How Much Compensation for a Broken Wrist at Work?

A broken wrist will undoubtedly result in a lot of pain and make it difficult for you to function normally. Your suffering could be even worse if the wrist in your dominant arm is broken. Crucially, you may be entitled to claim compensation if you’ve broken your wrist at work and your employer’s negligence led to your suffering. This guide explains how to make a broken wrist at work claim. It also explains the types of accidents you could claim for and how much compensation for a broken wrist at work might be paid.

If you would like us to help you start a broken wrist claim, you can call for a free initial consultation. In the call, an advisor will review your case with you, assess your options and answer any questions. If a broken wrist compensation claim is feasible, we could connect you with one of our solicitors. If you agree to work together, you’ll benefit from No Win, No Fee legal representation.

To find out more, you can:

• Speak to a legal advisor by calling 0333 241 2519.
• Connect to our live chat service right away.

There’s lots more information on how to claim for a broken wrist at work throughout this guide. If you have any questions along the way, please get in touch.

What Types of Broken Wrists Can We Help With?

Your wrist is a complex joint consisting of two rows of 4 bones. It is an important joint because it enables the movement you’ll need whenever you use your hand.

Here are some of the types of broken wrist injuries that we can help with:

• Copels Fractures: Where the radius in the arm breaks near the wrist.
• Scaphoid Fractures: A common wrist fracture where the bone near the base of the thumb breaks.
• Barton’s Fractures: This type of fracture is often caused by falling on a bent wrist.
• Colles’ Fractures: Where the broken end of the radius bone bends backwards.
• Ulnar Styloid Fractures: Another common wrist fracture where there is a break towards the end of the ulna (the bony part of your wrist) near your little finger.

Even if suffered a different type of wrist fracture to those listed here, we could still help you make a broken wrist at work claim, so please feel free to call.

Can I Make a Broken Wrist at Work Claim?

Your employer, legally, has a duty of care to take reasonable actions to prevent workplace accidents. This is an obligation under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

As such, you could be entitled to claim for a broken wrist at work if you can prove that:

• Your employer owed you a duty of care at the time of your accident.
• The accident only occurred because of your employer’s negligence; and
• As a direct consequence, your wrist was broken or fractured in the last three years.

If you believe your employer failed to uphold their duty of care towards your health and safety and you’ve broken your wrist at work as a result, we could help you to claim for the suffering you’ve endured.

What Types of Negligence Can Lead to a Broken Wrist at Work Claim?

Here are a few examples of the types of accidents that might enable you to claim compensation for a broken wrist at work:

• If you sustained a scaphoid fracture after tripping on a cable trailed across your office and used your hands to break your fall.
• If your wrist was crushed by a piece of heavy machinery in a factory because the emergency stop button failed due to a lack of maintenance.
• Where you fell from a damaged ladder provided by your employer and your wrist was broken in the fall.
• Where you broke your wrist after dropping a heavy load on your arm because you’d not been given proper manual handling training.

There are many other ways in which you could break your wrist at work so don’t worry if your type of accident isn’t listed. So long as your accident resulted from your employer’s negligence, we could help you to claim for any suffering you’ve endured.

What Should I Do If I Sustain a Fractured Wrist at Work?

Like your employer, you have a legal duty to help maintain health and safety standards at work. Therefore, if you are unfortunate enough to break your wrist in a workplace accident, you may need to:

• Report your accident to your employer so that they can make changes to prevent a similar personal injury at work in the future.
• Make sure the incident is logged in an accident report book.
• Seek medical attention at a hospital and tell your employer about any recommendations made by the doctor.

As well as helping your employer to improve workplace safety, these steps could also provide you with some of the evidence you’ll need to support your broken wrist claim.

What Evidence Can Be Used for Broken Wrist Compensation Claims?

The importance of supporting evidence in broken wrist claims cannot be understated. Without it, your employer or their insurer could simply deny that the accident happened or that your wrist was broken at work. Therefore, it’s important to collate as much information as you can after the accident to try and prove your case. This might include:

• Photographs of the accident scene that identify any defects or problems that caused the incident.
• Medical records and X-rays to help prove the extent of the break.
• Details of any witnesses so that statements can be collected if needed.
• CCTV footage of the incident if any exists.
• Copies of your accident report form as it will help to confirm where and when you were injured.

Crucially, if you work with one of our solicitors, they may offer to try and find further evidence to help prove what went wrong. For instance, they could ask the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for a copy of their report on the incident if it was investigated.

We are happy to review any evidence you’ve collected so far to let you know if you have a fair chance of winning a broken wrist at work claim.

How Long Do I Have to Claim Broken Wrist Compensation?

In UK law, the Limitation Act 1980 sets a 3-year time limit for personal injury claims. For broken wrist claims, this will normally begin on the date of the workplace accident.

Crucially, claims made outside of the 3-year time limit can be rejected and this could result in you not being compensated even if your employer is liable. Therefore, we’d suggest that you get in touch with an accident-at-work solicitor for legal advice on the claims process as soon as you can following your accident.

How Much Compensation for a Broken Wrist at Work?

When compensation is awarded for a broken wrist in the workplace, it is normally based on general and special damages.

General damages take into account all of the pain and suffering you have endured as well as any ongoing suffering. As such, your solicitor will gather as much evidence as they can to evaluate the extent of your suffering. This will usually include copies of medical records, x-rays and independent medical reports.

Your solicitor is likely to arrange an independent medical assessment for your claim and you should attend the appointment if they do. That’s because the specialist will examine you and ask questions to find out how you’ve suffered. They’ll also review your medical records to find out how your broken wrist at work might affect you in the future.

This process is important because, without it, you might not receive the right level of compensation for your broken wrist.

Once they have enough information, they’ll compare your injuries to those listed in the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). Our broken wrist compensation list uses JCG data to give you an idea about potential settlement amounts. Please note, however, that these amounts are certainly not guaranteed.

• A minor broken wrist at work that takes 12 months or so for a full recovery might be worth £3,530 – £4,740 compensation.
• A broken wrist that takes longer than 12 months with minor symptoms, £6,080 – £10,350.
• An uncomplicated Colles’ fracture might see a payout somewhere in the region of £7,430.
• An injury that results in a degree of permanent disability, £12,590 – £24,500.
• More severe injuries causing significant permanent disability or a complete loss of function, £24,500 – £59,860.

Special damages may also be included in any compensation for a broken wrist you receive to cover financial losses such as:

• Private surgery and other medical costs.
• Support at home costs.
• The cost of specialist devices and aids to help you cope with a long-term wrist injury.
• Loss of earnings.
• Future loss of earnings if your broken wrist has an impact on your ability to earn in the long term.
• Travel expenses.

To find out how much compensation for a broken wrist at work you might receive, please call our legal advisors now.

Can I Claim for a Broken Wrist at Work if I’m Not a Full-Time Employee?

When it comes to health and safety at work, all employees are owed the same duty of care by their employer.

Therefore, if you can prove you have been injured at work because of your employer’s negligence, one of our work injury solicitors may be able to manage your claim for you.

That goes for temps, contractors, subcontractors, zero-hours staff, agency workers, consultants and the self-employed. Please get in touch if you’d like more information.

Do You Need a Solicitor to Make a Broken Wrist Claim?

When claiming compensation for a broken wrist at work, you might face objections, arguments and complex legal or medical questions from your employer’s insurers. As such, while you could handle the claim yourself, you might find things easier if you take on legal representation from a solicitor with experience in accident-at-work claims.

While working with one of our solicitors could improve your chances of being compensated fairly, it should also make the claims process smoother because they’ll handle everything on your behalf. That means you won’t be directly involved in any negotiations and you won’t need to discuss the claim with your employer or their insurers.

What’s more, our solicitors offer No Win, No Fee agreement for any broken wrist claims they take on.

This means that when you’ve signed your contract, your solicitor will only be paid if you receive a compensation payout. This will be in the form of a success fee which is a percentage of your settlement. When using a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) to fund a No Win, No Fee claim as our solicitors do, the maximum success fee percentage is 25 per cent.

Please call now to see if we can help you claim compensation for a broken wrist at work.

How Long Do Work Injury Claims Take?

A straightforward broken wrist claim might be settled in around 4 to 6 months. This could be possible if you have made a full recovery and your employer accepts that they were at fault for your accident.

However, more complex claims can take longer than a year in some cases. For instance, if your wrist was crushed and needed pins and plates inserted to help you recover, it may take some time before your prognosis is clear. Therefore, it might not be wise to settle quickly as you may not receive all of the compensation you’ll need to help you deal with any ongoing disability.

In this situation, so long as your employer accepts liability for your accident, interim payments could be awarded to help you financially before the claim is settled.

Contacting Us About a Broken Wrist at Work Compensation Claim

We hope you’ve found the information in this guide helpful. If you would now like to discuss your broken wrist at work claim with one of our specialists, you can:

• Call our legal advisors on 0333 241 2519.
• Connect to our live chat service any time of night or day.

If you do get in touch, we’ll assess the merits of your claim for free. If the case seems strong enough, we could connect you with one of our accident-at-work solicitors. Crucially, all broken wrist at work claims that they take on are processed on a No Win, No Fee basis.