Different Types Of Personal Injury Claims

Welcome to our guide looking at the different types of personal injury claims. If you’ve been injured because of a breach of duty of care, then you could be owed compensation.

Personal injury claims guide

This article will look at four types of accident claims that you could make under personal injury law. These are accidents at work, road traffic accidents, industrial disease claims and public liability claims.

We’ll look at the duty of care owed to you in a number of scenarios. Furthermore, we’ll look at how this duty of care could be breached, resulting in an injury.

If you have any questions about claiming or would like a free valuation of your claim, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can contact us using the button at the top of this page.

Select a Section

What Are Personal Injury Claims?
Accident At Work Claims
Road Traffic Accident Claims
Public Liability Claims
Industrial Disease Claims
Work With A No Win No Fee Personal Injury Solicitor
More Advice On Personal Injury Claims

What Are Personal Injury Claims?

A personal injury claim provides you with the opportunity to claim compensation for an accident that caused you to suffer an injury. However, to hold a valid claim, the following needs to have been established:

You were owed a duty of care by someone, e.g. an employer, owner of a public place or road user.
They breached their duty of care.
This breach then led to an injury, either physical or psychological

There are a number of different places where a third party owes you a duty of care. For example, you’re owed a duty of care while you’re at work, on the road or in a public space. We will go on to look at this in more detail in subsequent sections.

Furthermore, you need to be aware of the personal injury claims time limit. As per the Limitation Act 1980, it’s generally three years. The three years will either start from the date of the accident or the date you became aware that third-party negligence caused your injuries. This is referred to as the “date of knowledge”.

However, some exceptions may apply depending on your circumstances. For instance, for those under 18, the three-year time limit will not start until they turn 18. Before this point, a parent, guardian or solicitor could claim for them as a litigation friend.

In the case of anyone who doesn’t have the mental capacity to put forward a claim themselves, the three years are frozen, and a litigation friend could claim on their behalf. The three years will start in the event that they recover. If they don’t recover, the three-year limit stays frozen indefinitely.

Accident At Work Claims

Every employer has a duty of care to the workers they employ. This is set out in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA). The legislation specifies that an employer should do everything they reasonably can to avoid employees suffering harm.

One of the things an employer is expected to do is put risk assessments to address potential risks and putting preventative measures in place. For instance, if an employer finds a piece of equipment is not fit for use, they should either get it fixed or replace it to avoid it causing an accident when it’s used in future. Additionally, they should make employees aware of any risks that are highlighted in risk assessments.

If an employer fails to fulfil their duty of care towards you, they could be liable for an accident that caused injuries. Some examples of how an employer could be liable include:

Failing to check a ladder was safe to use and an employee falling a breaking their leg
Not putting a wet floor sign down leading to an employee slipping and dislocating their shoulder
Not storing equipment properly, meaning that it falls from a shelf and hits a member of staff on the head

Road Traffic Accidents

Any road user such as a driver, cyclist, pedestrian or motorcyclist must comply with the Road Traffic Act 1988. In addition, they should be aware of the rules and guidance in the Highway Code.

Road users all have a duty of care to each other, and they should do everything reasonably possible to ensure they don’t cause harm to one another while using the road. Failing to do so could result in serious road traffic accidents.

Examples of road accidents caused by a breach of duty of care could include:

A driver failing to abide by the speed limits and knocking into a pedestrian, causing them to fracture their collarbone
A motorcyclist failing to stop and check the road is clear at a junction and crashing into a car travelling on the main road, causing them both to suffer multiple injuries
A driver failing to check their mirrors when reversing and crashing into a cyclist, causing them to suffer a minor head injury
A driver crashing into the back of another car because they failed to keep a safe stopping distance, causing the passengers to suffer whiplash

Whiplash is just one of the injuries that you could sustain in a road traffic accident. It’s important to note that the way you can claim compensation for injuries worth less than £5,000 has changed due to the Whiplash Reforms that came into effect from the 31st of May. These reforms apply to drivers and passengers over the age of 18.

For more information on personal injury claims for whiplash injuries, you can speak to our team by calling on the number at the top of the page.

Public Liability Claims

Every person in control of a public space (referred to in the legislation as the “occupier”) must comply with the Occupiers Liability Act 1957. The legislation outlines the duty of care owed to you. As there are so many different public places such as cinemas, parks and shops, their specific responsibilities to health and safety may vary.

However, for the most part, each owner needs to carry out all reasonably possible actions to prevent you from suffering harm. For instance, they should complete risk assessments to establish any potential risks. These risks should then be removed or, if this is not possible, minimised.

There are a number of different ways the occupier of a public space could act negligently, resulting in you being injured. For instance:

Serving a customer a dish containing something they have stated they are allergic to. This results in them suffering an allergic reaction.
The local council failing to maintain paving stones on a public path. This leads to someone tripping on uneven pavement and suffering a severe head injury
The manager of a gym fails to put a notice on a broken machine to advise members of the public not to use it. As a result, someone does use it and becomes injured as a result.

If you would like to know more about personal injury claims for accidents that occur in public places, please get in touch with our team. An advisor will be happy to offer you free legal advice.

Industrial Diseases

An employer breaching their duty of care could lead to a number of different health conditions, such as carpal tunnel syndrome or Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome. Either of these could be due to an employer failing to follow the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

Employers who have developed health conditions because of negligence on the part of their employer could make personal injury claims. For example:

Providing inadequate training on the correct way to use vibrating tools
Not making employees aware of the risks of using certain equipment
Failing to provide the proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to protect you from the risk of Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome

Additionally, other diseases that an employer’s failings could cause might include noise-induced hearing loss and asbestos-related illnesses such as mesothelioma. An employer may be liable for asbestos-related illnesses if they:

Failed to make you aware of the presence of asbestos in a workplace
Failed to supply personal protective equipment if you were working directly with asbestos

Furthermore, workers employed in certain jobs may be more susceptible to noise-induced hearing loss. For instance, milk bottling lines or milling operations can include high levels of sound that could be damaging to hearing or cause tinnitus. An employer could be liable for an employee’s hearing loss if they:

Failed to reduce the noise volume of machinery
Didn’t provide ear muffs or plugs
Took no action to reduce long term exposure, such as through job rotation

If you have suffered any of the above industrial diseases or illnesses, you could claim personal injury claims compensation. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team for more details.

Work With A No Win No Fee Personal Injury Solicitor

Whether you’re seeking compensation after a road traffic accident, accident at work or public place accident, a solicitor could represent you on a No Win No Fee basis.

This means that you won’t pay solicitor fees if your solicitor fails to win your claim. Your solicitor also won’t ask you to pay anything upfront or while the claim is ongoing.

If your solicitor successfully wins your claim, you’ll need to pay a small fee that will be deducted from your compensation. This is capped by law and ensures that you always get the majority of the compensation you’re awarded.

If this is something you’re interested in exploring further, speak to an advisor by calling the number above. An advisor can assess the validity of your claim, and if they determine your claim holds weight, they can appoint a solicitor to represent you.

For further information on the personal injury claims process, why not get in touch with our team today? One of our advisors will be happy to provide you with free legal advice about claiming.

More Advice On Personal Injury Claims

See the government website for road safety statistics.

See the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website for more workplace safety statistics.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) offers guidance on how to prevent accidents from occurring.

We also have a bunch of guides on personal injury claims which you can read below:

Thank you for taking the time to read this guide exploring the different types of personal injury claims.

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