If you have had an accident at work, it is a good thing you decided to read this article. Did you know that a new survey came out that showed just over 1.3 million people became injured or sick because of the conditions of the place they worked?.
To add to that sad fact, over 120 workers were killed due to something that could have easily been prevented, over 200,000 (close to 300,000) serious injuries occurred, and over 1.8 million days had to be missed because of the days they had to take off.
This is all sad news, but the good news is that the health and safety inspection decided it was time to do something about this so they are actually cracking down on the environment of the work place and will make sure it is safe for tall the employees. They also gave a warning that if they do find something wrong there will be serious punishment without a warning.
Most people don’t know this but the employers have a role to play in whether or not their environment is safe, and if it is not they are the ones who will get talked to about it and will receive the majority of the punishment. They really don’t have any excuses because they are given the guidelines to which they need to obey and if they don’t obey them they will get in trouble.
If you have had an accident at work and want to make a claim, what should you do?
Well for starters if you are worried about making a claim because you feel as though you are going to get fired if you do, that is something you truly don’t have to worry about because you are protected by the law
How to file the claim:
We recommend you first go out and find a solicitor that can help you out because there are some amazing personal injury solicitors who deal with this stuff every day and know exactly what to do in order to handle to situation properly.
There are many different types of personal injury solicitors you can hire, but we recommend you go with a no win no fee solicitor, there are actually a ton of reasons we recommend you go with one of those. The main benefit to a no win no fee solicitor is the fact that if you do not win the case you don’t have to pay a thing, and if you win then you will obviously have enough money to pay. If you think about it this will give you a huge peace of mind knowing that you will not lose any money regardless of whether you win or lose the case, the only thing that can happen is you can gain money.
If you are not sure how to find one of these, there are actually a ton of law firms out there who will be able to help you out, all you have to do is go in and ask them if they have any no win no fee solicitors.
The reason you should hire a solicitor rather than trying to handle this situation by yourself is because they will be able to squeeze every penny out of this case. One thing we feel as though we should tell you is that if you experience any loss at all, whether it is financial or emotional, be sure to tell your solicitor or lawyer about this because you can use that information to your advantage, just make sure you are telling the truth! They will find out if you are lying and things can get ugly if that happens.
So what exactly will you need when you hire a no win no fee solicitor?
Before you go out and hire one of these solicitors it is a good idea to gather up some information that is vital to have that way you are not wasting their time and you will be able to move on with the case quickly. If you don’t have this information it will be hard to move on.
Once you provide the following information to your solicitor or lawyer, they will be able to tell you from their past experience whether or not they think you have a chance at winning. So before you finish reading this article, go ahead and write down or find all the following information
- Your job
- Exactly when the accident occurred
- The address of where it happened
- The registration number of the company
- Were there any eye witnesses? Their name and telephone numbers
- Hospital stays
- The address of the hospital you visited
- Your title in the company
- How many months/years have you been employed with that company
- Who did you first report this accident to
- Were you using any of the required safety equipment when the injury occured
- Describe the circumstance of the accident in detail
- Do you have any proof that the accident happened. If you have video that is perfect, pictures will work as well though.
- How long you had to take work off and how long your injury had lasted.
- How much you lost during this time period. Write down not only the financial loss but also the emotional loss.
So how long does it take to actually receive the money?
One question we always get asked is how long it will take for an accident at work claim to go through, but the truth is it is impossible to tell. If the injuries you suffered from were not too serious and your employers admitted to it being their fault, then you can receive your compensation within a matter of a few weeks.
However, if the injury was a serious injury then it is going to take longer because more investigation needs to be done. There are times when it seems like it is taking a very long time for you to get your compensation, if this happens then chances are good it is still being disputed and had to be taken to a higher court.
I know you probably want to get all your money right away, but it is important you keep in mind that filing for a claim right away isn’t always the smartest idea.
If you feel as though it is taking too long to receive your compensation and you really need to money as soon as possible you should tell your solicitor and they will probably be able to get you a certain percentage of what was going to be paid out to you. However, this is not always 100% and does not happen every time one is requested. With that being said, it is always worth a try regardless of whether or not you think you can get it, the worst you can get is a no.
There are many things we do not have control over when it comes to speeding up the process of getting paid but there are also some things we do have control over that many people don’t even know about. The best way to speed up getting your claim is to hire a few solicitors who specialize in your type of claim, this is a lot cheaper than the majority of people assume it is. Another thing you can do to help speed up this process is to fill out and send back any paper works or other information requested. The sooner they get the information the sooner they will be able to file it which means you get your money back sooner.
When you are going through your hospital stays and physical therapy visits it is important you write them all down and write down the dates you had to go, the reason for this is because your solicitors can use it to your advantage and when they request a payment in advance they can say u need to money as soon as possible to pay off the bills.
It is also important to let you guys know that anything you had to spend money on due to the accident you need to keep your receipts so you can get paid back for those as well. If you have any piece of document that you think will make it easier for you to win the case then it is important you keep it and show it to the lawyers.
When Can I Make The Claim?
You can make the claim as soon as the accident happens, but if you didn’t you have to at least make the claim within the first three years or you will no longer be able to
However, you need to understand that just because your injury happened on a certain date, the three year period does not start until the injury starts to show itself. So if you got hurt a year ago and the injury is finally starting to inhibit you from doing certain things, you have 3 more years to file for an accident at work claim.