Soft Tissue Injury Claims – A Guide to Claiming Compensation

You might think that a soft tissue injury isn’t as serious as some injuries that can be sustained in the workplace. However, any damage to your ligaments, tendons, muscles or nerves can lead to months of pain and suffering. If you’ve sustained a soft tissue injury at work, you may be entitled to sue your employer if they caused your suffering. In this guide to claiming compensation for a soft tissue injury at work, we’ll explore when soft tissue injury claims may be possible and what the process involves.

If you’d like free legal advice about your prospects of receiving soft tissue injury compensation, you can call our legal advisors for an assessment of your case. If your claim appears to be feasible, we could connect you with an accident-at-work solicitor. They’ll provide a No Win, No Fee service if your claim is taken on meaning you should find the whole process much less stressful.

To discuss your soft tissue injury with one of our legal advisors, you can:

• Call us on 0333 241 2519 now.
• Use our free online chat service day or night.

We’ve hopefully answered a lot of questions about claiming for soft tissue damage throughout this guide. If you need to know anything else, please contact one of our specialists.

What Is a Soft Tissue Injury?

Your body’s soft tissues include blood vessels, ligaments, muscles, nerves, tendons, fat and other fibrous tissues. They are there to support the structural components of the body such as the joints, bones, cartilage and discs. They play an important role in many of the bodily activities performed each day including walking, running, sitting and lifting.

The symptoms associated with soft tissue injuries can vary depending on which part of the body you’ve injured but typically can include bruising, swelling and pain (especially when weight is put on the body part affected by your injury).

Types of Soft Tissue Injuries We Can Help With

Some common types of soft tissue injuries that could be sustained following an accident at work that we can help with include:

• Muscle sprains and strains.
• Contusions (bruising).
• Lacerations.
• Ruptures.
• Bursitis.
• Tendonitis.
• Stress injuries.
• Tendonapathy.
• Compression injuries.
• Whiplash.

If you’ve suffered any type of soft tissue injury at work and believe you should be compensated for your suffering, call our legal advisors to see if we could help you claim for your suffering.

Can I Claim Compensation for Soft Tissue Injuries at Work?

The first thing that will need to be established when claiming compensation for soft tissue injuries at work is that your employer owed you a duty of care. But how do you do so? This is normally fairly simple because employers owe all staff a legal duty of care towards their workplace safety because of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Some of the steps employers could take to uphold their duty to prevent soft injuries include:

• Managing the workplace to ensure it is tidy and organised (to reduce trip hazards).
• Conduct regular risk assessments to identify any potential dangers.
• Provide manual handling and other forms of safety training on a regular basis.
• Ensure any workplace equipment is properly maintained and fit for purpose.
• Provide staff with free personal protective equipment (PPE) when required.

As such, you could be entitled to claim compensation for soft tissue damage when:

• Your employer owed you a duty of care; and
• Their negligence caused an accident or incident at work; which
• Caused you to sustain a soft tissue injury.

Importantly, you must prove that your soft tissue injury occurred as a direct result of an incident at work. Otherwise, your employer’s insurers could argue that the injury was sustained elsewhere.

What Types of Negligence Could Lead to a Soft Tissue Injury Claim?

For reference, we’ve listed a few examples of the types of work-related accidents that could result in soft tissue injury compensation claims:

• If you tore your Achilles tendon after tripping on a damaged tile in a factory that had been in a poor state of repair for some time.
• Where you suffered a rotator cuff injury after being asked to lift heavy items for prolonged periods rather than your employer purchasing specialist lifting equipment.
• If you sustained a sprained ankle in a wet area at work because your employer failed to provide anti-slip footwear or install safety rails.
• Where you suffered an RSI injury at work (RSI) affecting your hand and wrist because your employer failed to provide ergonomic peripherals for you while using a computer all day long.
• If you suffered muscle damage in your shoulder because a faulty piece of machinery was pulling or vibrating more than it should have been.
• Where you sustained a back injury at work because you fell from a ladder that was too short and caused you to overstretch.

Even if we’ve not discussed the type of accident you’ve been involved in here, please get in touch to discuss your right to begin a soft tissue injury claim.

What Should I Do if I’ve Sustained Soft Tissue Damage in the Workplace?

If you’ve had an accident at work that’s caused damage to soft tissues, some of the steps you might need to take include:

• Reporting the incident to your employer and asking them to record it in the company’s accident report book.
• Seek medical treatment (from a GP or at a hospital) so that your soft tissue injury is properly diagnosed/treated.
• Tell your employer about any medical recommendations that are offered in relation to your injuries.

Taking such steps could enable your employer the opportunity to a) manage your return to work and b) prevent similar accidents in future.

What Evidence Can Be Used for Soft Tissue Injury Claims?

To help prove how you sustained a soft tissue injury, why your employer was responsible and how your injury has affected you, the following types of evidence could all be used:

• Photographs of your visible symptoms (bruising, swelling etc.).
• Details of witnesses to your accident as your solicitor might ask them for a statement during the claims process.
• Medical records from your GP to prove your diagnosis.
• Video footage and photographic evidence from the accident scene.
• A copy of your employer’s accident report form to confirm where and when your injury was sustained.

If you already have evidence to support your soft tissue injury compensation claim, please let us know when you call to discuss your case.

What Time Limit Applies to Soft Tissue Injury Claims?

According to UK law, you have 3 years to begin a personal injury claim. For soft tissue injuries, the time limit will normally commence from the date your doctor diagnosed the condition or the date of your accident.

It is important to get started with your claim without delay to give plenty of time for evidence to be collected and other tasks to be completed before your claim is filed.

How Much Compensation for Soft Tissue Injury at Work?

If you win compensation for a soft tissue injury at work, the amount you’ll receive will typically be calculated on two heads of loss.

General damages is compensation paid for any physical or emotional pain and suffering. It also covers any loss of amenity i.e. the impact your injuries have on your usual activities and hobbies.

To ascertain the full extent of the suffering caused by your soft tissue injury, your solicitor is likely to arrange an independent medical assessment during the claims process. The subsequent report will explain your prognosis and list your injuries.

The list below provides a random selection of compensation figures from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) for reference (i.e. the amounts are not guaranteed compensation payouts).

• For minor chest soft tissue injuries with recovery in a few months, compensation can reach up to £3,950.
• Moderate neck soft tissue injuries expected to heal within two years range from £4,350 – £7,890.
• Minor back sprains, strains, and other soft tissue injuries may be compensated up to £12,510.
• Compensation for partial Achilles tendon ruptures can range from £12,590 – £21,070.
• Modest foot ligament injuries can be worth up to £13,740.
• Compensation for a soft tissue knee injury at work causing some disability ranges from £26,190 – £43,460.

In addition to general damages, you could also be entitled to special damages to cover any costs or expenses linked to your injuries. For instance, soft tissue injury compensation could cover:

• Rehabilitation costs i.e. the cost of physiotherapy.
• The cost of mobility aids or devices to help if your grip has been reduced for example.
• Lost income and future loss of earnings.
• Care and support costs.

Before you’ll receive compensation for any financial losses, you may need to provide copies of receipts, wage slips or bank statements as supporting evidence.

Can I Claim Compensation for Soft Tissue Damage Caused By Faulty Equipment?

Laws such as the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 mean that employers must provide equipment that is safe, fit for purpose and well maintained.

Therefore, if you suffer a soft tissue injury at work after using faulty or damaged equipment, your employer could be held responsible for your suffering. As such, you may be entitled to start a soft tissue injury claim.

Do I Need a Solicitor to Make a Soft Tissue Damage Claim?

It’s your choice whether or not you take on a solicitor to claim for work-related soft tissue damage. Doing so could make the claim much more straightforward especially if any part of your claim is contested by your employer.

If your claim is accepted by one of our work injury solicitors, some of the services they might carry out during your claim include:

• Finding the evidence to prove your case.
• Sending the claim to your employer on time and in the correct format.
• Dealing with your employer’s insurers on your behalf.
• Fighting your corner if any objections regarding liability or the extent of your injuries are raised.
• Aiming to secure the highest possible settlement to cover your suffering.

Additionally, all soft tissue damage claims that are taken on are managed on a No Win, No Fee service. That means you’ll sign a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) before your solicitor begins working on your claim and:

• You won’t pay anything for your solicitor’s work upfront.
• There are no legal fees to pay for your solicitor’s efforts if the claim fails.
• A success fee will be deducted from any compensation awarded.

The success fee is a percentage of your settlement following a successful claim. This percentage is legally capped when using a CFA at 25 per cent.

To see if you could make a No Win, No Fee soft tissue injury claim, please call our team today.

Do Soft Tissue Claims Go to Court?

It is uncommon, in our experience for work-related soft tissue claims to end up in court.

Generally, a solicitor and employer will avoid the extra time and costs linked to court cases by aiming to settle compensation claims amicably.

The only time a court hearing will be booked is if the employer won’t settle a case (or offers a settlement that is too low) that our accident-at-work solicitors strongly believe the claimant should win.

Contacting Us About a Soft Tissue Claim

To see how likely you are to be paid compensation for a work-related soft tissue damage, you can:

• Call our legal advisors on 0333 241 2519.
• Use our live chat 24 hours a day.

While you won’t be under any pressure to claim compensation for a soft tissue injury at work with us, if you decide you want to start a claim and it is accepted, your solicitor will act on a No Win, No Fee basis.