Is An Employee Eligible To Claim If They Did Not Report An Injury?

By Jo Anderson. Last Updated 12th February 2024. Welcome to this guide to making an injury at work claim if you did not report an injury at work. In it, we explain what you may need to know about making an employee accident report, and what you should include in a report of an accident at work. We also discuss compensation payouts for an injury at work for 2022 claims. Plus, we explain what happens if an employer does not report an accident. And, we look at what happens if you’re injured at work, but it’s not reported. If you’re asking, ‘I had an accident at work but didn’t report it, can I claim?’ this guide could help.

A work injury report form

You’re probably aware that, if you have an accident at work, then you could claim compensation for your injuries if the accident was caused by your employers’ negligence. But what if the employee did not report the injury? This guide is going to explain when personal injury claims can be made, and when they can’t, when reporting workplace injuries should be done by and how we could help you make a no win no fee claim.

If you’d tke to discuss how we could help you begin a claim today, please call us on 0800 073 8801. Alternatively, to find out how a personal injury solicitor could help even when an employee injury was not reported, please read on.

Select A Section

  1. Could I Claim For My Injury If I Did Not Report An Injury At Work?
  2. What Accidents Should Employees Report?
  3. Legal Requirements For Reporting Injuries At Work
  4. Time Limits For Reporting Accidents At Work – How Long To Make An Employee Accident Report
  5. Why Was The Injury Not Reported?
  6. How To Prove You Were Injured From Work Activities
  7. Workplace Injuries – How Much Compensation Could I Claim?
  8. No Win No Fee Claims For An Injury As An Employee
  9. Learn More About Claiming If You Did Not Report An Injury At Work

Could I Claim For My Injury If I Did Not Report An Injury At Work?

While in the workplace, you are owed a duty of care by your employer under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Per their duty of care, they must take reasonable steps to prevent you from coming to harm while you are completing your work-related duties. 

Additionally, under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR), certain work-related accidents must be reported. We will discuss this in more depth in a later section. Any work workplace that has 10 or more employees must also have an accident book on-site for accidents to be reported within. 

However, you may still be able to make a personal injury claim even if you did not report an injury at work, as this is not one of the eligibility requirements to have a valid claim. In order to have a valid case, you must meet the following requirements.

  1. Your employer owed you a duty of care.
  2. They breached this duty.
  3. You suffered an injury as a result of this breach.

To see whether you may have a valid accident at work claim, you can contact one of the advisors on our team. They can also help answer any questions you may have about the personal injury claims process.

What Accidents Should Employees Report?

As an employee, the best advice is to report any accident at work to your employer. Whether it’s minor or major, serious or not, you should report it. That’s because, HSE requirements state that employers need to tell them about any type of accident at work which falls under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (or RIDDOR).

Under RIDDOR, the following specified injuries need to be reported:

  • Injuries resulting in reduced sight or loss of sight.
  • Fractures (not including the digits of the feet or hands).
  • Injuries resulting in an amputation.
  • Burns and scalds that damage eyes, organs or respiratory system or those covering more than 10% of the body.
  • Crush injuries to the torso or head.
  • Scalping injuries (that require hospital treatment).
  • Head injuries or asphyxia resulting in unconsciousness.
  • Hypothermia or heat related illnesses.
  • Any injury which causes hospitalisation for over 24 hours.
  • Injuries that requires resuscitation.

So, even if your injury is not listed in the RIDDOR list, we’d recommend you report it anyway. You could still seek compensation for other injuries not reportable under RIDDOR regulations so an accident report could help.

How To Report An Injury To Your Employer

The best method of reporting your injury is to tell your supervisor or a manager about what happened. They will either record it in the company accident book or you may be able to do so yourself. Accident report books should be accessible, and you should be able to obtain a copy of any entry to use as proof the accident happened, on the date you say and it should show the cause and injuries too.

We’ll cover what you should do if there was no accident report book available later in this guide.

Legal Requirements For Reporting Injuries At Work

The legal requirements for an employer, following an accident at work which falls under the RIDDOR legislation are:

  • To ensure all reportable illness, accidents, injuries, deaths and dangerous occurrences are recorded. These records should be kept up to date.
  • This can be done via a computer system, an accident book or a simple written log.
  • To update the HSE, via an online tool, about any reportable occurrences.
  • Any company which has 10 or more employees, must have an accident report book.
  • RIDDOR files must be kept for a minimum of 3 years.
  • Incidents have to be reported to the HSE within 10 days.

An accident report book will usually record the date of accident and where it happened, the date it was reported, details of the injured party and details of the injury or illness caused.

Time Limits For Reporting Accidents At Work – How Long To Make An Employee Accident Report

There is no official time limit for reporting an accident to your employer, but an employee accident report should be done as soon as possible. That’s because, the longer you leave it, the more chance they could have of saying your injuries were not sustained in the way you claim.

The time limit for making a personal injury claim in the UK is 3 years. That’s from the date of the accident or from the date you found out about your illness or injuries. In the case of industrial diseases such as cancer caused by asbestos exposure, could be many years after the illness or disease was caused.

Why Was The Injury Not Reported?

There are a number of different reasons why reporting of accidents in the workplace don’t happen straight away. This could include:

  • Incapacitation: Obviously, if your injury is so severe that you’re hospitalised, there’s no way you’ll be able to report the accident immediately. When your recovery begins, you should take steps to tell your employer via email or letter about what happened. Ensure you keep a copy of the letter for yourself.
  • Unaware of procedure: You may not have ever been told about the requirement to report accidents at work. In this case, you could still be able to claim but would need to rely on other evidence to support your claim including proving that you’d never been advised of the health and safety policy.

Obviously, the lack of an accident report does leave you open to your employer denying the accident ever happened or that the injuries you claim didn’t happen in the accident, so it’s always best to report any type of accident at work. We’ll cover what can be done if your accident wasn’t reported later in this guide.

How To Prove You Were Injured From Work Activities

You may not have been able to report an injury work for a variety of reasons. The absence of an accident book is just one example of this. However, you can prove that negligence caused you to be injured at work in other ways. Here are some examples of evidence you could gather and present to help support your claim:

  • CCTV footage – You can make a request for footage that you appear in. It may show the act of negligence that caused your injury. Footage can be deleted as part of an automatic process or even intentionally. Therefore, it can be productive to take this step as soon as reasonably possible.
  • Photographs – Having visual evidence of your injuries at their peak can help in many ways. This includes aiding in the process of valuing your claim.
  • Witness contact details – If you have a way to reach out to others who saw how you were injured, a personal injury solicitor could assist you by gathering written statements.

There are other forms of evidence that may prove helpful too. If you’ve had an injury at work and want to know more about how you can establish negligence, get in touch today.

Workplace Injuries – How Much Compensation Could I Claim?

If your work accident compensation claim is successful, how much compensation you would receive would be based on the unique facts and circumstances of your case.

You could receive a payout that includes general damages and special damages. The first head of claim, general damages, compensates for the suffering and pain your injuries have caused you. The Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), is a document that provides guideline payout brackets for a range of injuries at different severities and may be used by those calculating your general damages payout.

Below, the table contains figures from the 2022 edition of the JCG. However, please remember that this is only rough guidance. It should also be noted that the first entry of this table has not been taken from the JCG.

 

Edit
Injury Type Compensation Notes
Multiple serious injuries with financial expenses included. Up to £1,000,000+ Combinations of serious injuries causing serious pain and financial expense such as medical costs, travel expenses and losses of pay.
Amputation of an arm (b) (ii) £109,650 to £130,930 One arm anmputated above the shoulder.
Neck Injury – Severe – (a) (ii) £65,740 to £130,930 Serious disc damage and/or fractures.
Neck Injury – Moderate (b) (ii) £13,740 to £24,990 Lesions on the discs causing cervical spondylosis for example.
Leg Injury – Serious – (b) (iii) £39,200 to £54,830 Comminuted fractures/ compound fractures and serious injuries to joints and ligaments, causing instability.
Brain injury – Less Severe (d) £15,320 to £43,060 Recovery that allows for a return to work and relatively normal life with some continuing symptoms.
Elbow Injury (b) £15,650 to £32,010 Where there is a functional impairment but not much of a disability.
Back Injury – Minor (c) (i) £7,890 to £12,510 Full recovery between 2-5 years.
Fractured clavicle (e) £5,150 to £12,240 A fracture to the clavicle

 

Additionally, you could receive special damages, which compensates you for the financial losses and costs caused by your injuries. Special damages could include:

  • Travel costs – for expenses incurred while getting to medical appointments or to meet your solicitor, such as taxi fares.
  • Care costs – for care at home you’ve had to pay for as you could not perform daily tasks due to your injuries.
  • Medical expenses – for example, prescription fees.
  • Loss of income – for loss of pay due to you being unable to work due to your injuries.

When claiming for these financial losses under special damages, you will need to present evidence of them. This could include bank statements and payslips.

To learn more about compensation payouts or how a work accident report could help support your personal injury claim, please contact an advisor.

No Win No Fee Claims For An Injury As An Employee

If you are eligible to make a work accident compensation claim, one of our solicitors may offer to take on your case under a No Win No Fee arrangement, such as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).

When working with a solicitor under a CFA, it typically means you won’t have to pay them anything for their services either upfront or during the progression of your claim. Furthermore, you will not have to pay for the work they have provided should your claim be unsuccessful.

However, your solicitor will deduct a success fee from the compensation awarded to you if your claim is a success. This success fee is a small percentage that is capped by the law.

To check whether you could make a personal injury claim with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors, please contact an advisor. They could also provide advice on obtaining a work accident report to back up your claim. To contact them today, you can:

Learn More About Claiming If You Did Not Report An Injury At Work

Thanks for reading our guide about an injury that was not reported. To assist you further, we’ve provided some extra guides and links below.

We hope you have enjoyed this guide to making a claim if you did not report an injury at work. Now, we’ve explained what you may need to know about making an employee accident report. Plus, what you should include in a report of an accident at work.