Ankle Injury at Work – A Guide to Claiming Compensation

The pain caused by ankle injuries can make it difficult to put weight on your foot. As a consequence, ankle injuries can make it difficult to work, drive or function normally. Therefore, if you’ve injured your ankle in a workplace accident, you’d be well within your rights to seek compensation for any suffering you’ve endured as a result. As such, this guide will explore how ankle injury at work claims work and look at how compensation for ankle injuries is calculated.

We’re here to help if you’ve any questions about claiming compensation for an ankle injury at work. To start, we offer a no-obligation review of any accident at work claim. During your call, legal advice will be provided and your questions answered. Then, if it appears that your ankle injury claim is valid, we’ll connect you with one of our specialist solicitors. If they agree to help, they’ll work for you on a No Win, No Fee basis.

Why not contact us today and let us assess your chances of claiming compensation for a work-related ankle injury? To do so, you can:

• Call 0333 241 2519 to speak with a specialist.
• Connect with an online advisor via our live chat service.

Read on for more on ankle injury compensation claims or give us a call if you need any further information.

Types of Ankle Injuries at Work We Can Help With

Effectively, you could be entitled to claim compensation for any type of work-related ankle injury. However, here are some of the most common:

• A broken ankle at work.
• Soft tissue injuries (ligament, tendon and muscle damage).
• Ankle sprains, strains or dislocations.
• Ankle bursitis.
• Severe bruising, cuts and lacerations.

As well as the initial pain and suffering caused, some ankle injuries may increase the risk of future suffering. For instance, a broken ankle at work could increase the risk of osteoarthritis in the future. Such risks would have to be considered in the ankle injury at work claims process and factored into any settlement awarded.

Can I Make an Ankle Injury at Work Compensation Claim?

While at work, the employer has a legal obligation to implement practical measures so any risks of you being hurt are reduced as far as reasonably possible. Their legal duty of care is set in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Some of the measures they could take to reduce the risk of work-related ankle injuries include:

• Conducting regular risk assessments so that any dangers such as trip hazards can be removed.
• Providing adequate safety training to all staff.
• Installing safety devices such as handrails in particularly slippery areas.
• Providing anti-slip footwear or other forms of personal protective equipment (PPE) where needed.
• Ensuring all workplace machinery, equipment and tools are well maintained.

Failure to take such steps could be deemed negligent if they cause you to suffer an ankle injury. In such cases, you might be able to make a personal injury claim if you can prove that:

• Your employer owed you a legal duty of care.
• An act of negligence by your employer caused you to be involved in an accident.
• As a result of that accident, you’ve suffered an ankle injury in the last three years.

If you think that your employer is responsible for the suffering caused by your ankle injury at work, please call our legal advisors to see if you could be compensated.

What Types of Negligence Can Lead to an Ankle Injury at Work Claim?

As per the guidance in the previous section, you could be entitled to claim compensation for a sprained ankle at work etc if it can be linked to your employer’s negligence. Therefore, in this section, we’ve listed some scenarios that might result in you claiming against your employer:

• You sustained a sprained ankle at work after you missed a step in a poorly lit corridor whilst working in a restaurant.
• Your ankle was shattered after an untrained forklift operator dropped a load on top of your feet.
• Due to a damaged ladder, you fell from height and you sustained a broken ankle at work after you hit the ground hard.
• Whilst leaving your office, you tripped on a large pothole in the company car park and sustained a badly twisted ankle.

This list of ankle injuries isn’t exhaustive. Therefore, if you believe you are owed compensation because your employer’s negligence has caused your suffering, please feel free to call our team today.

What Should I Do If I Injured an Ankle in the Workplace?

In the immediate aftermath of an accident at work, there are some steps that you might need to take including:

• Telling your employer about your accident in case it allows them to make changes to avoid similar incidents in the future.
• Logging the accident in the company’s accident report book and taking a copy for yourself.
• Going to a hospital or GP as some ankle injuries may require an X-ray or scan to be properly diagnosed and treated.

These steps will also arm you with some evidence if you decide to make an ankle injury claim. We’ll discuss this in more detail next.

What Evidence Can Be Used for an Ankle Injury Compensation Claim?

You will need to supply evidence to give your solicitor the best possible chance of securing ankle injury compensation. This will need to prove why your employer is liable, what the cause of your injury was and how you’ve suffered. Examples of the types of evidence that could improve your chances of winning an ankle injury compensation claim include:

• Photographs of any of the visible symptoms of your ankle injury.
• A copy of your medical records.
• Accident scene photographs and video footage from CCTV cameras.
• Witness statements to help confirm your version of events.
• Your copy of the accident report form that proves when the accident happened.

If you work with a solicitor from our team, they will use any evidence you provide and may agree to collect further information to prove your case as part of their service.

How Long Do I Have to Claim Ankle Injury at Work Compensation?

In the UK, the time limit for claiming compensation for an ankle injury at work is generally 3 years beginning from the date of the accident or from the date when you first became aware that your ankle injury was related to your work. This is per the Limitation Act 1980, which sets out time limits within which a personal injury claim must be brought.

However, you should get legal advice based on your circumstances as there can be specific nuances and exceptions to these rules.

It is important to get started with your claim without delay. That’s because there is some work that needs to be completed before claims are filed. Consequently, if left too late, your solicitor might be unable to begin your claim on time which may mean you’ll miss out on any compensation you’re entitled to.

How Much Ankle Injury at Work Compensation Can I Claim?

As you might expect, the compensation awarded in successful ankle injury claims is linked to the severity of your injury. For instance, if an individual has been left with a permanent limp after pins and plates were used to secure pieces of a broken ankle at work, they should receive more compensation than someone who’s recovered fully from a twisted ankle.

During the claims process, your solicitor will examine your medical records and use an independent medical report to prove the extent of your injuries. When setting the proposed compensation for any pain and suffering (general damages), they might refer to similar cases and the figures from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG).

Our ankle injury compensation table uses data from the JCG to give you an idea of potential compensation awards. However, as each claim is unique, these figures are not guaranteed settlements.

• For minor injuries fully recovering, i.e. a sprained ankle at work, compensation can reach £7,700.
• A simple broken ankle at work may see compensation of up to £13,740.
• Moderate to severe ankle injuries, carrying a risk of osteoarthritis, could result in £13,740 – £50,060 in compensation.
• Significant deformity or disability from severe ankle injuries could lead to payouts between £50,060 and £69,700.

In addition to general damages, an ankle injury compensation payout could include special damages to cover the financial implications of your injury. That might include:

• Physiotherapy and other medical costs.
• The cost of support at home or a permanent carer.
• Home adaptations such as the installation of a stair lift to make it easier to live with a permanent disability.
• Travel expenses.
• Lost income and future loss of earnings.

If you’d like to find out how much ankle injury compensation you might be entitled to, please call one of our specialists today

Can I Claim Compensation for a Broken Ankle at Work if I’m Not a Full-Time Employee?

In some industries, companies don’t always hire staff directly. For instance, they might use zero-hours workers, contractors, agency staff, the self-employed and consultants. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t owe those staff a duty of care with regard to their safety in the workplace.

As such, if you’ve sustained a broken ankle at work as a result of your employer’s negligence, you could receive compensation for your suffering regardless of the type of employment contract. To find out more, please use the number above to reach out to us today.

Do I Need a Solicitor to Make an Ankle Injury Claim?

You are well within your rights to claim compensation for an injured ankle against your employer without using a personal injury solicitor. However, we believe that having a specialist on your side will make the whole claims process simpler and could result in an improved settlement if the claim is won.

Some of the services that one of our solicitors might offer if your ankle injury claim is taken on include:

• Searching for the evidence needed to prove your allegations.
• Filing the claim within the allowed timeframe and in the correct format.
• Fighting your case and negotiating with your employer’s insurers where needed.
• Trying to ensure that any settlement offer is fair.
• Sending you regular updates about how the claim is progressing.

All of this work will be carried out on a No Win, No Fee basis if you sign a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) to fund your solicitor’s efforts. The CFA means that:

1. You don’t need to pay your solicitor upfront for their work.
2. There are no fees for your solicitor’s work if the claim is lost.
3. Should you be compensated, a pre-approved percentage will be retained by your solicitor as their success fee.

To ensure that you keep most of your compensation, the law limits success fee percentages linked to CFAs at 25 per cent of your payout.

Would you like to know if you could make a No Win, No Fee ankle injury at work claim? If so, please call a member of our team today.

Will I Have to Go to Court?

While a court hearing can be used to settle claims that cannot be resolved amicably, they are unusual for ankle injury claims in our experience.

Generally, our solicitors will only head to court if they believe that a) your claim is strong enough and b) your employer won’t accept liability or has made a low settlement offer.

In most cases, both parties will try to settle work-related injury claims out of court.

How Long Will an Ankle Injury Claim Take?

The time it takes for ankle injury claims to be resolved will vary from case to case. Factors that can affect the processing time include whether or not your injury has recovered and whether your employer has accepted that they caused the accident and your subsequent injury.

In some cases, straightforward ankle injury at work claims are completed in 6 months or less. More complex cases, however, can take more than a year. In these cases, where liability has been accepted but your prognosis is still being considered, you may receive interim payments to help you cope with lost income and other immediate expenses.

Contacting Us About an Ankle Injury Compensation Claim

To see how likely you are to be paid compensation for a work-related ankle injury, you can:

• Call us on 0333 241 2519 to have your claim assessed by a specialist.
• Use our live chat service to ask any questions.

Our initial advice is free and there’s no obligation to take legal action against your employer. However, all accepted ankle injury at work claims are processed on a No Win, No Fee basis for your peace of mind.