No Win No Fee Personal Injury Claims
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If you’ve been injured in an accident that occurred because someone who had a duty of care towards you breached this duty, you may be able to claim compensation for your suffering.
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Construction And Building Site Accident Claims: Understanding Your Rights
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If you suffer an injury at work that wasn't your fault, your employer may have breached their duty of care. A duty of care is your employer's legal obligation to keep you safe in the workplace. If a breach of duty of care caused your injury, then you may be entitled to compensation.
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Some workplaces are safer than others and it’s true to say that accidents can occur anywhere. However, in the construction sector, there is a far higher risk of injury due to the risks involved in building construction, the danger associated with some construction materials and the unique risks of individual construction projects.
Building construction accidents can be caused by factors ranging from human error to equipment failure or inadequate safety measures.
Building site accidents affect everyone from manual workers to those involved in structural engineering. Injuries can occur at any stage in the construction process from ground-up residential developments, industrial facilities to a completed building.
In this guide, you can learn all about construction and building sites accident claims as well as find out about your rights when you suffer a workplace injury and the compensation you may be entitled to.
If you’d like to get a free eligibility check, call us for free on the number at the top of this page or send us a message now via our live chat. Our advice is free and comes with no strings attached so you can access the legal support you need and assess if you have a valid personal injury claim for your construction site or construction project accident/injury.
What Is An Accident At Work Claim?
When claiming for compensation after a construction accident, you’ll need to make something called an accident at work claim – a form of personal injury claim pertaining to the workplace and focussing on your employer’s duty of care towards you.
Of course, workplace accidents can happen at any time in any place, but construction project sites tend to be slightly more risky. Statistically, construction is one of the most dangerous industries, but farming, fishing and forestry are considered to be dangerous too.
The point is, accidents at work could be common, and you could be entitled to compensation if you’ve suffered an accident at work that wasn’t your fault.
Accidents In The Workplace Are More Common Than You Think
We all spend more of our life at work than at home or engaging in leisure activities so accidents in the workplace are statistically more likely.
If you want to make a claim against your employer for an accident or injury you’ve had at work, then in English Law this is a civil action. You will have to be able to evidence that your employer was at fault and their carelessness or negligence caused the accident.
Workplace accidents occur anywhere – it could be as simple as an employee tripping over a cable on the floor or slipping on an uneven surface. However, some sectors do carry a more obvious risk of injury and the construction industry is one of them.
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How Common are Accidents in the Construction Industry? Let's Look At The Latest Figures
Health and Safety for all employees in the workplace in the UK is managed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The HSE is a useful source of information on the different accidents in the construction industry including statistics on types of injuries and unfortunately, fatalities.
Here are some interesting statistics from their report on the UK construction industry in 2023.
- 53,000 workers incurred non-fatal injuries at work in the construction sector over the three-year period 2020/2021 to 2022/23
- 26% of these were slips, trips or falls on the same level
- 20% were falls from height
- 17% were injured whilst handling, lifting or carrying building materials or using equipment like forklifts or cranes
- Falls from height sadly accounted for 51% of fatal injuries on construction projects
Accidents in building construction can also include electric shock and electrocution, fires and explosions and collapsing of structures like internal walls, bridges and scaffolding whilst it is being erected or dismantled on a completed building.
Accidents in the construction industry cost the UK millions in lost working days. The construction industry is a key player in the British economy and so workplace injuries have a much larger impact than in other sectors.
What Are The Main Causes Of Injuries In Building Construction?
If you take a minute to think about the average construction project, whether that’s a new housing development, work on high rise buildings or renovating or maintaining existing buildings, it’s easy to see why accidents can happen.
The burden on construction management teams to maintain a safe environment at all times is significant – they must protect their employees in what is by definition, a potentially dangerous workplace.
Here are some of the main types of accidents and causes of injuries in the construction industry.
Slips, Trips And Falls
26% of accidents on construction projects were slips, trips and falls. Here are some quick examples of how a slip, trip or fall could occur on a construction site.
- Slipping or falling whilst carrying building materials
- Tripping or falling over materials on site that may be inadequately stored or in an inappropriate location
- Slipping on an unsafe surface perhaps because of a spillage of oil or another type of fluid involved in the construction project
- Falling over trailing wires as part of an electrical installation
- Employees wearing inadequate safe and protective footwear
Construction management must ensure that building systems are put in place to promote safe construction. This needs to adjust as the construction process develops and involves thorough and regularly reviewed movement and safety procedures and regular risk assessments and inspections.
Falls From Height
Falls from height account for 20% of injuries in the construction industry and just over half of fatalities. This data applies to new buildings and existing buildings on all types of construction projects.
Falls from height in building construction are caused by exposed openings and edges which are unguarded, inadequate fall protection systems – like the absence of boarding or netting – or improper training, guidance or equipment.
Falls from height account for some of the most serious injuries and accidents that occur on construction projects.
Manual Handling And Lifting
The third most common cause of injuries on a construction project is lifting, handling and moving heavy items, particularly construction materials. This covers manual and automated handling using equipment.
Manual handling is one area where there is a wealth of information about how objects should be lifted and moved. This includes the correct technique, asking for support from other employees and having appropriate rest periods between lifting.
A manual handling construction site injury doesn’t have to be acute; it could occur over weeks or months of prolonged bad practice. Commonly, this leads to back issues like muscle strain or a slipped disc or even a hernia.
Struck By Falling Objects or Debris
Building construction often involves demolition if properties are being removed to make way for a new building. Consequently, the chance of being in the way of building materials at the wrong time in the construction process is quite high.
Heavy items can fall from roofs or scaffolding on a construction site like brick masonry or roofing materials from tile roofs. New materials which are being moved from one location to another using heavy plant machinery as part of the construction process also have the potential to cause injury.
How Can I Make A Construction And Building Site Accident Claim?
There are several factors which need to be satisfied in order to bring a successful personal injury claim against your employer or the manager of the construction project.
Duty of Care
First, it’s necessary to establish that there was a duty of care between you and your employer. Usually, this is easy in workplace accident claims as the law in the Health and Safety at Work Act etc 1974 states that all employers owe their staff a duty of care; this is a legal obligation.
Employer Breach
Your employer must have breached their duty of care and you will need to be able to provide evidence to this effect. There are many different ways a duty of care is breached.
Your employer may not have conducted a risk assessment to safely move construction materials or handle hazardous waste like asbestos or there could be a failure to properly maintain a piece of equipment used for construction work. In construction projects, there are literally numerous examples of a breach of duty of care.
Injury Caused By A Breach Of Duty Of Care
The third component necessary to bring a successful action is demonstrating that your employer’s breach of duty of care caused your injury. You will probably need written statements from other workers and other evidence like photographs.
This includes making an already present injury worse, for example, a pre-existing back condition which has deteriorated because of prolonged poor manual handling practices.
If you’d like to get a free eligibility check, why not call us for free on the number at the top of this page? You can also message us now via our live chat box.
How Much Compensation Could I Receive For a Construction Site Injury?
The possibility for different types of accident and injury on a construction project is literally endless. Add to this the fact that every case is unique and it’s hard to give figures for average payouts in these cases. Any construction estimator for workplace accident claims would be difficult, but there are guidelines which we’ll cover below that can offer rough estimates.
Compensation payouts are broken down into different elements. First, there is a value allocated to the injury itself; this usually requires expert medical evidence and your solicitor will arrange this as part of your claim.
You can submit your own medical evidence and records but an independent doctor still needs to determine that your injuries were caused (or made worse) by the accident and what this means for your life going forward.
The rule of thumb is usually that more serious injuries attract higher compensation awards but an injury that occurred on a construction site that seems less serious initially could lead to a chronic impairment that might, for example, affect your ability to work in a manual job for the rest of your life.
To help guide the Courts and legal professionals involved in assessing construction site and other accidents and injuries, there is an invaluable document called the Judicial College Guidelines which effectively can value an injury for the purposes of compensation.
Here are some examples of different types of injuries and possible compensation awards for accidents which occurred on construction projects.
- An accident resulting in very severe brain damage such as a fall from height or a collapse of construction materials could see a payout of between £344,150 and £493,000
- The complete loss of sight in one eye which could be caused by debris from building materials or work involving machinery and the absence of proper protective eyewear could lead to a payout of between £60,130 and £66,920
- Lung diseases like emphysema caused by being exposed to hazardous waste could see you receive compensation of between £66,890 and £85,460
- Minor accidents to the neck and back are common in construction work and could lead to a compensation award of between £33,880 and £47,320 for a moderate back injury and £9,630 to £46,970 for a moderate neck injury
- Serious damage to both hands which gives rise to permanent cosmetic disability and significant loss of function could receive compensation from £171,680 to £245,900
You can also use our construction and building site accident compensation calculator below to get an immediate idea of how much you could get for a range of injuries, though you would need to speak to us directly for a more accurate estimate based on your exact injuries and circumstances.
What About Loss Of Earnings Because Of Time Off Work?
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Another element of compensation in building construction accident claims is called Special Damages.
This covers expenses like payment for private medical treatment, transportation costs for public transport or taxis if you were unable to drive or loss of earnings because of a deficit between statutory sick pay and what you would usually expect to see in your wage packet.
Some serious injuries can require months of recovery time leaving claimants seriously out of pocket caused by an accident which was not their fault.
If your injury means that you cannot go back to work at all, you can receive a compensation payout which covers you for the rest of your working life.
How No Win No Fee Solicitors Co Can Help You Claim Compensation
The key to a successful claim is working with experienced solicitors and our team are experts in construction sector injury claims.
By working on a No Win No, Fee basis, you’ll face no personal financial risk upfront. You only pay fees in the event of a successful claim. Our fees are only a small percentage of your compensation amount, too. A small fee for excellent legal representation is a great deal!
We believe that nobody injured in a workplace accident should be barred from seeking compensation simply because they don’t have the funds to start a claim.
If you’d like to check if you can make a personal injury claim for an accident on a construction project, call us at the number above, write to us here, or message us now via our live chat box. We’re always happy to help.
