How To Claim For A Broken Elbow Injury At Work

Have you suffered a fracture or break to your elbow joint at work? Was the accident that caused your injury preventable had your employer applied appropriate health and safety procedures? Or was your accident caused because you had not received the right training? Did you know that your employer has a duty to ensure you are as safe as practically as possible while you are at work? You are protected under certain pieces of legislation to ensure your safety in the workplace. This article has been designed to examine how you could claim for a broken elbow at work.  

It can be difficult knowing exactly what to do when you’ve suffered a broken elbow at work. As such, this guide will:

  • Describe the symptoms of a potentially broken elbow. 
  • Provide a case study showing the types of things you might be able to claim for if you’ve suffered an injury at work and give you an idea about the amount of compensation you could receive. 
  • Highlight how our panel of No Win No Fee solicitors could help you with your workplace injury claim. 

Don’t just rely on a personal injury calculator. Our advisors offer free legal advice 24/7 so, whether you want to claim for a broken elbow or simply have some queries, we can help whenever it suits you. 

Call us now using 0800 408 7825. If you’d like more information, please read on. 

Choose A Section

  1. A Guide On How To Claim For A Broken Elbow At Work
  2. What Is A Fractured Or Broken Elbow?
  3. Fractured Or Broken Bone Workplace Injuries
  4. Case Study £83,000 Broken Elbow Injury In The Workplace
  5. The Difference Between General And Special Damages
  6. Calculating Compensation Claims For A Broken Elbow At Work
  7. Claim For A Broken Elbow At Work With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
  8. How A Workplace Injury Solicitor Could Help You
  9. Contact Our Team For Free Legal Advice
  10. Where To Find Out More
  11. Workplace Injury Claim FAQs

A Guide On How To Claim For A Broken Elbow At Work

There can be many different types of elbow injury. While tennis elbow or a repetitive strain injury could happen in the workplace we are going to concentrate on how a fractured elbow is possible following an employer being negligent. Not all accidents that cause a fractured elbow will result because of a failure on the part of an employer to adhere to workplace legislation. Those looking to make a personal injury claim must be able to prove three areas; 

  • As an employee you are generally owed a duty of care, but
  • Your employer must have breached this through negligence, and
  • You must have suffered an injury or illness because of this negligence.

What Is A Fractured Or Broken Elbow? 

An elbow break or fracture occurs when a lot of pressure is applied to the joint in your arm where the ulna and radius bones meet the humerus bone. Together, those three bones form the elbow joint, and, as with any joint, there can be many complex injuries you could suffer. 

These include injuring your:

  • Lateral epicondyle – This is the bony point of the elbow on the outside of the arm. 
  • Ulna  – The Ulna is part of the forearm. It lies parallel to the Radius. It starts from the elbow and ends at the little finger.
  • Radius  – The Radius starts from the elbow and leads all the way down to the thumb.
  • Humerus –  This bone connects from the elbow to the shoulder but also attaches to the Scapula.

NHS guidance states that the symptoms of a broken bone include

  • A snap or grinding noise occurring when the injury takes place
  • Swelling, tenderness and bruising
  • Immediate pain both on moving the bone and touching it

According to another piece of NHS guidance, normally, elbow fractures recovery in about 6 weeks. A sling (collar and cuff) is placed on your elbow upon you leaving the hospital. 

Like any joint, however, the injury could cause severe damage. In this instance, surgery may be required to attempt to alleviate or fix the issue. If you feel you’ve been injured like this in an accident that wasn’t your fault, call our advisors now to see if you can claim. 

Fractured Or Broken Bone Workplace Injuries

There are many ways you could suffer an injury at work. Such examples include: 

  • A slip, trip or fall
  • Objects falling onto you
  • Falls from height
  • Using faulty machinery

One of the most important aspects of making a successful personal injury claim is in showing liability. If the injury is deemed to be completely your fault, then you wouldn’t receive any compensation. 

In order to be able to show liability, it is vital to collect evidence. The first piece of evidence that is important is medical evidence. Although following a fractured elbow you are very likely to head straight for A and E, no matter what type of injury always get it looked at. This can ensure you receive the right treatment. But also your injury is recorded. Other evidence you could collect could include images of the scene of the accident. Try to do this before anything is removed. Ensure you capture the reason for your accident. Use a date stamp if you can. Record the accident where possible.

What Is An Employer’s Duty Of Care? 

An employer’s duty of care is determined under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It creates a series of legally binding rules to ensure employees are kept as safe as can be reasonably expected within a place of work. 

Examples of how employees can be kept safe: 

  • Risk assessments
  • Maintain equipment 
  • For employees to be able to access required Personal Protective Equipment PPE
  • Making sure there are facilities and arrangements sufficient to keep workers safe. 

If you would like to have your accident at work case assessed for free please call our advisors. Through a free chat that carries no obligation have your case reviewed. Call our team any time of the day or night. They can answer your questions and let you know if your case has a chance of success. 

How Can My Employer Breach Their Duty Of Care?

The duty of care can be breached by your employer not ensuring the workplace is a safe environment. Freak accidents can lead to a broken elbow at work, but it’s only if you can show that negligence from your employer or colleague led to it that your claim will be successful. 

Examples of this include: 

  • Faulty bannisters on stairs could lead to an employee injury
  • No warning signs placed on the floor when it is wet
  • Unrealistic demands, such as making you work an extreme amount of overtime 

Any of these could lead to you wanting to claim for a broken elbow. 

Above are statistics provided by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). As you can see, there are thousands of injuries a year at work. A major or specified injury includes a fracture (other than fingers, thumbs and toes), an amputation, permanent loss of sight and serious burns, etc. You can find the full definition here

While this doesn’t show how many of these injuries, if any, led to claims or even how many were necessarily involving an employer breaching their duty of care, it highlights the extent of injuries in the workplace.   

Case Study £83,000 Broken Elbow Injury In The Workplace

Mr Becker had taught P.E. at high school for over 30 years and was coming up to his last year in charge of the department. He was experienced, having stayed while the headteacher had changed many times. His love of sport was known by the entire faculty, as his interest in it seemed unparalleled. He loved any sport, from football to curling. 

Unfortunately, a serious injury to Mr Becker’s right elbow joint meant that he could not work his final year and had no other choice but to make a work injury claim. 

How did Mr Becker break his elbow at work? 

Despite his age, Mr Becker was still a very active coach. He’d managed to stay slim all his life, and he attributed that to the running he did in lessons. Looking at his watch, he blew his whistle, telling the class to go up to the changing rooms as there were only 10 minutes of school left. 

While the kids ran away past the playground, Mr Becker began gathering the cones. He walked to the sports hall placed the cones away and began to walk down the steps to gather the students together. As he grabbed for the rail it came away from the wall as it had done a few times before. Only this time Mr Becker fell from the top steps all the way to the ground. He had no time to help break his fall and suffered much of the landing on his elbow. 

The pain was immediate. The crushing weight was difficult to move. He felt the pain become more and more intense. It took 10 minutes of calling for help for someone to find him. 

The doctor told him that it wasn’t just a simple fracture. Not only had damage in terms of a complete fracture been caused to the elbow joint, in general, he had also severely damaged several of the tendons. He needed surgery. But even then he would be left with a disabling injury. 

After the break had healed, a lot of pain remained. It became clear that Mr Becker wouldn’t be able to go back to school. It was then that he began looking into making a personal injury claim. 

What was Mr Becker awarded in compensation?

After explaining the situation, Mr Becker’s personal injury solicitor felt like he had a strong case. They had many pictures of the injury and a witness statement from the person who saved him. 

The solicitor argued that, despite surgery, Mr Becker still felt a lot of pain in his elbow and would be on painkillers for the rest of his life. 

Liability was admitted when it became clear that the hand rail had been damaged for some time. Although it had been repaired the old defect had resurfaced.

Mr Becker’s claim was upheld. The amount of compensation he received for his claim for a broken elbow came to £83,000. This included general and special damages. 

How the settlement breaks down

Please see below for a breakdown of Mr Becker’s compensation. 

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The case of Mr Becker is purely an example of a claim for a broken elbow. It is based on our experiences of valuing claims. It is for illustrative purposes alone and therefore, is not based on a factual case. 

The Difference Between General And Special Damages

There are 2 heads of claim when making a successful personal injury claim. General damages relate to the pain and suffering. Special damages relate to the financial losses caused by a workplace injury. This includes: 

  • Loss of Earnings
  • Loss of Future Earnings
  • Travel costs.
  • Prescriptions/medicine
  • Recreational activities that have already paid that you can no longer commit to

Evidence, such as receipts, bank statements and invoices are needed to prove the financial loss. As such, even if you win the claim, if you’re not able to supply evidence of all of the losses, you might not receive the full amount you’d claimed for.

Calculating Compensation Claims For A Broken Elbow At Work

The other type of compensation you can claim is general damages. This relates to the physical and emotional pain caused by the injury and the decline in your quality of life. 

Similar to special damages, evidence is needed. This time it comes in the form of doctor’s reports and making sure you keep an accurate, detailed record of the procedures and medication taken. Importantly, this is to provide a better understanding of your recovery.   

Also, something to bear in mind – an independent medical assessment will be performed to determine if the injuries are from the accident or part of a pre-existing medical condition. Also, if your existing medical condition has worsened due to the accident, make your solicitor aware of this. It can only help with your case. 

So, if you’re unsure if you’re able to claim or looking to claim for a broken elbow, please contact our advisors using the phone number at the top of this page. 

Claim For A Broken Elbow At Work With A No Win No Fee Solicitor

Our panel of solicitors work on a No Win No Fee basis. This means you won’t need to pay your solicitor any legal fees either upfront or during the claim. 

How does this work? Your solicitor will take a small, legally capped portion of your compensation as payment for the legal fees upon your claim being successful. 

This also means that they won’t waste your time. If they don’t think you have a decent chance of winning your case, they won’t string you along. Instead, they will just tell you simply and honestly that they don’t think you have a good enough chance of winning. 

How A Workplace Injury Solicitor Could Help You

Why not call our team of advisors for some free advice tailored to your case. As well as providing answers to your questions they could look at valuing your injury.

Our advisors offer free legal advice and are available 24/7, so call them to ask any questions about the claims process or just to see if you’ll be able to claim. 

Additionally, if our advisors think that your case has a chance of winning they can connect you with a solicitor. With years of personal injury law experience, our panel of solicitors offer their services on a No Win No Fee basis.

Contact Our Team For Free Legal Advice

Don’t just rely on a personal injury calculator. Our team is available whenever you’re ready and can answer any questions and queries you might have. 

  • Telephone number – 0800 408 7825
  • Live chat by using the window on the bottom right of your screen
  • Contact us through our website

Where To Find Out More

If you’d like more information, please refer to the links below. 

For more information on tennis elbow, please visit the NHS website. 

More statistics about health and safety can be found on the HSE website. 

Want more information about slips and trips? If so, view here.

If you’ve suffered an accident at work and want to see if you can claim, visit our website. 

Dislocated your shoulder while in a public place? Visit this page for more information. 

To see if you can claim compensation from the council, visit here. 

Workplace Injury Claim FAQs

What is the time limit for making my claim?

The time limit for making a claim is either 3 years from the date of the injury or 3 years from the date you’ve been made aware of the injury. There are also other exceptions.  

How long could my claim take?

It depends on many factors, but one of the most important is if the defendant is willing to accept liability for the damage caused. If they are, your claim could be resolved in a matter of months. If not, the claim could go to court, and it could be years before it’s fully resolved. 

Do I need medical evidence?

Yes, you do. So, say, for example, you’re making a claim for a broken elbow, doctor’s reports will be used as medical evidence. However, any photographs of the injury and a list of all of the procedures and medicine you’ve had because of the injury are also very helpful because it illustrates the damage done in greater detail. 

Will I have to meet my solicitor in person?

This depends on you. If you want to meet with your solicitor you can. If you would prefer to use technology and the phone to process your claim you can do this as well. 

Guide by AD

Published by SI.