Recent figures indicate that work accident claims have led to £27 million in personal injury compensation to workers in the public sector.
Workers who suffer personal injury claims whilst on the job through no fault of their own are entitled to compensation from their employers. Compensation from such accident claims is routinely used to cover the costs of medical bills or lost wages.
The Daily Express recently reported that nearly 4,000 work accident claims were brought over the past 12 months. One such claim involved a teacher being awarded £150,000 after her personal injury lawyers demonstrated how badly her throat had been damaged while teaching in her classroom.
The teacher’s classroom was located near a busy courtyard, which required her to raise her voice consistently for an extended period of time. As a result she not only became extremely hoarse but also developed injuries that required medical treatment at hospital. Her injuries precluded her from returning to work as she healed.
General secretary for labour union Unison Dave Prentis commented on the situation by stating that employers have a duty of care towards their workers. When employers fail to meet this duty, their employees and the families of these employees are deserving of compensation for any pain and suffering that may occur, he added.
Personal injury legal proceedings have been in decline over the past three years, according to the Claims Standards Council. However work accident claims can still be expensive for large-scale employers such as the NHS. In one such case one man was recently jailed for neglecting to pay his court-ordered compensation. Despite a judge ruling that the man’s employee was entitled to £6,000 in injury compensation, the employer missed one of the scheduled payments to his former employee.