Industrial Injury: Which Employer To Claim From And How Long To Claim
In this article – we set out how to start a compensation claim for industrial injury from a current or past employer. We look at various national compensation schemes for disease claims and how long there is to start your claim before it is too late.
- Industrial Injury: Which Employer To Claim From And How Long To Claim
- What is a compensation claim for industrial injury?
- Industrial Injury Claims Summary & Next Steps
What is a compensation claim for industrial injury?
An industrial injury claim is a claim for money to compensate you for the injuries you have received – both physical and psychological – plus expenses and financial loss you have incurred as a result of an industrial injury.
A compensation claim is also known as a damages claim, as it is the damage caused to your person and your finances as a result of your industrial disease.
An industrial disease can often affect your ability to work for the rest of your life. Therefore, the amount of compensation money that you may claim can often be quite substantial.
Who do you start your claim against when you have worked for several employers?
This will depend upon which employer that can be held responsible for the condition that has developed.
Different conditions in each workplace
You may suffer different types of condition from exposure in different workplaces. For example – one employer may expose you to excessive noise (causing hearing damage) and another airborne dusts (causing lung disease).
If each employer (past workplace) causes a different condition then each employer is responsible for that condition. Therefore, a separate claim for each condition may be started against each former employer.
Accumulation of condition from various harmful workplaces
If your industrial injury is caused simply by the accumulation of time spent exposed to a harmful work environment – each employer can be held responsible for the proportion of time they contributed.
For example, imagine you spent five years working in a noisy factory with one employer and another five years working in an equally noisy factory with another employer. Should you later be diagnosed with industrial deafness – each employer would be responsible for half of the total claim.
You would likely start your claim against both your previous employers for apportionment of your injury (here – half your compensation from each).
Industrial disease could have been caused by each employer separately
If your industrial disease could have been caused by one or other employer. However, it is impossible to prove which one in actual fact did cause your condition. Both employers could be held responsible for your whole claim.
For example, imagine you worked for five years with one employer being exposed to asbestos followed by five years with another employer again being exposed to asbestos. You are later diagnosed with mesothelioma. As mesothelioma is a cancer caused by one single strand of asbestos fibre – the fibre could have come from either employer’s workplace.
Here – you could start your claim against both employers for your whole claim.
How do you start your industrial injury claim against your employer?
Click work injury claim to discover how to start to claim compensation from your employer.
| Class Actions For Many Affected Employees |
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| If you have an industrial disease claim it is likely that there will be many other workers already attempting to claim for the same disease from the same employer. This is called a “group action” or “class action”. To start your claim – your solicitor would need to join your claim in with the group action, so the court could deal with all the claims at the same time. |
What is a national compensation scheme?
The government in the UK has set up various schemes, known as compensation schemes, which allow payment for certain industrial diseases to workers in certain industries.
For example, The Coalhealth Compensation Scheme deals with compensation claims for coal related industrial disease. For example, lung disease (pneumoconiosis) and vibration white finger for workers employed by British Coal.
A compensation claim is made in line with the rules of the particular compensation scheme.
This is a different type of claim than claiming against your former employer.
How long after your industrial injury do you have to start your claim?
Industrial injuries develop over a period of time. Often a worker will not even know of an industrial injury until a doctor diagnosis a condition.
Regretfully, death for the more serious diseases as mesothelioma can follow quickly after diagnosis, leaving loved ones to take the claim on behalf of the deceased.
In most claims – the law allows you three years from the date of your injury or knowledge of your injury to start a claim, but there are several exceptions to this rule.
In certain instances – the courts may be willing to extend the time period for you to start your industrial disease claim.
Industrial Injury Claims Summary & Next Steps
On this page you have learned all about starting a compensation claim for industrial injury.
We recommend you see our industrial injury compensation article. Discover how your employer’s insurance pays workplace disease claims. Further, we consider the types of loss you can claim as part of your industrial injury compensation.
FREE legal help
You may wish to establish if you have a industrial injury claim before deciding whether to go ahead. Alternatively, you may simply have a few questions you would like to ask.
See our specialist solicitor free legal help options. You can ask us a question direct and have your claim assessed.
