Despite over one million accidents at work a year, fewer than one in ten go on to seek any justice for their accident, new data from First4Lawyers shows.
The UK has seen a seven percent increase in accident-at-work settlements in 2014 and a 16 percent increase in registered enquiries, revealing that common workplace accidents such as slips, trips, falls, faulty equipment and unsafe working conditions appear to be on the rise. However, this increase in claims is only fraction of the 1.3m people that actually suffer a work related accident or illness.
Andy Cullwick, Head of Marketing at First4Lawyers, said:
“Health and Safety Executive statistics shows that nearly 1.3m people suffered a work-related illness, injury or death in 2013/14, leading to a loss of 28.2 million working days.
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“However, only a fraction of these people go on to make a claim, disproving the notion that the UK is in the grip of a claims epidemic. While the volume of injuries has fallen dramatically since the inception of the HSE in 1974, the reality is that the number of people still suffering workplace accidents is still too high and often the only way to make firms take action to improve safety is to seek justice through the legal system.”
The data gathered shows that workplace accident claims are more common that road traffic accidents claims. The average number of claims for road traffic accidents per 100,000 is 9.80 whereas the average number of claims for workplace accidents per 100,000 sits at a higher 10.08.
According to data released by First4Lawyers, Scotland is a hot spot for accidents at work, with three of the region’s major cities being listed in the top 10. But despite being the region with the most claims, Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh, still only saw 30 in every 100,000 people actually making an accident-at-work claim last year.
The First4Lawyers Claims Map shows the proportion of accidents at work by region.
Steff joined the HRreview editorial team in November 2014. A former event coordinator and manager, Steff has spent several years working in online journalism. She is a graduate of Middlessex University with a BA in Television Production and will complete a Master's degree in Journalism from the University of Westminster in the summer of 2015.
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