Thumb Injury at Work – A Guide to Claiming Compensation

In the scheme of things, a work-related thumb injury might not seem such a serious injury. But, if you can’t use your thumb for any period of time, you’ll soon understand the role it plays in many of your daily activities. Therefore, if you injure your thumb at work and your employer is to blame for the accident, you might be entitled to claim compensation. This guide about claiming compensation for a thumb injury at work explains when that might be possible.

If you would like to check if you can claim compensation for a thumb injury, we’re ready to help. In a free initial consultation, a specialist will listen to how you were injured, set out your options and provide free legal advice on how to proceed. If a thumb injury claim is feasible, you could be partnered with an accident-at-work solicitor from our panel who’ll provide a No Win, No Fee service.

To see if you can claim thumb injury compensation, you can:

• Call our legal advisors on 0333 241 2519.
• Use our online chat service to ask questions night or day.

Please read on for more on how the claims process for thumb injury claims works but please do call if you have any questions.

Types of Thumb Injuries at Work We Can Help With

If any of the bones, muscles, tendons or ligaments in your thumb are injured in an accident at work, you could be entitled to claim compensation. Here are some of the most common we can help with:

• Dislocated thumbs.
• Severe lacerations.
• Crushed thumbs and thumb fractures.
• Strains, sprains and tears.
• Partial or complete thumb amputations.
• Scalds and burns.

As with any other injury, thumb injuries should be diagnosed by medical professionals to help with a swift recovery. Therefore, depending on the nature of your symptoms, you may need to visit A&E, a minor injuries unit or a GP surgery as soon as possible.

Our solicitors could help you to claim for any type of work-related thumb injury including those listed here. Please get in touch if you’d like us to check you’re eligibility to begin a claim.

Can I Make a Thumb Injury at Work Compensation Claim?

A duty of care is normally established in law by different pieces of legislation. If you’ve injured a thumb at work, the appropriate piece of legislation is likely to be the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HAWASA).

While HAWASA doesn’t specifically mention thumb injuries, it does state that employers need to take reasonable and practical steps to try and protect the well-being of their staff.

To meet these obligations, some of the steps your employer could take to protect you from being injured at work include:

• Carrying out regular risk assessments to identify any potential workplace hazards.
• Providing personal protective equipment (PPE) where hazards cannot be removed.
• Training you on how to conduct tasks as safely as possible.
• Ensuring all workplace tools, machinery and equipment are safe to use and well maintained.
• Ensuring the workplace is tidy, organised and well-maintained to try and prevent accidents.

If steps such as the above have not been taken, your employer could be deemed to have been negligent which may enable you to claim compensation for any subsequent thumb injury at work.

As such, an accident-at-work solicitor might be able to help you make a thumb injury compensation claim if you’re able to show that:

• Your employer owed you a duty of care at the point you were injured.
• You were involved in an accident at work in the last three years that was linked to your employer’s negligence.
• You sustained a thumb injury in that accident.

If you suspect that you’re entitled to sue your employer for a work-related thumb injury, you can get in touch for a free consultation on the phone number above.

What Types of Negligence Can Lead to a Thumb Injury at Work Claim?

Here are a few examples of workplace accidents that could result in thumb injury at work claims:

• If you cut your thumb while using tools such as a knife, saw, or scissors, and you weren’t provided with protective equipment.
• Where the tip of your thumb was amputated while using a cutting machine in a factory because the safety guard was missing.
• If you suffer an RSI injury such as tendinitis in your thumb because of a lack of training or not being allowed regular rest breaks.
• Where you suffered a laceration to your thumb after it was cut on a damaged table in the workplace canteen.
• If an object falls on your thumb due to improper storage or stacking, causing a bad fracture.

We’ve probably not described the type of accident you’ve been involved in but we could still help you to claim thumb injury compensation. If you believe your employer’s negligence has caused you to sustain a thumb injury at work, please get in touch to find out your options.

What Should I Do If I Injured My Thumb in the Workplace?

If you injure your thumb in a workplace accident, you must:

• Let your employer know about the incident and what caused it.
• Ask for the incident to be logged in an accident report book.
• Ensure your thumb injury is checked and treated at a hospital or GP surgery as a proper diagnosis could lead to a faster recovery time.

These steps will enable you to meet your own health and safety obligations and could enable similar accidents to be prevented in the future.

What Evidence Can Be Used for a Thumb Injury Compensation Claim?

When claiming for thumb injury at work compensation, you should provide as much evidence as possible to prove your case. Examples of evidence that might prove useful include:

• Photographs of your thumb that show any visible symptoms (bruising, scarring, deformities etc).
• Contact information for any potential witnesses.
• Accident scene photographs that help to clarify the cause of the incident.
• Medical records, x-rays and scan results.
• Video footage of the accident where available.
• Your copy of the company’s accident report form.

Generally, the more evidence you’ve got to support your thumb injury claim, the better. If you don’t have everything you need, your solicitor may agree to source further evidence to support your case as part of their service.

Therefore, please get in touch now to have an advisor review whether you have enough evidence to start a thumb injury at work compensation claim.

How Long Do I Have to Claim Thumb Injury at Work Compensation?

The legal time limit for personal injury claims in the UK is 3 years. Generally, the time limit for thumb injury compensation claims starts on the date of the accident at work. If at the time of the incident you were under 18 years old, the three-year limit starts from your 18th birthday, giving you until you reach 21 to make a claim.

However, if you were not immediately aware that your thumb had been injured in an accident at work, the three-year limit might start on the date you became aware that the injury was related to the accident.

The Limitation Act 1980 means that claims can become statute-barred if the 3-year limitation period expires. This means that your employer could refuse to pay compensation for your thumb injury if the claim is made too late.

Therefore, it’s normally best to start the claims process as soon as you can following your accident to ensure that you receive any compensation that you’re entitled to.

What Compensation Can I Claim for a Thumb Injury at Work?

As you’d probably guess, the severity of your thumb injury is a large factor that affects how much compensation is paid for a thumb injury at work.

Therefore, the first thing your solicitor will generally do when valuing a claim is to understand how much pain, suffering and loss of amenity you’ve had to deal with.

This will involve studying medical records as well as independent reports before comparing your injuries with those listed in the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). The JCG contains settlement ranges for several different thumb injuries so we’ve used some of its data in our thumb injury compensation list for reference. Please understand that the amounts listed are not guaranteed payouts though.

• Up to £4,750 compensation for minor thumb injuries which have generally recovered in around six months.
• £6,340 – £7,780 for a severely dislocated thumb or soft tissue damage that causes some permanent but minor loss of function.
• £9,670 – £12,590 compensation for moderate thumb injuries causing impaired function, sensation and some cosmetic disfigurement.
• A serious injury such as amputation of the thumb tip or nerve damage causing loss of grip could be worth £12,590 – £16,760.
• A very serious thumb injury at work such as an amputation through the interphalangeal joint might be valued at £19,600 – £35,010.
• Losing a thumb entirely could see compensation in the range of £35,520 – £54,830.

If your claim is won, you could also receive compensation for any costs linked to your workplace thumb injury. For instance, the settlement could cover:

• The cost of support at home where needed.
• Rehabilitation and medical expenses.
• Loss of earnings.
• The cost of specialist devices that help you around the home if your grip has been reduced by your thumb injury for example.
• Travel expenses.
• Future loss of earnings if your thumb injury prevents you from earning at the same level as before your accident.

To best ensure that any compensation paid covers all of your suffering, your solicitor will consider your case in fine detail before filing it with your employer.

Can I Claim Compensation for a Thumb Injury if I’m Not Employed Full-Time?

Earlier, we described the duty of care employers have to the well-being of their staff while they’re at work. This doesn’t just cover permanent staff and it is the same for all employees.

That means work-related thumb injury claims could be started by zero-hours workers; agency staff; subcontractors; the self-employed; part-time workers; and consultants.

If you can show us how your thumb injury resulted from your employer’s negligence, one of our solicitors could help you to claim regardless of the type of contract you’re employed on. Please get in touch now to find out more.

Do I Need a Solicitor to Make a Thumb Injury Claim?

In most cases, employers don’t deal with accident-at-work claims themselves, their insurance provider does. As you might expect, the insurer might contest the claim to see if they can reduce your compensation payout (or pay nothing at all).

If you work with a solicitor to claim for a thumb injury at work, their legal training and experience could make negotiations a lot easier. They could also achieve a higher settlement than the insurer would’ve offered you directly.

Crucially, our panel of solicitors provide No Win, No Fee thumb injury claims for any case they take on.

As such, you won’t need to pay for your solicitor’s work upfront once you’ve signed a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). In fact, the CFA means the only time you will pay for your solicitor’s time is if you are awarded compensation.

Where that happens, a percentage of any settlement you receive will become your solicitor’s success fee. For your peace of mind, it’s important to point out that, where a CFA is used, the maximum success fee percentage is 25 per cent of your compensation payout.

How Long Will a Thumb Injury Claim Take?

If an employee sustained a soft-tissue thumb injury and has made a complete recovery, it’s quite possible for a claim to be settled and paid out in around 4 to 6 months so long as liability for the accident is accepted quickly.

Where the employee’s thumb was amputated and sewn back on, it could take a year or more for their suffering to be properly understood. This could result in a longer claims process but the delay could help to ensure that they are compensated properly.

Crucially, if your claim does take a long time and you’re struggling financially as a result, you could be entitled to interim payments. These may be possible once your employer’s liability has been proven or accepted.

Contacting Us About a Thumb Injury Compensation Claim

Are you ready to claim compensation for a work-related thumb injury? If so, you can get in touch now by:

• Calling 0333 241 2519.
• Connecting to our online chat service.

While there’s no obligation or pressure on you to proceed, any thumb injury claims accepted by our specialist solicitors are handled on a No Win, No Fee basis.