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How Much Compensation For Inadequate PPE Claims?
Learn about inadequate PPE claims, the responsibilities of your employer and how you can take the next steps to get compensation.
£85 million in compensation
How Much Compensation For Inadequate PPE Claims?
Learn about inadequate PPE claims, the responsibilities of your employer and how you can take the next steps to get compensation.
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Inadequate Personal Protective Equipment Claims Explained
Personal protective equipment (PPE) often offers invaluable protection to employees whose jobs pose certain risks to their well-being. Inadequate PPE claims are a type of accident at work claim that can be made when employees suffer harm due to employers failing to provide necessary PPE. You could get compensation for your injuries and resulting financial losses, allowing you to find closure on a stressful chapter of your life.
Key Takeaways
- An employer is legally obliged to provide PPE when this is the only way to limit or remove a risk to an employee
- It is also your employer’s responsibility to maintain and replace PPE if faults develop
- Common examples of PPE include helmets, gloves, goggles, steel-toe capped boots, high-vis clothing, and more
- Those working in construction, healthcare and engineering often need PPE, though this can apply to any industry
- One of our specialist personal injury solicitors could help you to prove that your injuries were caused by inadequate PPE and provide legal advice at all stages of your claim.
To assess your eligibility to make a claim, all you need to do is get in touch with our enquiries team. They can give you direct advice, free of charge. There may also be an opportunity to instruct one of our expert solicitors, who could make the legal process much simpler for you. You don’t need to make a decision about claiming at this stage, so you are also welcome to get in touch if you would like to learn more before making any commitments.
- Use our online contact form
- Call our team directly on 0151 375 9916
What Is Personal Protective Equipment?
PPE, such as safety goggles and protective gloves, is equipment that is used to reduce or eliminate the risk of workplace injuries. For example, it could be used to protect employees from hazards relating to:
- Chemicals
- Electrics
- Mechanics
- Radiation
- Biological agents
In What Industries Is PPE Essential For?
Those who work in laboratories, mining, construction, sanitation, healthcare, vehicle repair and engineering often require PPE in order to do their jobs safely. If you work in a job where PPE would improve your safety, then your employer should provide this to you. This applies to many other sectors, so don’t worry if yours wasn’t included.
Don’t hesitate to speak with an advisor if you’re not sure whether PPE is essential to your job. They have handled many similar enquiries and can give you free initial advice to help with your understanding of inadaquate PPE claims.
Is My Employer Responsible For Providing Me PPE For Work?
Yes, your employer is legally required to provide PPE to you if it is the only way to address a risk to your health and safety while you are working. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 states that your employer needs to take reasonable steps to ensure your safety at work. Providing PPE, free of charge to you, is considered a reasonable step.
Another relevant law to consider is the Personal Protective Equipment Work Regulations 1992. This confirms that your employer must give you any PPE that is necessary for your ability to work safely.
If you have any questions about the laws that entitle you to PPE at work, you can enquire with our team today. This may be your first time looking into your employer’s legal responsibilities to you, so we welcome all questions.
How Does The Personal Protective Equipment At Work Regulations Work?
To enact PPE regulations, your employer needs to identify workplace risks, provide appropriate PPE, ensure that it fits the worker who needs it and address any future faults with the PPE. Keep reading for more details of how your employer can uphold their legal responsibilities to you.
Conducting Risk Assessments
A risk assessment must be conducted to identify workplace risks. This allows your employer to confirm whether a role involves any hazards. They can also determine the best route for reducing or removing any associated risks, which often involves the provision of PPE.
Provide Free PPE
It is your employer’s responsibility to provide you with appropriate PPE. There should be no charge to the employee when PPE is necessary for the role.
Check That The PPE Is Appropriate
The PPE provided to you should be:
- Appropriate to the work you do
- Comfortable to use
- Fitted to you
- Adequate to address the identified risks
Ensuring That Employees Know How To Use PPE
It is no use providing PPE if employees do not know how to use it. Therefore, those in charge should check that you know how to:
- Correctly wear PPE
- Maintain the equipment
- Identify any faults that prevent the PPE from keeping them safe
Maintain The PPE
Your employer’s PPE responsibilities continue after the equipment has been provided to you. They must maintain, repair, and replace any PPE once they are made aware of any issues. This must also be done free of charge.
When employers fail to fulfil these requirements and cause harm to employees, inadequate PPE claims can be made. Why not speak with an advisor to explain the issues that you have experienced in relation to workplace PPE?
What Are Some Inadequate PPE Claims Examples?
Examples of inadequate PPE claims include instances where employers have failed to provide, maintain and replace PPE for their employees. In further detail, you could claim compensation under the following circumstances:
- While working in a mechanical repair garage, your employer fails to provide you with steel-toe cap boots, despite being aware that you are working with heavy equipment. You accidentally drop a vehicle part on your foot and later have to have multiple toes amputated.
- You inform your manager that your safety goggles have broken, which you need to complete your laboratory work safely. Despite months of waiting, they still haven’t given you a new pair. One day, while pouring a chemical substance into a beaker, it splashes into your eyes. This means that you suffer from permanently blurred vision and experience anxiety when trying to adjust to your impaired eyesight.
- Your employer provides you with a helmet that is too big for you. This falls off while you are working on a construction site. Therefore, you have no protection when a hammer falls on your head from the scaffolding above. You suffer permanent brain damage and rely on the help of a professional carer for the rest of your life.
These are just a few examples of employer negligence, as there are many other similar incidents. You can access a free initial consultation today to discuss the nature and cause of your injuries.
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Can I Make A Compensation Claim For Inadequate PPE?
Inadequate PPE claims can be made when employees suffer harm due to the failure of employers to uphold health and safety laws. When employers do not enact these laws, this can also be referred to as failure to act according to their duty of care.
As we explained earlier, your employer owes you a duty of care. If they breach this and you sustain an injury as a result, employer negligence has occurred, and you could claim.
We discussed the relevant PPE laws earlier in this guide and gave examples of when you can claim. You also have the option to speak directly with a JF Law advisor. They can explain whether you are eligible to proceed with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors, who are experts in workplace injury claims.
How Much Compensation Is Awarded For Inadequate PPE Injury Claims?
The value of your inadequate PPE compensation will depend on how you have been impacted financially, physically and psychologically. In successful compensation claims of this nature, general damages are given. This part of the award accounts for the pain and suffering you have endured.
If you have experienced a more serious injury, you may continue to experience a long-term or permanent disability. In such cases, the compensation will be calculated to reflect the future impact of your injuries.
The assessment of general damages can include a consideration of figures provided by the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This text outlines compensation guideline brackets based on various types and severities of injury.
We have included some JCG figures in the table below. You may find these helpful, but we would like to make clear that they do not offer a guarantee of your potential payout. This is because compensation needs to be assessed to reflect the claimant’s unique experience.
If you are interested in accessing a tailored compensation estimate, contact our advisors for a free case assessment. By speaking with them directly you can explain to them how exactly your life has been impacted by your injuries. This allows them to identify certain aspects of your case that would be considered during the calculation of your compensation.
Please note that the 1st figure was not taken from the JCG.
| Type and Severity of Injury | Compensation Guideline Bracket | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple injuries resulting in financial losses | Up to £1,000,000+ | Multiple instances of harm with costs relating to various factors such as medical treatment, professional care and home adjustments |
| Brain- very severe | £344,150 to £493,000 | The injury means that the person has double incontinence, little to no language function or awareness of their environment and they must have full-time nursing care |
| Loss of sight in 1 eye with impaired vision in remaining eye (ii) | £117,150 to £219,400 | There will be a serious risk that the remaining eye will continue to deteriorate, further than some risk of sympathetic ophthalmia |
| Amputation of one arm (i) | Not less than £167.380 | Amputation of an arm at the shoulder |
| Arm- injuries resulting in substantial and permanent disablement | £47,810 to £73,050 | Permanent significant residual disability (cosmetic or functional) arising from serious fractures to 1 or both forearms |
| Toe- amputation of all toes | £44,570 to £68,430 | Factors affecting compensation may include whether or not amputation was surgical or traumatic and how mobility is affected |
| Lung disease- breathing difficulties that are short of disabling breathlessness requiring frequent use of an inhaler | £38,210 to £66,920 | The person will be unable to tolerate a smoky environment and have an uncertain prognosis, though their working/social life will already have had a serious impact |
| Total loss of hearing in one ear | £38,210 to £55,570 | Issues such as dizziness, headaches and tinnitus may impact compensation |
| Shoulder- serious | £15,580 to £23,430 | Damage to the lower area of the brachial plexus and dislocation of the shoulder, resulting in neck and shoulder pain, elbow ache and weakened grip |
Compensating For Special Damages In Inadequate PPE Claims
Some inadequate PPE claims also include special damages, which cover financial losses resulting from injuries. For example, you may have accumulated:
- Medical bills for private treatment and prescriptions
- Travel expenses required to attend medical appointments
- Lost income due to time taken off work to recover
- Payments to a professional carer- your injuries may prevent you from completing daily tasks without help, such as feeding yourself and changing your clothes
- Home adjustment costs- for example, you may pay to install a stairlift due to mobility issues
If you are hoping to add special damages to your accident at work claim, it will be necessary to prove your costs. You can do this by providing copies of bank statements, receipts and payslips.
Remember that our advisory team is available 24/7 to further explain how compensation is calculated.
What Is The Inadequate PPE Compensation Claims Process?
The claims process for inadequate PPE claims requires you to prove the harm you have suffered and how your employer’s negligent actions caused it. You can read this section to find out more about what evidence is needed for a personal injury claim.
Prioritise Your Health And Recovery
An accident at work can have detrimental effects on your mental and physical health. Therefore, if you need medical help, you should consider this before anything else. This applies whether you need to access an urgent care centre, hospital, GP or therapist.
At the same time, you will also be creating an official record of how you have been affected and what treatment you required. This can be helpful at a later stage if you decide to claim, as you can request a copy of your medical records as part of your evidence.
Gather Your Evidence
In addition to your medical records, your evidence can include:
- Contact information of those who saw your accident, for example, colleagues and visitors to your workplace
- Photos of the accident scene and faulty PPE (if this applies)
- Photos of your physical harm (such as bruising and lacerations)
- CCTV footage- if the accident scene was covered by CCTV, you can request a copy of this
You may find collecting evidence easier if you start as soon as you are able, rather than having to sort it all at a later stage.
Find Out Whether Your Employer Has Reported The Incident
Under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR), your employer is legally required to report certain workplace incidents. This applies to accidents resulting in various injuries, such as fractures, amputations and serious burns.
You can ask your boss whether they have made an accident report and logged it in your workplace accident book. A copy of these can bolster your PPE compensation claim.
Keep Your Own Notes
Your recovery and the claims process can take a while, so you may later find it difficult to recall certain details. Many claimants find it helpful to record their experience themselves, including details of:
- The pain and discomfort caused by their injuries
- Time taken off work in order to recover or lost employment opportunities
- Medical appointments, treatments and prescriptions
- Expenses relating to travel for medical appointments, professional care, and any other relevant costs
Find Out About Your Legal Rights
After a workplace accident, figuring out your legal rights can seem complicated. However, you can speak to one of our advisors to find out:
- Whether you have legal grounds to seek compensation
- What factors are likely to affect your compensation payout
- If one of our solicitors can take your case forward, and how exactly they can make the process easier for you
How Long Will I Have To Claim Inadequate PPE Compensation?
Most claimants have 3 years from the date of their workplace accident to start the claims process. This is established by the Limitation Act 1980. However, there are exceptions to this, as some claimants are unable to make decisions regarding their claim during this period.
You can read our limitation period guide to further understand this. Our advisors are also available 24/7 to directly explain when you need to start your claim. This also gives you the chance to ask any other questions you may have about inadequate PPE claims.
Can I Make No Win No Fee PPE Claims With JF Law?
Yes, inadequate PPE claims can be made on the basis of No Win No Fee, which is a common way for claimants to proceed. Generally, our solicitors offer this No Win No Fee service through a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Under this type of agreement, there is no need to pay solicitors’ fees:
- Before your personal injury claim begins
- While the case is underway
- If you are not awarded compensation
However, on the condition that you get compensation. You will need to pay a success fee. This is the percentage of your compensation that you give to your solicitor. It is subject to a legally-binding cap to protect your interests. Therefore, you can rest assured that the largest share of the compensation will stay with you.
Working with one of our solicitors could make the process of claiming much simpler for you. Why would you not want expert support at all stages of your personal injury claim? More specifically, our solicitors offer the following services:
- Help identify the evidence you need and where to get it
- Straightforward explanations regarding key aspects of the legal process
- Managing correspondence with other parties on your behalf
- Making strong arguments for the compensation to reflect the various ways in which you have been impacted
Contact Our Accident At Work Solicitors
Whether you are hoping to work with one of our solicitors or would simply like more information on inadequate PPE claims, our enquiries team is here to help. Our advice is offered free of charge and with no strings attached, so there is really no downside to contacting us. You may find yourself one step closer to getting your rightful compensation, which can help you to relieve financial stress and focus on your wellbeing.
- Use our online contact form
- Call our team directly on 0151 375 9916
More Information
Visit our other personal injury claim guides below:
- Read our forklift accident at work claims
- Find out about fall at work claims
- Learn whether you can claim for an inadequate training accident at work
External resources:
- Read the HSE information on whether employers have to provide PPE
- Learn about a manufacturing firm that was fined when a worker suffered serious burns due to a lack of PPE
- Find out if you could be eligible to get Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
Thank you for reading our guide on inadequate PPE claims.
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