Farm tractors, or all terrain vehicles (ATVs) as they are often referred to, have an important role to play in the success of agriculture in Ireland. However, because of the high potential of a farm tractor accident there are many guidelines and regulations controlling their use and the training of people who operate them. Most of these are covered in the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act (2005), and an employer has a legal “duty of care” to perform a risk assessment before using a tractor and ensure that the regulations are adhered to.
It is estimated by the Health and Safety Authority that there are thousands of unreported farm tractor accidents each year, resulting in injuries that could have been prevented with adequate training, supervision, protective clothing and vehicle maintenance. Furthermore, one of the reasons that the HSA believes that these incidents are going unreported is because they revolve around unauthorised passengers – including children – suffering a farm tractor accident.
In any circumstance where you have sustained an injury in a farm tractor accident – even when you were partly to blame – it is important that you receive appropriate medical attention immediately and that a record is entered in your employer´s “Accident Report Book”. Should your injury develop into a more serious health condition that inhibits your ability to work, and there is evidence to suggest that your employer was negligent in some respect, you may be able to claim compensation for your farm tractor accident.
Claiming Compensation for a Farm Tractor Accident
The process for claiming compensation for a farm tractor accident is similar to that for a personal injury* claim. Your application is submitted to the Injuries Board Ireland with your medical records and a copy of the entry made in the “Accident Report Book” for their appraisal. However, there are a number of complications that can arise in a farm tractor accident claim for compensation which – at a time when you have just suffered a traumatic experience – may best be dealt with by an experienced solicitor.
Your employment status may be one such complication. Many farm workers are not “employed” as such, but work on a self-employed, subcontracted or agency basis. These forms of employment do not disqualify you from making a farm tractor accident compensation claim, but may affect the person or persons you are suing for damages. Furthermore, if there is an element of contributory negligence in the farm traffic accident, the Injuries Board Ireland may over-adjust your claim – assessing it with a lower amount of compensation for the trauma you have suffered, and leaving you with insufficient funds to support your family.
There are a number of different issues which can influence the amount you will be awarded for a farm tractor accident and, to help you find out how these might affect you, we have established a legal claims advice helpline which you are invited to call and discuss your own individual circumstances. If you call our freephone number, you will be able to speak directly with an experienced solicitor, receive some helpful and objective advice and receive information that should assist you with your claim. You are under no obligation to proceed with a claim once you have spoken with us and calls to our legal claims advice helpline are completely confidential.
What You Can Expect When You Call
Our solicitors have many years of experience dealing with work-related claims for compensation and will be familiar with the consequences of a farm tractor accident. Consequently, we will always treat clients who call our free advice telephone service with respect and courtesy.
Our main aim is to establish whether or not you have a claim for a farm tractor accident that is worth your while to pursue and provide information on the best way to go about it. Therefore, we will ask you to explain to us how your farm tractor accident happened, what injuries you sustained and how they were treated.
We would also like to know how you believe your employer (or the person to whom you were responsible) was negligent in your farm tractor accident and what measures could have been taken to prevent it.
We will try to make a preliminary assessment of your farm tractor accident claim and advise you of the likelihood of its success and how long we would imagine the claim could take to process. Wherever possible, we will also give you an indication of the general level of compensation we would expect you to receive.
Should you have any questions about your farm tractor accident claim that we have not already covered, you are welcome to ask them and we tend to conclude each initial conversation with a summary of what we have discussed and a list of options for you to consider.
You are under no obligation to act on any of our suggestions, and many clients have taken a day or two to absorb the information and discuss the options with their family. We are available to you if these discussions raise more questions and you need further answers before making a decision.
Our legal claims advice helpline can be reached twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. If you would rather that we call you, kindly complete you details in the call-back box below, indicating a convenient time to call, and one of our friendly and helpful team will be in touch.