It was probably my fault I got injured... I don’t want to hurt the company or get anyone in trouble... But if I claim, won’t I be fired?

These questions are considered by injured workers up and down the country nearly every day, writes Iona Brown, Partner at Digby Brown.

We know this because of the number of people who contact us for workplace injury claims.

As these issues are clearly on people’s minds, we wanted to offer the answers immediately to help people make informed decisions.

More importantly, it ensures that people do not face further harm by not recovering the compensation that they and their families may need.

To give an idea of what actually makes an injury worthy of a compensation claim…

If you work in an office and simply trip while going down the stairs, then there wouldn’t be a claim, as it’s arguably your own clumsiness.

But if you fall down the stairs because you stumbled over a loose fold in the carpet, then that would be actionable, as your employer is supposed to provide a safe working environment, and a dodgy carpet obviously doesn’t fit that bill.

Every boss in every workplace should do these things

  • Conduct risk assessments: It doesn’t matter if it’s erecting a scaffolding, moving cows into a different field or mopping a floor… all employers should identify activities that could cause injury or illness and take action to eliminate the risks.
  • Provide training: If a role requires the use of equipment of any kind, then all workers should be trained on how to use that equipment safely.
  • Maintain and inspect equipment: Your employer is responsible for ensuring that any equipment they provide is safe and in full working order.
  • Provide personal protective equipment (PPE): Workers should be provided with safety clothing like hard hats, gloves, hi-viz vests, footwear, face masks or any other appropriate garments to protect them from physical harm.
  • Provide a safe system of work: If certain tasks need to be done a certain way, employers have a duty to ensure the processes minimise the risk of injury, like mopping a shop floor only at the end of the day when footfall is at a minimum.

Will my employer pay the compensation?

In most cases, your compensation does not come out of your boss’s own pocket. It is usually paid from their workplace insurance (known as Employer’s Liability Insurance), so you do not need to worry about your employer facing any financial harm as a result of your accident at work claim.

Can I be sacked if I make a workplace injury claim?

Again, no, you cannot be sacked for making a claim. Any workplace that did this would be in breach of employment laws and could face a further unfair dismissal case against them - this is also true if they try to make a worker’s life more difficult once they make a claim, as this is what’s known as constructive dismissal.

Can I still claim if the accident at work was partly my fault?

Yes, especially if there is evidence to show you were not provided with the right training before it happened.

This is common in construction cases where workers are asked to handle power tools despite not being trained on how to use them safely.

In these kinds of cases, it may be that contributory negligence applies, which is where the injured person shoulders some of the responsibility.

This can sometimes result in a small deduction in final payments, but this is rare. Digby Brown also has the experience to know how likely a problem this is, and the experience to know how to avoid the other side making that argument.

Official figures suggest there are 43,000 non-fatal injuries and 15 fatal workplace accidents in Scotland every year. But these aren’t just stats - there are 43,000 families who suffer.

That’s why knowing your rights and your options matters.