This guide will explain what to do if you experience a hand injury caused by machinery in the workplace. If you have been injured as a result of negligence, you could be entitled to claim.
In this guide, we will explain the duty of care owed to you as an employee by your employer. We will also discuss when you could be eligible to make a personal injury claim, and we will define negligence in the workplace.
There are many different kinds of machinery that you may encounter in the workplace. It is your employer’s responsibility to ensure that this machinery is adequately maintained and that you are provided with adequate training before you are asked to use it.
Talk to our advisors today for free legal advice about making hand injury claims. They can offer a free consultation and guidance. Also, if they believe you are eligible to claim compensation, they may connect you with a solicitor from our panel.
To get in touch:
- Call us on 0161 696 9685 to speak to a claims advisor
- Please fill out our contact form to make an online enquiry; or
- Speak to an online claims advisor using the widget below
Alternatively, carry on reading to learn more.
Hand injury caused by machinery claims guide
Select A Section
- What Are Hand Injury Caused By Machinery Claims?
- How Could A Hand Injury Caused By Machinery Occur?
- How Could An Accident Injure Your Hand?
- Top Tips For Claiming For A Hand Injury At Work
- Calculating Settlements For Hand Injuries At Work
- Starting A Claim For A Hand Injury Caused By Machinery
What Are Hand Injury Caused By Machinery Claims?
Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, employers owe their workers a duty of care. This means that they must take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that their employees are safe while carrying out their duties.
Similarly, under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, employers are responsible for maintaining, inspecting and training employees to use machinery. Workplaces must also take additional precautions to avoid accidents, such as fitting an emergency stop device to certain machines.
If you are injured because your employer has breached their duty of care, this is known as negligence. To find out if you could be eligible to make a claim for a hand injury caused by machinery, get in touch with our team of advisors today.
How Could A Hand Injury Caused By Machinery Occur?
There are many ways that hand injury could be caused by machinery in the workplace. However, it is important to remember that in order to claim, the accident must have been a result of your employer breaching their duty of care.
Some examples of how negligence could contribute to a hand injury at work include:
- A safety guard on a machine could break or be defective. If your employer fails to adequately maintain or provide safety guards or gear, your hand could be pulled into the machine and sustain a crush injury.
- If a piece of machinery isn’t properly fixed to the wall or the floor, it could topple over and injure a worker’s hand.
- A piece of machinery could be very hot with no warning signs advising of this, meaning that you sustain a burn injury.
- The workplace has supplied inadequate protective equipment, which could lead to lacerations or other cutting injuries.
These are just a few examples of how faulty or inadequately maintained machinery could cause a hand injury in the workplace. Get in touch today to find out if you could claim for a hand injury caused by machinery.
How Could An Accident Injure Your Hand?
While every case is different, and every injury is unique, some examples of hand injuries that could be caused by machinery include:
- Breaks and fractures
- Sprains and strains
- Nerve damage
- Impaired grip
- Cosmetic damage
- Cuts, lacerations, and deep scars
A serious injury to the hand could mean that you are unable to work for a long period. In severe cases, such as those that necessitate a hand amputation, you may no longer be able to work at all. In that case, you could receive damages to compensate for the loss of earnings experienced.
To learn more about the damages you could claim, read on. Alternatively, get in touch with our team to start your claim for a hand injury caused by machinery at work.
Top Tips For Claiming For A Hand Injury At Work
If you intend to make a claim for a hand injury caused by machinery, there are some steps you can take to help strengthen your claim. Some examples of evidence that could help in supporting your case include:
- Accident at work book logs: Logging your accident in the accident at work book can create a record of your accident. Any workplace with ten or more employees must have an accident book.
- CCTV footage: If your workplace has CCTV installed, there may be footage of the accident, or there may be footage of the circumstances that led to your injuries. This could help strengthen your claim.
- Medical evidence: A solicitor from our panel could help you arrange an independent medical assessment in which your injuries can be assessed and documented. Similarly, photographs of the injury or notes from a GP or hospital could help strengthen your claim.
Our advisors can provide you with free legal advice. If you have suffered a hand injury caused by machinery at work, get in touch. They can provide more information on how a solicitor from our panel could help you.
Calculating Settlements For Hand Injuries At Work
If your hand injury at work claim succeeds, you could receive two kinds of damages. These are general damages and special damages.
General damages is the head of your claim that relates to the pain and suffering caused by your injuries. Below, you can find a personal injury compensation table featuring compensation brackets from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). Solicitors and other legal experts will often use this document to aid in calculating compensation in personal injury claims.
| Degree Of Hand Injury | Notes | Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| A - Loss of both hands | Where there is the total or effective loss of both hands. | £140,660 to £201,490 |
| C - Loss Of One Hand | Either the hand has been crushed and then amputated or instances where all the fingers and the majority of the hand were surgically amputated. | £96,160 to £109,650 |
| D - Amputation of Index and Middle, and/or Ring Fingers | The hand will have little to no use and grip will be very weak. | £61,910 to £90,750 |
| B - Serious Damage To Both Hands | Where the person suffers serious hand injuries leading to permanent damage such as cosmetic disability and loss of significant function. | £55,820 to £84,570 |
| R - Loss of Thumb | Total amputation of the thumb. | £35,520 to £54,830 |
| E - Serious Hand Injuries | An injury which reduces the hands usefulness by half. Several fingers may have been surgically amputated and subsequently reattached. | £29,000 to £61910 |
| G - Less Serious Hand Injuries | Severe forms of crush injury. The hand's usefulness is significantly reduced without having surgery in the future or where an operation has been carried out. | £14,150 to £29,000 |
| S - Very Serious Injury to Thumb | This bracket contains injuries in which the thumb has been severed and reattached with a graft, though there is no remaining use. | £19,600 to £35,010 |
| J - Fracture of Index Finger | In this bracket, the fracture will mend quickly, though there will still be an impairment of grip. | £9,110 to £12,240 |
| H - Moderate Hand Injury | Serious and deep lacerations, a penetrating wound or a crush injury. | £5,720 to £13,280 |
You may also be eligible for special damages. This is the head of claim that addresses the financial harm you suffer as a result of your injuries. For example, if your hand is amputated, you may need to have special adjustments made to your living space. The cost of this could be covered by special damages.
Please contact Legal Helpline; an advisor can value your claim. The compensation payments table above does not include special damages.
Starting A Claim For A Hand Injury Caused By Machinery
If you suffered a hand injury at work because your employer breached their duty of care, you could be entitled to make a claim. Please call our helpline, and an advisor can assess your case. If they can see that you meet the criteria to claim compensation, they could connect you with a solicitor from our panel to help.
You may choose to access legal representation through a kind of No Win No Fee agreement known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Under a CFA, your solicitor will agree to start work on your claim without being paid an upfront fee. In fact, the only fee your solicitor will require for their work is a success fee, and only if your claim succeeds. If it doesn’t, you will typically not be asked to pay your solicitor for their work.
To see if you can claim compensation for a broken hand or hand injury with the help of a solicitor from our panel, please use the information below to get in touch:
- Call our helpline on 0161 696 9685
- Make an online enquiry
- Use the advice widget below to speak to an advisor
Learn More About Hand Injuries
To read more helpful accident at work articles, we recommend:
- How To Make Defective Work Equipment Accident And Injury Claims?
- Agency Worker Accident At Work Claim
- Tendon Injury At Work Compensation Claims
- This case study covers a £25,000 payout for a broken wrist injury at work.
Or, for more helpful resources from other sites:
Thank you for reading our guide to claiming compensation for a hand injury caused by machinery.
Written by HC
Edited by CH/FS