If you’ve suffered a back injury at work, you know how painful and disruptive it can be. Whether it was a torn ligament or serious spinal damage, if the accident was the fault of a negligent employer, you could be owed compensation. This guide will explain how to build a personal injury claim after an accident at work and is packed with free information to help.
We start our guide by explaining what a back injury is. We then look at the eligibility criteria that need to be satisfied in order to have good grounds to make a back injury claim. To help understand when you might have a valid claim, we provide a few examples of how work related back injuries could occur.
You might also like to know how much compensation could be awarded in a successful claim for a back injury. We explain how compensation could be awarded in successful claims.
The final section discusses the advantages of working with one of our No Win No Fee personal injury solicitors to launch a case.
Please connect with advisors at any point for free guidance and information about the back injury claims process. In addition to helping to assess whether you have good grounds to claim, they can help value how much compensation you might be eligible for. You can:
- Call us on 0800 073 8801 and discuss your back injury claim.
- Use the discussion window below to ask a question.
- Or contact us online.
Jump To A Section
- What Is A Back Injury At Work?
- Can I Make A Back Injury At Work Claim?
- How Could Back Injuries Be Caused By Employer Negligence?
- What Is My Back Injury At Work Compensation Amount?
- Claim Accident At Work Compensation Using A No Win No Fee Solicitor
- More Resources About Workplace Injury Claims
What Is A Back Injury At Work?
A back injury can cover a wide range of different symptoms depending on how severe it is. For instance, an injury caused by lifting something heavy might be less serious than a back injury caused by a fall. Typical symptoms and conditions can include:
- Stiffness and aching.
- Torn ligaments and displaced vertebrae (a herniated or ‘slipped’ disc)
- Lack of mobility.
- Burning sensations.
- Spasms and sharp, shooting pains anywhere along the spine into the legs, arms and neck.
- Trapped nerves that cause partial paralysis or severe pain such as Sciatica.
- Ankylosing spondylitis (inflamed spine).
Symptoms such as these can prevent you from working or functioning as normal. In severe cases, they may require complete bed rest or even surgery. Unfortunately, some back injuries can be permanent and cause life-altering issues for the person.
You could be entitled to claim compensation for any of these injuries if an employer failed to oversee the correct health and safety standards at work. We look at when you might have a valid claim for a back injury at work in the next section.
Can I Make A Back Injury At Work Claim?
To move forward with a valid personal injury claim, there are criteria that need to be met. This is based on the employer’s duty of care to you as outlined in the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HASAWA). This legislation requires employers to take practicable and reasonable steps to make sure that employees are protected from harm as they work.
Employers can take numerous actions to prevent work related back injuries. In addition to the main health and safety legislation, there is also a duty on employers to assess the weights and sizes of items they want staff to move.
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 states what steps employers should take to safeguard against injury from lifting, bending or carrying, which can be common causes of back injury. For example, if manual handling operations cannot be avoided, the risks should be as low as reasonably practicable, such as providing a lifting aid or breaking items into smaller loads.
Also clearly communicating health and safety rules as well as providing essential training to employees is crucial. So, to move ahead with a claim for a back injury at work, you need to show that:
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- A duty of care was in place at the moment of injury.
- Your employer failed to meet this obligation. For example, by having you move an item without the appropriate manual handling training.
- You suffered harm as a direct consequence. For example, you sprained your back due to adopting the wrong posture while lifting.
If you have any questions about your eligibility to claim compensation, speak to a member of our advisory team.
How Could Back Injuries Be Caused By Employer Negligence?
There are various ways you could sustain a work related back injury. These include:
- A member of staff slipped on a wet floor that was left unattended or lacked warning signs. This caused lumbar vertebrae damage to an employee.
- Because the employer failed to check workplace equipment, a broken ladder caused an employee to fall and fracture their spine as part of multiple injuries.
- You were asked to pick up an item from a shelf that required a twisting movement to reach. This caused a back injury.
- A back injury could also occur if you are asked to handle items that are too heavy for you.
Contact an advisor to discuss the incident that caused you a back injury at work and assess whether you have good grounds to claim.
What Is My Back Injury At Work Compensation Amount?
If your personal injury claim for a back injury at work is successful, your settlement can include compensation for up to two types of loss: general and special damages.
The first type of loss is general damages. In a successful claim, general damages compensate for the physical pain and psychological injuries caused by the incident. This head of claim considers severity, prognosis as well as loss of amenity.
Those who calculate general damages may refer to your medical records or the results of an independent assessment in conjunction with publications such as the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). The JCG lists guideline figures for various types of injuries that could be awarded as part of a personal injury claim.
There is an excerpt from the JCG below with the guidelines it gives for back injuries.
Compensation Guidelines
| INJURY AREA | SEVERITY | AWARD GUIDELINES |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Types of Severe Injury plus Special Damages | Severe | Up to £1 million plus. |
| Back | (a) Severe (i) | £111,150 to £196,450 |
| (a) Severe (ii) | £90,510 to £107,910 | |
| (a) Severe (iii) | £47,320 to £85,100 | |
| (b) Moderate (i) | £33,880 to £47,320 | |
| (b) Moderate (ii) | £15,260 to £33,880 | |
| (c) Minor (i) | £9,630 to £15,260 | |
| (c) Minor (ii) | £5,310 to £9,630 | |
| (c) Minor (iii) | £2,990 to £5,310 | |
| (c) Minor (iv) | Up to £2,990 |
Please be aware these figures are purely guidelines. In addition to the JCG figures, we include a figure at the top to show you how multiple injury compensation and special damages could be awarded. This figure is not from the JCG.
Can I Claim For Loss Of Earnings If I Have A Back Injury At Work?
You might qualify for the second head of loss called special damages. These reimburse the claimant for the financial harm they suffered as a consequence of the back injury. To include special damages, you need to present documented evidence showing the financial loss. For example:
- Any wage slips that prove you suffered a drop or loss in earnings caused by time off work.
- Receipts paid to anyone who cared for you.
- Medical bills.
- The current and predicted costs of long-term physiotherapy.
- Changes to your home or vehicle to help you cope.
- Tickets and receipts for essential travel.
Speak to our advisors about special and general damages for back injury at work claims. They can assess the strength of your claim in one phone call. If eligible, they could connect you with one of our solicitors to handle your claim if you wish to.
Claim Accident At Work Compensation Using A No Win No Fee Solicitor
There are many advantages to letting a solicitor handle your claim. They can help you to collect evidence and gather supporting statements from witnesses. Additionally, they will ensure that your claim is accurately valued and presented in full within the time limits. Most importantly, they will strive to get you the best possible compensation settlement.
Our solicitors offer these excellent services in a way that requires no upfront or ongoing fees to be paid to them. Using a type of No Win No Fee contract called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), you can also avoid having to pay any solicitor’s fees for completed services if the claim fails.
Your solicitor will only take a success fee from your compensation if your accident at work claim has a positive outcome. This is a small and legally restricted percentage deducted from the compensation. Because the success fee is subject to a cap, you can be confident that the bulk of the compensation goes directly to you.
Why not take an opportunity to see if this could help you with your back injury at work claim? Contact an advisor for a free, no obligation consultation. If you have good grounds to start a claim, you could be connected to one of our solicitors who can support your case on a No Win No Fee basis. To get in touch:
- Call us on 0800 073 8801 and discuss your potential claim.
- Use the discussion window below to ask a question.
- Or contact us online.
More Resources About Workplace Injury Claims
Here are a few further guides that might be useful:
- Read more about claims for back pain in this guide.
- This article offers guidance if you suffered a herniated slipped disc at work and want to claim.
- Here we discuss if you have to be an employee to make a workplace injury claim.
Some external links:
- Employee health and safety guidance from the Health and Safety Executive.
- Also, a guide to back pain from the NHS.
- Lastly, details about Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if you need to claim sick pay.
In conclusion, we appreciate your interest in our back injury at work guide. Please reach out to advisors for any more help and information.
