Shoulder Injury at Work Claim – A Guide to Claiming Compensation

A shoulder injury caused by an accident at work or because of poor working practices over prolonged periods could allow you to claim compensation from your employer. Therefore, we’ve written this guide to explain your options and to answer some common questions on shoulder injury at work claims.

To supplement this guide, our specially trained advisors are on hand to review your claim as part of a free initial consultation. During your call, you’ll receive free legal advice about your options. If it appears that you should be compensated for your work-related shoulder injury, we’ll connect you with one of our solicitors. If they agree to help you claim, you’ll benefit from a No Win, No Fee service.

To discuss your claim with us today, you can:

• Call our legal advisors on 0333 241 2519.
• Use our free live chat service.

You should find everything you need to know about workplace shoulder injury claims within this guide but please feel free to get in touch with any further questions.

Can I Make a Shoulder Injury at Work Claim?

The first thing that must always be proven in personal injury claims is that the defendant owed you a legal duty of care. For accident-at-work claims, this is usually quite straightforward as all employers have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to try and improve workplace safety. This duty is described in the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

As a result, some of the steps that could be taken to try and reduce the risk of workplace shoulder injuries include:

• Carrying out regular risk assessments of the working environment to spot any removable hazards.
• Training staff on how to do their job as safely as possible.
• Supplying personal protective equipment (PPE) for free where risks can’t be reduced in other ways.
• Limiting the amount of manual handling where possible.
• Ensure that all machinery and workplace equipment is well-maintained and fit for purpose.

The main eligibility requirements that you’ll need to produce for a shoulder injury at work claims are:

• Legally, your employer had a duty of care towards your well-being at the point of an accident.
• Your accident occurred as a result of your employer’s negligence.
• Your shoulder injury has been diagnosed in the last three years and can be directly linked to the accident.

If you suspect that you should be compensated for a work-related shoulder injury, you can speak to one of our specialist advisors now on the phone number above.

What Types of Negligence Can Lead to a Shoulder Injury at Work Claim?

Various types of accidents can result in workplace shoulder injuries. Here we’ve listed a few scenarios caused by employer negligence that might result in a shoulder injury claim against the employer:

• If your shoulder was dislocated after you were pinned to a warehouse wall by a forklift being operated by an untrained driver.
• Where you tore ligaments in your shoulder because you had to move items in confined spaces for prolonged periods.
• If you suffered a rotator cuff injury at work after a poorly stacked pile of products fell onto you in a factory accident.
• Where you suffered severe bruising and tendon damage after you slipped and fell at work on a tiled floor that had been recently polished but where warning signs were not in place.
• Where you sustained a shoulder injury linked to a lack of proper manual handling training.

This is a small sample of how workplace shoulder injuries can occur. If you’d like us to review whether you’ve got the grounds to claim compensation for a shoulder injury following a workplace accident, please call today.

Types of Shoulder Injuries at Work We Can Help With

Numerous shoulder injuries could be sustained as a result of an accident at work or because of your working conditions. Here are some of the most common we can help with:

• Broken shoulder.
• Frozen shoulder.
• Rotator cuff damage.
• Strains and sprains.
• A shoulder dislocation.
• Damage to the acromioclavicular joint.
• Ligament, tendon and muscle injuries.

Even if your shoulder injury isn’t listed, please feel free to call if you’d like us to check whether you could be entitled to begin a personal injury claim against your employer.

What Should I Do If I Injured My Shoulder at Work?

If you injure your shoulder at work, there are some steps you might need to take as part of your own duty towards workplace safety. They include:

• Firstly, get your injury checked by your GP or at a hospital.
• Inform your employer about the accident as soon as you’re able to.
• Make sure the accident is logged by the company (most companies need an accident report book).

While taking these actions can help you, they’ll also allow your employer to make changes so that others aren’t injured in the same way in the future.

What Evidence Can Be Used for a Shoulder Injury Claim?

Even in what may appear a clear-cut shoulder injury claim, it’s important to have evidence in place to prove what happens in case your version of events is contested. Examples of the types of evidence that could help with shoulder injury at work claims include:

• A copy of your medical records to prove the type of shoulder injury.
• Contact details for colleagues or anyone else who saw your accident.
• CCTV recordings or other camera footage of your accident.
• A copy of the entry in the company’s accident report book.
• Photographs of any visible deformities or injuries. Also, photos of the cause of the accident scene and the cause of your accident.

If your claim is accepted by one of our solicitors, they may offer to find further evidence to prove your case if needed. Before then, you can call our team if you’d like them to assess the evidence you’ve already gathered during your free initial consultation.

How Long Do I Have to Claim Shoulder Injury Compensation?

Any personal injury at work will have a 3-year time limit in which to claim compensation. This is prescribed by the Limitation Act 1980. Generally, the 3-year period will begin on the date you injured your shoulder if it occurred following an accident at work.

One exception to this rule is if your shoulder injury took a while to develop i.e. if you’ve been diagnosed with repetitive strain injuries. In this scenario, you’ll have 3-years to claim from the point your condition was diagnosed by a medical professional.

How Much Compensation for Shoulder Injury at Work?

If you win a work injury claim, you’ll be compensated by your employer’s insurers. In most cases, two heads of loss will make up the shoulder injury claim value: general and special damages.

General damages are awarded to cover the pain and suffering you’ve endured plus any loss of amenity. Importantly, this could include any psychological suffering. For example, depression or anxiety caused by your inability to function normally could be considered.

The value of your payout will be based on how badly you’ve suffered. Evidence such as medical records or independent medical assessments can be used in conjunction with the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help ascertain the correct level of compensation.

The JCG contains guideline settlement brackets for several shoulder injuries which we’ve used as example compensation amounts that follow. However, as they are only guidelines, the amounts displayed are not guaranteed shoulder injury compensation payouts.

• Compensation for moderate to severe shoulder injuries can range from £7,890 to £48,030.
• For minor shoulder injuries typically soft-tissue damage where there is considerable pain but almost complete recovery:
  • Less than two years, £4,350 – £7,890.
  • Within a year, £2,450 – £4,350.
  • Within three months, up to £2,450 compensation.
• A fractured clavicle might see compensation of £5,150 – £12,240 depending on the seriousness of the fracture.

On top of general damages, special damages could also form part of your settlement if you’ve lost out financially because of your shoulder injury.

For example, if your injured shoulder compensation claim is successful, it could cover:

• The cost of physiotherapy and medical expenses.
• Loss of earnings.
• The cost of home adaptations to help you deal with an ongoing shoulder injury.
• Future loss of earnings if your shoulder injury prevents you from earning at the same level.
• Care and support costs.

To find out how much compensation could be paid for your shoulder injury at work claim, call our legal advisors today.

Can I Claim Compensation if My Injured Shoulder Was Caused by Faulty Work Equipment?

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 means that employers need to ensure that any workplace equipment is:

• Fit for purpose.
• Safe and properly maintained.
• Repaired swiftly if faults develop.

As such, if you injure your shoulder because of a piece of workplace equipment that was known to be faulty, it may be possible for you to claim compensation for any suffering caused.

Can I Claim Shoulder Injury Compensation if I’m Not a Full-Time Employee?

If you carry out work for a company, they will owe you a duty of care, as described earlier, towards your health and safety. That means that the self-employed, contractors, zero-hours workers and other types of employees could all start shoulder injury at work claims if the accident that led to the injury was caused by employer negligence.

If you’d like to confirm you’re entitled to claim compensation for a work-related shoulder injury, please call us now.

Will I Need a Solicitor to Make a Shoulder Injury Claim?

It is perfectly acceptable for claimants to make personal injury claims against their employers without any form of legal representation. However, shoulder injury at work claims can involve complex negotiations which might be easier if you have a specially trained solicitor on your side.

For example, if your claim is managed by one of our solicitors, some of the ways in which they can help include:

• Collecting witness statements, medical records and other forms of evidence.
• Preparing and filing your claim in the correct format and on time.
• Dealing with all negotiations on your behalf so you won’t need to face any complex legal or medical questioning.
• Aiming to secure a fair level of compensation that covers all of the suffering caused by your shoulder injury.
• Keeping you informed of how your claim is moving along on a regular basis.

Importantly, our solicitors provide a No Win, No Fee service for all shoulder injury claims. This means that, after you’ve signed a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), you:

• Won’t need to pay anything upfront for your solicitor’s work.
• Won’t pay for your solicitor’s services at all if the claim fails.
• Will pay a success fee (a deduction from your compensation) if your claim is won.

So that you keep the majority of your settlement, the success fee percentage that can be deducted from your settlement is legally capped when using a CFA.

Would you like to check if you could make a No Win, No Fee shoulder injury at work claim? If so, give us a call today and we’ll review your case for free.

How Long Will My Shoulder Injury at Work Claim Take?

The time taken to process shoulder injury compensation claims is not set in stone. That’s because each claim is unique. For example, if you only suffered a minor shoulder injury in the workplace, you’re fully recovered and your employer accepts that they were to blame, your settlement could be received in 6 months or so.

Conversely, if you’ve sustained a severe shoulder injury involving extensive nerve damage, your claim could take longer than a year to be resolved. However, so long as your employer has admitted liability for the accident, you could be paid interim payments to help you cope with any immediate financial impact.

Contacting Us About a Shoulder Injury Compensation Claim

We’re ready to help if you’d like to find out more about your chances of being compensated. As well as reviewing your entitlement to claim, we’ll provide free legal advice during your initial consultation. To arrange this you can:

• Call 0333 241 2519 to speak with a member of our team.
• Use our online chat service to ask any questions.

Our solicitors only take on shoulder injury at work claims if they believe they can be won and they’ll always provide a No Win, No Fee service.