A Guide To Rib Injury Claims

By Ed Traore. Last updated 24th June 2022. Suffering an injury to our ribs, such as breaks, fractures or bruising, can be painful. If the injuries suffered occurred through no fault of your own, you could be entitled to rib injury compensation. This is what we’ll explore in our guide.

Ribs can be injured in a variety of different ways; it could happen whilst you’re at work, or in a road traffic accident or maybe due to a slip, trip or fall accident for example. Whatever the case, if your injury was caused by someone else’s negligence, then you have a good chance of having a legitimate cause for filing a personal injury claim.

Legal Helpline is a specialist claims management firm that has been working in the industry for a number of years. We have helped many people who have suffered rib injuries successfully claim compensation.

With our expertise and experience within the field, we can fully assess the details of your case for you and advise you on the best steps to take to get the compensation you deserve. To speak to us you can:

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Rib injury compensation claims guide

Whether you are looking to make broken rib claims, a bruised ribs injury claim, or another type of rib injury claim, this guide can serve as an informative resource to answer the many questions you may have regarding making rib injury compensation claims.

In this rib injury claims guide, you will find information such as what is the average settlement value of broken ribs, what to do if you suffer a rib injury at work or sustain rib injuries caused by a car accident, what can be included in your claim, the average compensation guide payouts and much more.

Once you have read through the guide, if you’d like to discuss the details of your own case, call Legal Helpline for a free consultancy session.

Common causes of injuries to ribs

An injury to the ribs is an injury that causes bruising, breaks or fractures to the ribs, and damage to the tissues supporting the rib cage such as tendons, ligaments and cartilage. Rib injuries can be very painful as they are constantly expanding and contracting as we breathe in a flexing motion.

Some of the most common rib injuries include:

  • Road traffic Accidents – Unsurprisingly, these types of accidents are the most common of all accidents that result in some form of rib injury. See further on in the guide for more information.
  • Rib Injuries due to Crushing – Crush injuries to the ribs are particularly common in the workplace where heavy machinery or equipment is in use such as in an industrial warehouse or factory.
  • Physical Assault – Rib injuries that occur due to being punched or kicked in the ribs, or from being knocked down to the ground.
  • Falling from a height – Also more common in the workplace, workers such as roofers, scaffolders and window cleaners are particularly at risk of damaging their ribs if they fall from a height.
  • Sporting Injuries – Ribs may be damaged whilst playing some sports particularly contact sports such as rugby and football.

Of course, there are a whole host of different ways in which someone may injure their ribs, but these tend to be the most common of all. For information on making rib injury claims, please see the next section.

Claiming compensation for rib injuries from slips, trips and falls

Slip, trip and fall accidents are some of the most common accidents that we deal with the aftermath of. In actual fact, these types of accidents are the most commonly reported in the UK.

Rib injury compensation claims

A rib injury caused by a slip, trip or fall accident can happen in a variety of ways and can often result in rib injury claims. It may be that you’ve tripped over a broken paving slab in a public place causing you to fall and hurt your ribs, or perhaps you slipped over in a supermarket.

Whether it’s the local council or a privately operated company or landowner, whoever is responsible for the upkeep of and the enforcement of health and safety regulations in that area, could be held liable if you suffer a rib injury due to their negligence. For instance, in the case where you may have tripped over a broken paving slab, the local council could be found at fault as they have left the pavement in disrepair. Or when you slipped over in the supermarket, for example, the supermarket could be found responsible as it’s their duty as part of health and safety regulations to provide a safe environment for anyone on their property and so any hazards should be have been cleared or signposted.

If you have injured your ribs from being involved in an accident that wasn’t your fault, providing you can prove that a third party was liable, you could have a legitimate cause for making rib injury claims.

Click Here To Learn More About Slip, Trip and Fall Claims

Road traffic accidents and rib injury compensation claims

Road traffic accidents can result in a host of serious injuries, with rib injuries being one of them. One reason for ribs frequently being damaged in road traffic accidents is because they are in direct line with the steering wheel. Even when an airbag is deployed, they can still suffer some level of damage especially when the accident happens at high speed.

How much compensation for bruised ribs in a car accident or for broken ribs or any other rib injury, will heavily depend on the severity of the injury and if there are any other side effects as a result of the injury.

If you have sustained an injury to your ribs in an accident involving a vehicle and you believe it was somebody else’s fault, then call us at Legal Helpline for informed help and advice. We have dealt with many personal injury claims of this nature over the years and so have the experience and expertise to help you to file successful rib injury claims for yourself.

Click Here To Learn More About Road Traffic Accident Claims

Claiming compensation for rib injuries at work

Accidents that happen whilst at work are unfortunately very common. Although on the whole, most employers follow the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 regulations as best as they can, accidents resulting in rib injuries can and do still happen.

If an employer has been negligent to their duty of care and failed to do everything as reasonably possible to provide their employees with a safe working environment, they could be liable for any subsequent injuries sustained. For example, if an employee sustains a rib injury at work, their employer may be held liable for a rib injury compensation claim should the employee decide to seek a payout.

All employers have a duty by law, to put relevant and sufficient health and safety policies and procedures in place in accordance with the regulations set out by the HSE (Health and Safety Executive), in order to ensure that their employees are working in an environment safe from harm as best as they can.

If you have been injured but the employer is following the Health and Safety guidelines and requirements correctly and doing the best they can to put practices in place for the prevention of accidents, then it is unlikely that a claim due to negligence would be successful. However, if they haven’t put adequate policies in place for health and safety concerns and you were to get injured as a result, then you could successfully file a claim due to negligence as long as it could be proven.

If you have sustained a rib injury whilst at work and are unsure as to who is liable, call us at Legal Helpline and we can hopefully shed some light on where you stand legally. In the meantime, our next section could help determine the severity of rib injuries and what type of rib injury claims they could result in.

Click Here To Learn More About Accidents At Work

Rib injury compensation payouts for 2022

There’s much to consider when determining rib injury compensation payouts. 2022 saw compensation figures increase slightly and we’ve included these updated amounts in the table below.

Before we discuss that, however, we wanted to give you some information on what else you can claim for beyond being compensated for the physical pain and suffering caused by your rib injury.

It’s also possible to recover financial losses caused by the accident. They’re known as special damages, and they can include:

  • Medical Expenses – Any expenses due to medical treatment, prescription fees, counselling costs and any other medical expenses you have incurred as a consequence of your injury should be included.
  • Travel Expenses – As with medical expenses, any extra expenses related to travel should be included. This can also include things like vehicle adaptions as well.
  • Lost Income – If you have had to take time away from work and so lost some of your income as a result, you can include this in your claim. Also, think about including any future potential loss of earnings and include these if relevant.
  • Care Claim – If you have required help around the home whilst you recover, the person helping can also make a claim.

When it comes to successfully claiming special damages, it’s vital that you keep all evidence to back up your expenses. Therefore, keep all bills, receipts and invoices so your solicitor can easily calculate what you’re owed.

Examples of rib injury compensation payouts

Below, you can find examples of rib injury compensation payouts. The figures have been taken from the guidelines of the Judicial College, which were updated and published in April 2022.

Reason for CompensationAverage Payout AmountComments
Severe Chest Injury£65,740 to £100,670Traumatic injury to the chest where the lungs and heart have suffered damage causing impairment of function and possibly reduced life expectancy.
Less Severe Chest Injuries£12,590 to £17,960Rib injuries that involve a single puncture wound due to fractured ribs and damaged soft tissue.
Minor Chest InjuriesUp to £3,950Simple fractures to ribs, or soft tissue injuries leaving claimant in short term pain.
Mental AnguishUp to £4,670Fear of impending death and loss of expectation of life.

We hope the table has demonstrated to you what compensation amounts are available to you should you win your case, but if you’d like to discuss your own unique case in more detail, then contact Legal Helpline for expert advice and guidance.

Can I make a No Win No Fee claim?

One of the main reasons people don’t go ahead with making a personal injury claim, even if they are entitled to do so, is the worry of not being able to afford the legal costs involved in hiring a legal firm or whether they can risk losing the money they have spent on the legal fees if their claim isn’t successful, after all, even with a strong case, there are never any guarantees or certainties that you will win.

This is why we like to offer our clients a no win no fee service. With no win no fee, as the name suggests, if we do not win your case for you, there are no legal fees to be paid, in other words, you do not pay us anything.

We will expect payment if we win your case, however, this is paid out of your final settlement amount as a small, legally-capped percentage. Therefore with our no win no fee service, there are no upfront costs to be paid and so the worry of financial risk is eliminated.

Click Here To Learn More About No Win No Fee Agreements

Contact Legal Helpline about your rib injury claim today

You may be looking for legal representation now you’ve learned more about the personal injury claims process. If so, we can help.

Here at Legal Helpline, we work with a panel of solicitors who possess vast amounts of experience when it comes to handling rib injury compensation claims.

We offer free case checks for everyone who gets in touch. And if we believe that you have a good chance of succeeding in a claim, we can connect you with our panel who’ll get the ball rolling right away.

There’s no obligation on your part to proceed with a claim and the advice we provide is completely free.

To speak to us today, you can:

Rib Injury Compensation Claims – FAQs

Here are answers to some popular queries about rib injury compensation claims.

How do you know if you’ve damaged a rib?

If you suspect you’ve sustained an injury, it’s imperative to seek immediate medical attention. Not only will this see that your injury is treated, but also log the accident in your medical records to be used to evidence any claim you make.

Useful Links and Resources

In this final section, we’ve included links to some other personal injury claims guides that you may find useful.

Health & Safety Executive

This may be useful if you sustained a rib injury at work as it is the Health and Safety Executives (HSE) website with details regarding the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

NHS

This is a very useful guide developed by the NHS on rib injuries, treatments and what you can and should do.

Ankle Injury Case Study

Thanks for reading our rib injury claims guide.

Elbow Injury Claims

More information on this kind of injury.

Compensation For Assault

Find out if you could claim for injuries sustained in an assault.

Read our guide to find out if you could claim if you were injured because you trapped your finger in a door and learn more about the claims process.

If you have any questions about making a rib injury compensation claim, please get in touch.