What Could You Claim If Cut By Defective Machinery At Work?

In this guide, we look at the compensation settlement that could be awarded if you succeed in making a personal injury claim for being cut by defective machinery at work. When valuing settlements, several factors are considered, including the severity of your injuries and the impact they have on your overall quality of life. We discuss how personal injury payouts are calculated in more detail later in this guide.

cut by defective machinery at work

What Could You Claim If Cut By Defective Machinery At Work?

Additionally, we discuss the eligibility criteria that need to be met in order to begin a claim following an accident at work and the evidence you could collect to support your case.

Employers have a duty of care to keep employees safe at work. We provide examples of how an accident involving defective machinery could occur if this duty is breached.

Finally, we discuss the benefits of instructing one of our No Win No Fee solicitors and the services they could offer. 

For more information regarding your potential accident at work claim, please reach out to an advisor. They are available 24/7 to offer free advice. To reach them, you can:

  • Call 0800 073 8801.
  • Message an advisor via our live chat box. 
  • Fill out your details using our ‘Contact Us‘ page to request a call-back.

Jump To A Section 

  1. What Could You Claim If Cut By Defective Machinery At Work?
  2. When Could You Claim If Cut By Defective Machinery At Work?
  3. Defective Work Equipment Laceration Accidents And Injuries
  4. What Evidence Would Support A Claim Against Your Employer?
  5. Why Choose A No Win No Fee Solicitor To Claim If Cut By Defective Machinery At Work?
  6. Learn More About Workplace Accident Claims

What Could You Claim If Cut By Defective Machinery At Work?

If you have been cut by defective machinery at work and you make a successful personal injury claim, you could potentially be awarded a settlement that consists of both general damages and special damages.  

General damages compensates for the pain and suffering caused by your physical and/or psychological injury. The Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) and any medical evidence provided in support of your case are documents that your solicitor may use to help them value the general damages portion of claims. The JCG has guideline compensation brackets for a variety of injuries with different levels of severity.

Injuries Table

The table below includes the JCG’s compensation brackets for different cuts, laceration or scarring injuries. You should only use these as a guide, however.

Edit
Injury Severity Guideline Compensation Bracket Comments
Arm Amputation Loss of one arm (b) (iii) £96,160 to £109,650 An amputation of one arm below the elbow.
Hand Total or effective loss of one hand (c) £96,160 to £109,650 Traumatic amputation of all fingers and most of the palm.
Very serious injury to the thumb £19,600 to £35,010 Where function has been lost because the thumb has been severed at the base and joined back together.
Serious injury to the thumb (t) £12,590 to £16,760 Amputation at the tip of the thumb.
Moderate (h) £5,720 to £13,280 Deep lacerations are included in this bracket.
Toe Amputation of all toes (a) £36,520 to £56,080 The award given will depend on whether the amputation was traumatic or surgical.
Leg Less Serious (c) (iii) £39,200 to £54,830 Lacerations, cuts and bruising are included in this bracket.
Foot Modest (g) Up to £13,740 Straightforward foot injuries including lacerations which completely or nearly completely recover.
Knee Moderate (b) (ii) Up to £13,740 Lacerations, twisting or bruising injuries are covered by this bracket.

Claiming Special Damages

If you receive general damages in your payout, you could also receive special damages which compensates for the financial losses caused by your injuries. For example:

  • Costs for medical care
  • Loss of earnings
  • Travel expenses
  • Domestic care costs
  • Home adaptation costs

Receipts, bank statements, travel tickets, payslips and invoices are documents that you should keep hold of to prove your financial losses.

For more information on what you could claim in compensation if you have been cut by defective machinery at work, contact our team on the number above.

When Could You Claim If Cut By Defective Machinery At Work?

You could be able to start a personal injury claim after being cut by defective work equipment if you can prove:

  1. You were owed a duty of care by your employer when you were injured. 
  2. This duty of care was breached.
  3. You were injured due to the breach.

Stated in The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 is an employer’s duty of care to take reasonable steps, as well as practicable steps, to prevent an employee becoming injured while at work or as they perform their work-related duties. 

Additionally, The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) places a duty on those who own, operate or have control over work equipment as well as those whose employees use the equipment whether it is owned by the business or organisation or not.

Furthermore, PUWER requires that any equipment provided for use at work is, for example, suitable and safe for it’s intended use, maintained in a safe condition and used by employees who have been adequately trained.  

If there is a failure to do so and this causes you to sustain harm, it could mean you are eligible to make a workplace accident claim. Call our team to find out more.

Defective Work Equipment Laceration Accidents And Injuries

There are several ways you could sustain a cut by defective machinery at work. For example:

  • Your employer has asked you to use a saw where the safety guard has been broken, causing your arm to be traumatically amputated below the elbow.
  • The emergency stop button on a conveyor belt is ineffective, causing your fingers to get trapped in the machine and thus causing deep laceration injuries to your fingers.
  • The locks and joints on an extension ladder are excessively worn, which causes you to fall off the ladder at a height and suffer cuts from landing on the ladder. 
  • You crash and suffer wounds because your employer has asked you to use an excavator on a construction site where the breaks do not work, as the machine is old and hasn’t been maintained. 

You can chat with our team if your specific accident and injury aren’t listed in the examples above. They will tell you if you can sue your employer following an accident at work.

What Evidence Would Support A Claim Against Your Employer?

Collecting evidence is an important step to take when making a personal injury claim after being cut by defective machinery at work. Evidence can help prove that your employer is responsible for you sustaining harm and show how your injury has and will affect your life. 

Some types of evidence which is useful to gather include:

  • Your work’s CCTV footage of the accident and how it happened.
  • Photographs of the defective piece of machinery, if it is visible, and your cut. 
  • Contact information from potential witnesses.
  • A copy of the incident report in the workplace accident report log book.
  • Copies of your medical records. 
  • A diary of your physical and psychological symptoms. 

If you are eligible to instruct one of our solicitors, they could help you collect evidence as part of the services they offer. To find out more, please reach out to an advisor via the number at the top of the page.

Why Choose A No Win No Fee Solicitor To Claim If Cut By Defective Machinery At Work?

Our No Win No Fee solicitors can offer you a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) if you are eligible to continue progressing with your case. 

While working under a CFA, you don’t have to pay your solicitor a fee upfront for their work. You also don’t have to pay fees for their services as the case progresses or if your case is unsuccessful. 

Your solicitor will deduct a success fee from your compensation if the claim succeeds. They take this as a percentage, which has a legal cap.

Talk To Our Specialist Team

If you have any other questions about working with one of our solicitors, please get in touch with an advisor. To do so, you can:

Learn More About Workplace Accident Claims

For more of our helpful guides:

Additionally, you might want to see these pages:

Thank you for reading our guide on what you could claim if you have been cut by defective machinery at work. If you have any other questions, call our team on the number above.

Guide by JM

Edited by MMI