By Cat Reeves. Last Updated 3rd September 2024. This is a guide discussing construction injury claims, including the eligibility criteria that need to be met in order to pursue personal injury compensation following an accident at work and the evidence you could gather to support your case.
Construction sites could pose a risk of injury to employees if known hazards aren’t addressed. We explore the duty of care placed on employers to keep their employees safe at work and provide examples of construction site accidents that could occur from a breach of duty of care and the potential injuries that could come from them.
Additionally, we explore the potential compensation payout that could be awarded following a successful workplace injury claim and how the value of payouts is calculated.
To end, this guide discusses the benefits of claiming on a No Win No Fee basis with a construction accident lawyer from our panel.
Please continue reading for more information on personal injury claims. Alternatively, you can contact our team of advisors for a free case assessment and ask any questions you might have pertaining to your potential case. For more information, you can:
- Phone us on 0800 408 7825.
- Submit your details in via our ‘Contact Us‘ form.
- Use our live chat box below.
Select A Section
- The Criteria For Construction Injury Claims
- Examples Of Construction Accidents At Work
- How Much Could Your Construction Injury Claim Be Worth?
- Claiming Compensation For A Construction Injury
- Construction Injury Claims And No Win No Fee Agreements
- Learn More About Construction Injury Claims
The Criteria For Construction Injury Claims
When you make a construction injury claim, you first need to establish negligence. In personal injury claims, negligence means that:
- You are owed a duty of care.
- This duty is breached.
- As a result of this, you suffer an injury.
When someone owes you a duty of care, this means that they’re legally responsible for your health and safety. For example, employers owe their employees a duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1975 (HASAWA).
However, when you work on a construction site, your employer isn’t the only person who owes you a duty of care. Anyone else who is in control of the site, like a foreman, site manager, or the owner of a site, are also responsible for your safety.
Because of this, you won’t always be making a construction accident claim against your employer; it will instead be made against whoever owed you a duty of care at the time of your accident and they breached this.
Contact our team of advisors today to find out if a construction injury lawyer from our panel could help you make a compensation claim. Or, keep reading to learn more.
What Are The Time Limits For Making Construction Accident Compensation Claims
The time limit for construction injury claims is usually three years. This is outlined in the Limitation Act 1980, which also sets out the exceptions to this rule.
For example, the time limit doesn’t apply to those who are under the age of eighteen. They can either wait until they turn eighteen and claim for themselves within three years, or a litigation friend can make their claim for them. A litigation friend can claim on their behalf at any time up until their eighteenth birthday.
Likewise, the time limit doesn’t apply to those who lack the mental capacity to make their own claim. Unless they recover the needed capacity, a litigation can make their claim for them at any time. If they do recover the capacity they need to claim for themselves, the time limit will begin on the date of recovery.
To find out if a construction accident lawyer from our panel could help you make a claim, or to find out if you are within the time limit, get in touch with our team today.
Examples Of Construction Accidents At Work
Below, we have provided examples of how construction accidents at work could occur.
- No warning signs – There may have been no warning signs placed to alert employees of hazards in a particular area of a construction site. As a result, when walking through this area, a falling object strikes an employee in the face causing them to sustain broken facial bones. Warning signs can also be useful in preventing slips, trips and falls on construction sites.
- Not being provided with adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – PPE, such as eye protective goggles, should be provided to employees free of charge when necessary. This can involve when the risk of known hazards cannot be completely removed. If there is a failure to do so, it could lead to an employee sustaining a serious injury to the eye due to having hazardous substances splashed in their eye.
- Working with faulty equipment – If a machine you use, such as a forklift, is poorly maintained, it could mean an employee crashes while using the faulty forklift truck and sustains a back injury and broken leg.
- A lack of training – For instance, if an employee is asked to work from a height without being given any health and safety training, it could mean they fall from a height and sustain damage to their spinal cord, as well as serious head injuries. In some tragic cases, it could even lead to fatal accidents.
- No manual handling support – If you’re tasked to lift heavy equipment or items around a construction site, without the right equipment or help from colleagues, you could suffer an injury.
To discuss the specific circumstances surrounding your construction site accident and personal injury, do not hesitate to speak with our team of advisors today. They can offer further insight into construction injury claims to help you understand when you could be eligible to seek compensation.
How Much Could Your Construction Injury Claim Be Worth?
When calculating compensation for successful construction injury claims, several factors may be considered. For example:
- Injury severity. For instance, a broken arm is more serious than a sprained wrist.
- Treatment.
- Recovery period.
- Future prognosis.
- The financial impact of your injury.
Generally, though, the payout awarded following a successful payout could comprise up to two heads of loss; general damages and special damages. General damages compensates for the pain and suffering caused by your injuries, physical, psychological or both.
The Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) and medical evidence can help solicitors determine the value of general damages. The JCG contains a list of guideline award brackets which align with injuries of different types and severity. We have included some of these in the table below. However, it’s important that you use these figures as a guide only. This is because payouts can differ depending on the different factors, such as those mentioned above.
Injuries Table
| Injury | Severity | Compensation bracket |
|---|---|---|
| Many Severe Injuries + Special Damages | Serious | Up to £1,000,000 or more |
| Arm Amputation | Loss Of Both Arms (a) | £293,850 to £366,100 |
| Loss Of One Arm (b) (ii) | Not Less Than £167,380 | |
| Brain damage | Moderate (c) (i) | £183,190 to £267,340 |
| Moderate (c) (iii) | £52,550 to £110,720 | |
| Leg | Amputation (a) (i) | £293,850 to £344,150 |
| Less Serious (c) (i) | £21,920 to £33,880 | |
| Wrist | Complete Loss Of Function (a) | £58,710 to £73,050 |
| Ankle | Moderate (c) | £16,770 to £32,450 |
| Elbow | Moderate or Minor (c) | £6,700 to £7,930 |
| Eye | Minor (h) | £4,820 to £10,660 |
Please note that the top entry is not part of the JCG.
If you’d like to check out our accident at work claim calculator, head here. You can find compensation payouts for a wide range of injuries. You can also head here to find more compensation examples for accidents at work.
You may also find our construction accident case study beneficial if you’d like to learn more about how the claims process works.
Special Damages In Construction Injury Claims
Special damages compensate for the money you have lost because of your injuries. This includes both past and future losses. Examples of the costs that could be reimbursed via compensation under this head of loss include:
- Lost wages.
- Travel expenses.
- Medical expenses.
- The cost of renovations to your home.
- Care costs.
Payslips, invoices, bank statements, tickets, and receipts can all be used as evidence to prove these losses.
For more information about the process of calculating compensation for successful construction injury claims, please contact an advisor on the number above. They could offer you a free and personalised estimate of your case.
Claiming Compensation For A Construction Injury
Evidence can help support construction injury claims by showing that an employer did not uphold the duty of care that they owed and, as a result, you sustained harm in a workplace accident. As such, you could benefit from gathering:
- CCTV footage of the accident.
- A diary of your symptoms and treatment.
- Photographs of the accident site and your injury.
- The contact details from potential witnesses.
- Copies of your medical records.
If you contact our team of advisors today about your specific circumstances, they may connect you to an accident at work solicitor from our panel, provided you have valid grounds to seek compensation. The solicitors from our panel could then help you gather evidence and support you through the personal injury claims process.
Construction Injury Claims And No Win No Fee Agreements
If you are eligible to pursue compensation, you could choose to instruct a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel. They have experience handling construction injury claims and could offer you a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).
A CFA is a specific kind of No Win No Fee contract, the terms of which mean that you do not pay for your solicitor’s services as your claim begins, while your claim continues, or if it has a failed outcome.
Your solicitor will take a success fee from your compensation if it’s successful. This is deducted as a percentage which has a legal cap. Due to the cap, you are able to keep the majority of your compensation.
Find out whether you could be eligible to instruct a solicitor from our panel by getting in touch with an advisor. They can also answer any other questions you might have regarding your potential claim. To reach them, you can:
- Phone on 0800 408 7825.
- Submit your details via our ‘Contact Us‘ form.
- Use our live chat box.
Learn More About Construction Injury Claims
To read more of our guides, please see below:
- Read more about building and construction accident claims and the compensation payout you could be awarded for injuries if you succeed.
- Learn about your rights after an accident at work including when you could be eligible to claim.
- Find out if you could claim for a broken bone injury at work and the process involved in doing so.
For more external resources:
- An NHS guide on how to tell whether you have a broken bone and when to seek medical attention.
- Information from the Health and Safety Executive on hazards present in the construction industry.
- Guidance from GOV.UK about when you could be eligible to receive statutory sick pay.
We hope this guide on construction injury claims has provided you with all the information you need. However, if you have any other questions, please contact an advisor using the number above.