Accidents involving farm equipment are often personally catastrophic events. The sheer power of grinders, feeders and farm vehicles means that anybody involved in a farm equipment accident is likely to be severely injured. Extra precautions are laid down in the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act (2005), to make many of these accidents preventable, and often it is a breach of these regulations which leads to a farm equipment accident and the resultant injuries.
Even when an employer is not directly negligent for a farm equipment accident, an element of his “lack of care” through insufficient training or supervision can be enough to generate a claim for farm equipment accident compensation – even when the victim has contributed to his injuries through his own actions. Where it is apparent that an employer did not fully assess the risk involved or provide adequate protection for his employees (and a part of protection is training), then he is liable if there is a farm equipment accident on his farm.
Claiming Farm Equipment Accident Compensation
The process for claiming compensation after a farm equipment accident is often complex and full of potential pitfalls. Initially, the process is the same as with any other personal injury claim – an application is sent to the Injuries Board Ireland with a copy of your medical notes and the relevant entry in your employer´s “Accident Report Book”. However, if your employer claims that you were partly responsible for your own injuries, the Injuries Board Ireland will adjust their assessment of your farm equipment accident claim – an adjustment that you have no control over and which may leave you with an inadequate award of compensation.
Even though you still have the right to contest the assessment through the courts, by using the services of a specialised personal injury* claims solicitor from the beginning of the process you will eliminate the potential for any psychological trauma that court action may induce. Furthermore, a solicitor will be able to guide you over obstacles such as employment issues, third party capture (insurance company intervention) and instances where your employer completely denies his liability. Due to the individual nature and potential size of a farm equipment accident compensation claim, speaking with a solicitor to determine your rights should be a priority once your initial health concerns have been resolved.
To assist with this process, we have established a legal claims advice helpline which you are invited to call if you have been involved in a farm equipment accident for which somebody else was to blame. Our legal claims advice service will enable to you to speak directly with an experienced solicitor, discuss the merits of your claim for compensation and receive some practical and impartial advice. Our dedicated freephone number is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and you are under no obligation to proceed with a claim once you have spoken with us.
What You Can Expect When You Call
We appreciate that a farm equipment accident can leave terrible injuries and when you call our legal claims advice service, you can expect us to be sympathetic and considerate of any pain you are still suffering.
Our initial aim is to determine whether you have a claim for farm equipment accident compensation which is worth your while to pursue and, in order to assess that, we will ask you to tell us how your accident occurred, what injuries you suffered and how they were treated.
We will also ask your opinion about why you believe that your employer was negligent and what steps could have been taken to prevent your farm equipment accident. If you feel that you were partly responsible, it is best to tell us now.
We will ask you questions such as how your injuries have affected your quality of life and long-term employment prospects and, of course, you are welcome to ask us any questions related to your claim for farm equipment accident compensation.
At the end of an initial telephone conversation, we tend to summarise what has been spoken about and present you with a list of options – none of which you are under any obligation to act upon. You may well want a couple of days to consider our advice.
Due to the nature of a farm equipment accident and the injury it causes, we would advise you not to wait too long before calling us. It is better to act whilst the event is fresh in the memories of witnesses and before physical evidence may be removed by the elements.
You can call our legal claims advice line at any time and if you would rather have us call you, please complete the call-back form below – indicating when would be a convenient time to call – and one of our team will be in touch.