By Richie Billings. Last Updated 10th January 2024. In this guide, we will look at how you can make a hand injury at work claim. If you have experienced a workplace accident due to your employer failing to uphold the duty of care they owe you, you may be eligible to claim compensation.
Your employer has a legal obligation to ensure your workplace is as safe as reasonably possible. If they failed to do everything they reasonably could to prevent you from sustaining harm, we could help. This guide will explore the process of seeking compensation by making a personal injury claim for your hand injury.
Hand injuries at work can happen for various reasons. For instance, faulty machinery that your employer failed to maintain the safety of. Alternatively, your employer may have failed to provide you with personal protective equipment when necessary.
Hand injuries can be painful and debilitating. In some cases, you may have to take time off work to recover and therefore experience a loss of income. However, you could claim these costs back by making an injury at work claim. We will explore this further in our guide.
Our panel of solicitors have experience handling claims for workplace injuries. What’s more, they could take your claim on a No Win No Fee basis. Therefore, you won’t have to pay an upfront cost.
For more information, please call us on 0800 408 7825. Or you can contact us via our website.
Select A Section
- Establishing If You Can Claim
- Collect Evidence To Support Your Hand Injury At Work Claim
- Start The Claims Process
- Negotiating A Settlement
- Hand Injury At Work Claims Calculator
- Find A No Win No Fee Solicitor For Your Hand Injury At Work Claim
Establishing If You Can Claim
You may be eligible to make a hand injury at work claim if your employer is responsible for your injuries. Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 all employers owe their employees a legal duty of care.
Your employer may be responsible if they breached the duty of care they owed you resulting in you sustaining harm. For instance:
- Inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE): Your employer is required to provide you with PPE if a risk still remains after they have implemented all other reasonable measures. Failure to do so could result in avoidable accidents. For instance, an employee may sustain a chemical burn on their hand whilst working with hazardous substances without gloves.
- Faulty equipment: Your employer may have failed to carry out regular risk assessments to maintain the safety of machinery. As a result, you may have suffered a broken hand or crushed hand injury after the emergency stop button for a piece of machinery failed to work.
- Inadequate training: Inadequate manual handling training may have been provided to employees. As a result, an employee may have sustained a repetitive strain injury to their wrist in a manual handling accident.
If you have experienced a similar incident, you may wish to hire legal representation to help you seek compensation. This is something we could help with. Our panel of personal injury solicitors all have experience handling accident at work claims.
For more information, call our team on the number above.
What Is A Hand Injury?
The human hand is a complex system. Here are some of the bones in the human hand that could be damaged:
- Scaphoid
- Trapezium
- Capitate
- Trapezoid
- Phalange
- Metacarpal
There are various types of hand injuries such as fractures, sprains and strains that affect the bones and muscles. Additionally, someone could sustain an injury to the surface of their hands, such as a burn or laceration.
Learn How To Make A Hand Injury Claim
Collect Evidence To Support Your Hand Injury At Work Claim
If you suffer a hand injury at work, please prioritise your safety first and seek the appropriate medical treatment as soon as possible. Having a doctor diagnose and treat your injuries also means that there will be a medical record of your injuries. You can provide medical records as evidence to support your compensation claim.
Additionally, when making a hand injury at work claim you must have evidence to prove your personal injury claim demonstrates negligence. Negligence involves someone owing you a duty of care, breaching the duty of care they owed you and causing you harm as a result.
The evidence you could provide might include:
- A copy of the accident report in your company’s accident log book.
- Photographs of your injuries.
- Photographs of the hazard that caused your injuries.
- Copies of your medical records and any medical evidence you have.
- Receipts for any medication you purchased after becoming injured.
- Contact details from colleagues who witnessed the accident.
Start The Claims Process
As well as collecting evidence to build a strong case for your hand injury at work claim, there are certain other steps you could take.
For instance, you could seek legal advice from a solicitor. A solicitor could help you gather the relevant evidence to support your case.
Also, they could arrange for you to attend a local medical exam which is used to put together a report on the nature of your injuries.
Additionally, there are other factors you may need to consider before putting forward your claim, such as the personal injury claims time limit.
Under the Limitation Act 1980, there is a three-year time limit to pursue a compensation claim starting from the date of your accident. It may also start from the date of knowledge. However, there are exceptions so please get in touch with us for more information.
The Pre-Action Protocols
When your accident at work claim begins, the legal teams representing the claimant and defendant will normally engage in the pre-action protocols.
The pre-action protocols are steps in a personal injury claims process whereby both parties enter into negotiations to settle the claim before it goes to court.
If you need any more information on how these might apply to your hand injury at work claim, please call our team.
How To Make A Hand Injury Compensation Claim
Negotiating A Settlement
If you wish to make a hand injury at work claim, you may be curious to know how much compensation you can claim. You will receive up to two heads of claim. These are:
- General damages provide compensation for the pain, suffering and loss of amenity caused by your injuries.
- Special damages provide compensation for the out of pocket expenses your injuries have caused. These might include medical expenses, care costs and loss of earnings. However, you must have evidence to prove any losses of a financial nature, such as receipts or payslips.
When you go through the process of seeking compensation, the other party may provide an offer. You aren’t required to take the first offer they provide. Instead, a counter-offer that’s appropriate to your case could be made.
Hand Injury At Work Claims Calculator
We have used guidelines from the Judicial College to create the table below. The Judicial College Guidelines are used to help value compensation claims alongside medical evidence. They provide bracket compensation figures for different injuries.
The figures in the table only relate to general damages and are only to be used as a guide. Your actual settlement will vary depending on factors unique to your case, such as the severity of your injury.
| Injury Type | About The Injury | Example Compensation Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Serious Injuries And Special Damages | Multiple serious injuries that are combined with serious financial losses, such as lost earnings, medical costs, or the cost of travel. | Up to £500,000+ |
| (A) Effective or total loss of both hands | Extensive injuries to and damage of both of the hands. Higher awards are applicable if prosthesis can not be used. | £140,660 to £201,490
|
| (B) Serious injury to both hands | Injuries causing permanent cosmetic disabilities and which significantly reduce function. | £55,820 to £84,570 |
| (C) Effective or total loss of a hand | The hand may have been crushed and amputated or the fingers and most of the hand were traumatically lost (amputated). | £96,160 to £109,650 |
| (D) Loss of the middle and index or ring finger(s) | The hand has been left with little use and any grip that remains is weak. | £61,910 to £90,750 |
| (E) Serious hand injury | Several fingers could have been amputated and then reattached. The use of the hand may have been reduced by half. | £29,000 to £61,910 |
| (F) Severe finger fractures | These could lead to reduced usage of the hand, deformities and partial amputations. | Up to £36,740 |
| (G) Less serious hand injuries | Significantly impaired function of the hand due to a severe crush injury. | £14,450 to £29,000 |
| (H) Moderate hand injury | Penetrating wounds, deep lacerations, crush injuries and other soft tissue type injuries. | £5,720 to £13,280 |
| (I) Partial or total loss of the index finger | Awards at the higher end of the bracket will generally be made for total loss of the finger. | £12,170 to £18,740 |
If you can’t see your injury listed in the table, please call our team for a free valuation of your injuries.
How Much Compensation Could You Receive For A Hand Injury Claim?
Find A No Win No Fee Solicitor For Your Hand Injury At Work Claim
When making a hand injury compensation claim, you may wish to work with a solicitor. A solicitor can help you negotiate a settlement, collect accurate and detailed evidence, and arrange an independent medical assessment.
Our panel of solicitors offer their services on a No Win No Fee basis by working under a contract known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This means that they can help you claim for your hand injury without taking any upfront or ongoing fees for their work. Additionally, if your hand injury claim fails, then you won’t be charged for your solicitor’s services.
Your solicitor will take a success fee from your compensation if your claim succeeds. They take this as a small percentage, though the percentage is limited by a legislative cap. This helps to ensure that you keep the majority of your compensation.
Contact Us Today
Our advisors can offer more information on making a personal injury claim. When you get in touch, they can evaluate your case and could potentially connect you with a solicitor from our panel.
To get started, you can:
- Call us on 0800 408 7825
- Use the live chat feature
- Contact us online
Related Hand Injury Claims Resources
Please read these guides to learn more about making a hand injury compensation claim.
- £85,000 Compensation For A Crushed Hand
- £30,000 Compensation Payout For Amputated Index Finger
- £11,000 Compensation Payout For A Hand Laceration
We have also provided some external resources below.
- An NHS guide to hand pain.
- An HSE guide to personal protective equipment (PPE).
- For any medical advice, visit the NHS website for information on different conditions.
We hope this guide has been helpful. However, if you need any additional information about making a hand injury at work claim, call our team on the number above.