One of the reasons why consent to assess claims for wrist injuries at work may be withheld from the Injuries Board is if you are considered to have been partly responsible for the cause of an accident at work or the extent of your injury. The Injuries Board will only assess claims for wrist injuries at work in which total liability is admitted and, if you have contributed to your wrist injury by your own lack of care, the Injuries Board will have no option but to issue you with an authorisation to pursue your work wrist injury claim for compensation in court.
Court action may be a last resort when making a claim for injuring a wrist at work, as it may also be possible to negotiate a settlement with your employer´s liability insurers where you accept a percentage blame for your wrist injury and that percentage is then deducted from how much compensation for a wrist injury at work your claim is settled for. Negotiating the value of work wrist injury compensation directly with an insurance company is not advisable without legal representation.
One element of contributory negligence which is sometimes overlooked is if you contributed to the extent of your wrist injury by failing to seek immediate professional medical attention. Some people who injure a wrist at work attempt to work through the pain – making their injury worse and endangering their entitlement to compensation for a wrist injury at work. If this has happened to you, you should speak with a solicitor about whether you still have a claim for a wrist injury at work which is worth your while to continue.
How the Statute of Limitations affects a Work Wrist injury Claim for Compensation
The Courts and Civil Liability Act 2004 set a limitation period of two years for making claims for wrist injuries at work from the “Date of Knowledge” on which the wrist injury is diagnosed. There are very few scenarios in which a plaintiff would be unaware that they have broken their wrist in an accident at work, but the two year limitation period for making a work wrist injury claim for compensation may start much later in claims due to repetitive strain injuries..
Two years may seem ample time in which to submit claims for wrist injuries at work to the Injuries Board for assessment but, if responsibility for your wrist injury is contested by your employer, or you are waiting for the results of an HSA investigation to confirm your employer´s liability in a claim for injuring a wrist at work, the time can slip quickly by.
If the full extent of your wrist injury is not known, or due to complications it is taking a long time to recover from your wrist injury and impossible to calculate how much work wrist injury compensation you are entitled to, it is possible to “stop the clock” on your claim for compensation for a wrist injury at work. You will need the agreement of your employer´s insurance company to do this – assuming your employer has admitted liability for your wrist injury – and this is something which is once again best done with the assistance of a personal injury* solicitor.
Do I Need a Solicitor to Claim Compensation for a Wrist injury at Work?
Unless issues exist which mean that your claim for compensation for a wrist injury at work may have to be resolved in court, you do not need a solicitor in order to make claims for wrist injuries at work. However, in addition to acting as a go-between between yourself and your employer, and dealing with any complications that arise while making claims for wrist injuries at work, a solicitor has the experience to ensure you receive your full entitlement to work wrist injury compensation – whether your claim for injuring a wrist at work is resolved via the Injuries Board, by negotiation with your employer´s insurers or through court action.
Most solicitors will offer a free assessment of your work wrist injury claim for compensation if you have sustained a wrist injury in the workplace for which you were not entirely to blame, and provide you with answers to any questions you may have in regard to your eligibility to claim compensation for a wrist injury at work. As it is often in your best interest to have evidence collected in support of claims for wrist injuries at work while it is still fresh, it is recommended that you speak with a solicitor about the circumstances of your wrist injury without delay.