Our personal injury team has recovered £90,000 compensation for a farm worker who was injured at work.
Background to the farm accident
Our client jacked up a damaged 14-ton trailer while at work, and crawled underneath to assess what repairs would be needed. However, the trailer slipped and fell, crushing the left side of his body and trapping his hand. A colleague lifted the trailer to free him, and he was taken by ambulance, under air ambulance supervision, to the ICU.
Our client remained in hospital for several weeks and required extensive treatment. After discharge, he returned to work gradually but continued to experience reduced strength, fatigue, and the need for ongoing medical care, including hand therapy.
We agreed to deal with his compensation claim on a No Win, No Fee basis.
The compensation settlement
The farm that employed our client admitted liability for the accident, but their early offers of compensation did not reflect of the seriousness of his condition, or the long-term consequences of his injuries.
His employer made an initial time-limited offer of £50,000 before any medical evidence had been obtained. They then increased their offer to £70,000 when partial medical evidence was available. We advised our client that the offers did not properly compensate him and recommended that full medical evidence should be obtained before agreeing to any settlement.
Once comprehensive expert medical evidence had been obtained, an out of court settlement of £90,000 was reached. This final settlement, almost twice the original offer, reflected the seriousness and long-term effects of our client’s injuries. Alongside this, we also successfully recovered the cost of the air ambulance attendance.
Employers’ liability for farm accidents
Employers must legally ensure that workers operate in a safe workplace, with safe equipment, and are properly trained in a safe system of work. If an employer breaches this duty of care, resulting in injury to a worker, the law allows the injured worker to make a compensation claim.
Employers’ liability claims on farms frequently arise from accidents involving poorly maintained or defective farm equipment, unsafe systems of work, the absence of risk assessments, the lack of personal protective equipment, incorrect manual handling, and slips or trips on farm premises owned or controlled by the employer.
A successful employers’ liability claim can compensate an injured worker for their ‘pain, suffering and loss of amenity’, together with past and future earnings, rehabilitation expenses, the cost of medical treatment, and out of pocket expenses.
The need for expert legal advice in farm accident cases
This farm worker injury claim demonstrates the need for specialist legal advice in these cases. Employers and their insurers often make offers to settle the claim early on, but these tend to undervalue the amount of compensation the employee should get. If injured workers take specialist legal advice, they can ensure that they receive their full entitlement to compensation.
Our personal injury team has extensive experience in securing substantial settlements for clients injured at work — including agricultural accidents, machinery failures. and unsafe systems of work.
If you or someone you know has been injured in a workplace accident, our specialist team is here to help. Contact us today for a free consultation and details of No Win No Fee funding.
