Industrial Injuries & Illnesses

Employees who suffer personal injury or contract disease arising as a result of their employment may be entitled to financial compensation for Industrial Injuries & Illnesses compensation if it can be shown that the injury was caused by negligence or breach of statutory duty on the part of their employer. Liability may also fall on the employer if the injury was caused by a fellow worker as employers are required to provide competent employees and are vicariously for their acts or omissions.

Proving that the employer is liable is one aspect of the claim but it is also necessary to quantify the amount of compensation to which the claimant is entitled. There are various headings under which compensation may be payable such as:

• Pain and suffering
• Permanent disability or disfigurement
• Loss of past or future earnings
• Medical, surgical or nursing expenses, prescription charges
• Other expenses incurred eg. transport
• Costs of paying for housework, gardening etc if the claimant can no longer carry them out
• Gratuitious assistance such as unpaid help from friends/family
• Loss of or damage to property.

Proof of liability and quantification of Industrial Injuries & Illnesses claims can be complex issues for which the services of an experienced personal injury solicitor are essential.

Industrial Injury & Illnesses

The place of work provides many hazards –many of them are obvious like chemicals or dangerous machinery, whilst many other hazards may be a bit less apparent-like industrial illnesses. There is a vast array of illnesses like mesothelioma, vibration white finger, asbestosis, strain injuries that are repetitive in nature, skin diseases like eczema and dermatitis, industrial deafness, tinnitus, raynaud and carpel tunnel being among the major ones.

It becomes your duty as an employer to protect your employees from hazardous situations and hazardous substances whilst they are in job so that the risk of developing any type of industrial illnesses gets minimised.  

Following are some of the valuable ways through which some of big risks can be minimised:

1) If the working environment in which your employees have to work is extremely noisy, then, it is imperative to reduce noise to a bearable level. If this cannot be done, it is advisable to provide your employees with the ear defenders so that industrial deafness or hearing loss can be prevented in a big way.

2) If the working environment brings the employees into the contact of dangerous chemicals, you should look for ways through which dangerous chemicals can be replaced with less harmful chemicals. Also, make sure that the employees get into minimum contact with monstrous chemicals as far sa possible. If the harmful chemicals cannot be replaced, provide them protective clothing.

Industrial injury

Industrial injury can be defined as any body part damage or disease that results from official working. Generally, the organs like hands, lungs, skeleton, spine, skin and the head become the victims in the industrial injuries.

The common causes due to which industrial injuries generally occur are failure or misuse of vehicles; safety training that had been inadequate, poor ergonomics, long hair or jewellery which gets tangled in any machinery or tools and manual handling that is done to very heavy loads.

If your employees have suffered from any type of industrial illness and injury when working for your company, you are legally bound to entitle them compensation for suffering, pain and more importantly loss of wages.

It is also advisable that you insure your workers with insurance policies against industrial illnesses and injuries. If any type of mishappening takes place, claims shall be made from insurance company. This way you will be relieved from huge financial liabilities.

Common Industrial Injuries

A huge number of people are working in workplaces wherein they may get exposed to various hazardous industrial equipments, machineries or materials. Workers in construction sites and industrial sector sustain severe Industrial injuries and illnesses almost daily because of the negligence, carelessness or ignorance of the owners or their failure to warn the workers properly regarding the hidden dangers of the workplace. The workers have various types of threats at their workplace. The most common industrial injuries include slips and falls, limb injuries and damages caused due to inhalation of poisonous fumes in chemical plants. Either way, the worker has to generally suffer and incur the heavy costs of treatment and hospitalisation. At times, serious Industrial injuries and illnesses can even render a victim useful for his or her entire life, making the dependants also suffer along.

Various reasons that stand as a factor for an industrial accident include lifting up of heavy items, accidents caused due to hazardous machineries, impairment and disease induced materials and chemicals in the workplace or use of defective products, equipments, materials or machineries used in the workplace. There is no distinction between the common industrial injuries caused suddenly in an accident or had long been in the procedure such as repetitive strain injuries.

All labourers and workers must know that they have a legal and civil right to file a compensation claim against the employers to recompense their injuries. If the workers are uneducated or unskilled, the employers may offer them no or low compensation, which would mean their unfair exploitation. That is why, professional and experience lawyers are needed to file the claim and represent the case convincingly in the court. These lawyers, having studied various cases related to industrial injuries cases, have good knowledge about the safety precautions and measured that required in a workplace and they are also aware of the legal rights of the workers. These lawyers represent the case convincingly in the court for getting due compensation amount for proper treatment and care of the victim and for some monetary relief also. The best thing is that most of these lawyers work on the basis of no win no fees, which means that the clients will not be paying any fees to the lawyers if they do not win the case.

Industrial Deafness

Hearing loss or difficulties due to increase in age is quite a common thing and is known as presbyacusis. However, human ear has a certain limit to which it can endure loud noises; anything louder will surely have its negative effects. Hearing problems are often noticed due to exposure to loud noises at the workplace. This may lead to industrial Deafness like temporary hearing loss, permanent hearing loss, acoustic trauma, and tinnitus. While temporary hearing loss can be recovered from after a few hours of being in a noise-free environment, but if the ear is constantly exposed to extremely loud voices, this temporary hearing loss might become a permanent hearing loss soon.  Hearing a sudden loud noise such as an explosion or gunfire at the workplace might also lead to damage to the physical structure of the ear, perforated eardrum along with the hearing loss. Also, it is irreversible in almost all the cases. Last but not least, tinnitus involves hearing different kind of noises in ears like buzzing, whistling, hissing, roaring and ringing. While tinnitus is generally temporary, at times it can be permanent as well.

However, it is the duty of the employer to provide appropriate equipments to its employees or workers so as to protect them from any such hearing impairment, but in case he doesn’t and this negligence leads to any damage to any employee’s health or well-being, employee then has all the rights to ask for a compensation claim any such industrial injuries and illnesses.  

An employee can also seek professional help to assist him with the case and get the right amount of compensation for the industrial deafness. There are absolutely no costs involved in availing the services of personal injury solicitors. These can be accessed online where you can find the best solicitors to file a claim for any of the industrial injuries and illnesses that might have harmed you due to unsafe working conditions. So, in order to avoid paying for any such claims, it is always better for the employers to take care of the well-being of its workers and that they are working in a healthy workplace.  Audiometry tests can be conducted to see if a person has any hearing impairment. The compensation is then paid for according to the seriousness of the damage that has been caused and the consequences that it has lead to in future in financial matters and other such things.

Industrial Diseases

An industrial disease is an unceasing ailment that happens at most of the workplaces due to several unpredictable reasons. The symptoms of industrial diseases are more common in workers than in common public. Improving organization’s infrastructure, addressing issues like work practices and workload on workers, matching their skill with the work and holding clear responsibilities and accountability by them, are such steps which are crucial to prevent Industrial Injuries & Illness occurring at the worksites. To improve the security of working place and to create better working atmosphere, it is imperative to involve right working pattern, ensuring a happy and secured workplace, strengthening communication and protecting ill-practicing work by workers.

The most common industrial diseases occurring in the workers are; Black lung disease which is usually seen in the workers of coal mining industry and Carpel Tunnel Syndrome - occurs while median nerve squeezed or pressed at the wrists. Its symptoms include tingling, itching, or burning numbness in the palms and in the fingers, particularly thumb, middle and index fingers. Radiation Sickness, another kind of industry disease that is normally occurs in the workers of nuclear industries. Byssinosis disease occurs in the lungs of the workers due to cotton dust they breathe in or dusts of other vegetable fibers like hemp, flax, or sisal at work place.

Another example of industrial diseases is COPD or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Its symptoms include a persistent phlegm or cough, problem in breathing, and development of chest infections. This disease can not be reversed in any case once it develops.  COPD causes damage in lungs, making them narrow, and harder for air to take in and out of the lungs. Other most common diseases are silicosis, asbestos, occupational lung diseases, and occupational asthma, which cause more and more respiration problem to workforce working in such industries where they are more exposed to hazardous smoke, chemicals and dust. The symptoms of silicosis include tightness of chest, shortness of breath, and persistent cough in the people.

These horrible figures of increasing industry diseases with industry injuries and illness are really a shocking approach to health abuse and safety at work place. Although the figures of this harrowing insight have improved to a bit but health concerning issues regarding work force in worksites are still a bigger issue for worry. And the problems may also include hearing problems, various skin problems and heart diseases or heart attack in the people working in such hazardous conditions.

Industrial disease compensation

Though the working conditions at the workplace has improved immensely in the past few years, still it is quite common to see cases where people have developed industrial injuries and illness due to excess of exposure to any harmful substance that is extensively used at their workplace.

In case, an employer has exposed their employees to some harmful substance that has further lead to the development of any disease or illness, the grieved employee can then claim for a compensation for his condition from the employer. It is the responsibility of the employer to provide protection to its employees from hazardous situations and substances while they are working for the company. This can be done by either minimising or replacing the harmful substance with the less harmful one. However, if it is not possible to replace or minimise the use of the harmful substance, employees can then be made available any device or clothing to protect themselves from any industrial injuries and illness that might be anticipated due to an exposure to that harmful substance or situation. For instance, in case the working environment at the workplace is too noisy to bear, it becomes the duty of the employer to take measures so as to decrease the noise to the acceptable level. If this doesn’t seem to be a possible option, employees can be made available ear defenders to avert Noise Induced Hearing Loss or Industrial Deafness. If these protective defenders are provided to employees, wearing them is surely their responsibility and not the employers.

In case an employee is undergoing sufferings due to any previous conditions at the workplace, he may be entitled to a personal injury compensation claim. There are various factors that might lead to industrial disease compensation for conditions such as lung cancer, industrial deafness, vibration white finger, pneumoconiosis, asbestosis, industrial skin diseases, industrial respiratory diseases and mesothelioma. Nevertheless, the numbers of victims placing a claim for industrial diseases have reduced to a great extent due to improved working conditions that are ensured to employees these days. Unlike the industrial disease compensation claims, generally the claim for the personal injury should be made by the victim within three years from the accident date. However, this limitation of three years is overlooked in certain rare cases if the victim is not aware of the injury or illness in the first three years. To make the claim for the same, it is necessary for the victim to prove that he/she acted promptly after his/her diagnosis about the suffering.

If you have suffered personal injury or illness caused by the negligence of another party you are likely to be entitled to financial compensation from the responsible person. We are specialist No Win No Fee accident claim solicitors handling all types of injury claims including industrial injuries and illnesses, work accidents, slips and trips etc.

If you have been injured in the last three years and would like a Free Legal Assessment of your claim please complete the Application Form. Workaccidentclaim.net will handle your claim on a No Win No Fee basis at no cost to you.