Toe Injury at Work – A Guide to Claiming Compensation

Suffering any type of toe injury at work can cause serious lifestyle problems. For instance, if you cannot put weight on your foot because of sustaining a broken toe at work, driving, working, walking and standing will all be difficult. Crucially, if you suffer a work-related toe injury, you might be entitled to seek compensation for your suffering. As such, this guide will explore how toe injury at work claims work and look at how compensation for toe injuries is calculated.

We can help if you have any questions about toe injury compensation claims. As part of our free initial consultation, you can ask any questions you might have while a specialist assesses the merits of your case. If a claim is feasible, we could partner you with a solicitor specialising in workplace accidents. If they agree to help, your toe injury claim will be managed on a No Win, No Fee basis.

To speak to someone about your options now, you can:

• Call 0333 241 2519 to connect with a legal advisor.
• Make use of our 24-hour online chat service.

If you’ve sustained a toe injury at work, getting prompt legal advice following the incident can improve your prospects of receiving compensation for the pain, suffering, and financial losses you’ve incurred.

Types of Toe Injuries at Work We Can Help With

While it could be possible to claim for any type of work-related toe injury, here are some common types that accident-at-work solicitors will deal with:

• Amputated toes.
• Broken toe at work.
• Toe dislocations.
• Crushed toes.
• Sprained and strained toes.
• Soft tissue injuries.

Whether we’ve listed your toe injury here or not, if you believe your employer is liable for your suffering, please feel free to call our legal advisors for free advice now.

Can I Make a Toe Injury at Work Compensation Claim?

While you are at work, your employer has to take reasonable steps to protect the well-being of their workforce. This is a legal obligation as set out by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAWA). Depending on the nature of your work, other pieces of legislation may also apply.

Some of the ways employers can meet their HASAWA obligations to stop workplace toe injuries include:

• Perform risk assessments in the workplace on a regular basis to remove or lessen any hazards identified.
• Give staff free personal protective equipment (PPE) such as steel toe-capped boots where needed.
• Maintain all workplace equipment, tools and machinery in line with the manufacturer’s guidelines.
• Provide all staff with adequate safety training.

If your employer fails to meet their legal obligations, you may have grounds to claim toe injury compensation if you can demonstrate that:

• At the time you were injured, your employer owed you a duty of care.
• The accident occurred in the last three years because of a negligent act by your employer.
• Your toe injuries can be directly linked to that negligence.

If you think that your employer is indeed responsible for the suffering caused by your toe injury at work, please call our legal advisors to clarify whether you could be compensated.

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

Here are a few scenarios of where accidents at work caused by a negligent employer could result in a toe injury claim:

• Your toes were crushed at work by a falling object because your employer failed to provide protective boots when needed.
• You sustained a broken toe at work from tripping on a hazard that was dangerously obscured by poor lighting.
• Your big toe was amputated because a poorly maintained concrete cutter malfunctioned.
• Where your toes were injured in a warehouse after an untrained forklift driver drove over your feet.
• You suffered ligament damage in your toes after your foot was trapped in a defective lift door.
• You caught your toe on a torn piece of carpeting that had been reported but not fixed leading to a dislocation.

These are just some of the ways in which toe injuries at work can occur. Even if your accident isn’t described here, you’re more than welcome to call us to request a free initial assessment of your claim.

What Should I Do If I Injured a Toe in the Workplace?

If you have injured your toes at work, some of the important steps you can take include:

• Seek medical attention at a minor injuries unit or A&E so your toe injuries are diagnosed and treated professionally.
• Inform your employer about how the accident happened.
• Ask for the incident along with your toe injuries to be recorded in the accident report book and request a copy of the report.

These steps can benefit your employer because they can learn from the information provided and make workplace changes to prevent similar incidents from occurring. Also, you’ll benefit because you’ll already have some of the evidence needed to start a toe injury claim if you decide to make one at a later date.

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

In most cases, personal injury claims against your employer will be managed by their insurance provider. As such, you must convince the insurer about how your accident happened, what your employer did wrong to cause it and how you’ve suffered because of your toe injuries.

Here are some examples of the types of evidence you could use to strengthen your case:

• A copy of an accident report so that the date, time and location of your accident can be confirmed.
• Medical records from a hospital or your GP to confirm what injuries were diagnosed.
• Pictures of any visible toe injuries (bruising, swelling, cuts etc.).
• CCTV footage of your accident if your employer uses security cameras in the workplace.
• Contact information for work colleagues or anyone in general who saw how you were injured.
• Photographs of the accident scene and any obvious cause.

Please contact our legal advisors if you’d like us to check if you have enough evidence to start a toe injury compensation claim.

How Long Do I Have to Claim Toe Injury Compensation?

Legally, you have 3 years to claim compensation if you’ve sustained a toe injury at work because of negligence. This period normally begins from the date of the accident in which your injuries were sustained.

Adhering to the time limits defined in the Limitation Act 1980 is crucial as claims can be dismissed if they are made too late. Therefore, it’s usually best to seek legal advice as soon as you can to avoid missing out on any compensation you may be entitled to.

How Much Compensation for a Toe Injury At Work?

If you make a successful toe injury at work claim, you will receive a compensation payment. This will normally be formed of general and special damages.

General damages is compensation used to reflect the level of physical and emotional suffering your toe injuries have caused. It can also reflect any loss of amenity your injuries have caused. For instance, if you are unable to play football as you usually would because of a broken toe, this could considered as part of your claim.

To help put a value on your toe injuries, copies of your medical records will be obtained by your solicitor. You will probably also need to attend an independent medical assessment to get a fuller picture of your suffering and how long it will last.

Using this evidence, your solicitor may then refer to any similar claims and the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to see how much compensation you might be entitled to.

The toe injury compensation table below uses figures from the JCG for reference but the amounts listed are not guaranteed compensation settlements.

• Amputation of all toes could be worth between £36,520 – £56,080 compensation.
• Severe toe injuries, such as those involving the amputation of one or two toes due to severe crushing, are valued between £13,740 – £21,070.
• Serious injuries that affect the great toe or two or more toes fall within the compensation range of £9,600 – £13,740.
• A striaghtforward broken toe at work would generally not be worth more than £5,590.

Any financial losses incurred because of your toe injuries could result in special damages being awarded. These can help to cover:

• Costs arising from medical treatment.
• Any income you’ve lost
• The cost of a carer while you’re recovering.
• Future loss of earnings.
• Travel costs.
• Home adaptations to help improve your quality of life if your toe injuries have caused a permanent disability.

To help prove your losses, you should submit receipts and other financial documentation to your solicitor.

Can I Claim Compensation for a Broken Toe at Work if I’m Not a Full-Time Worker?

In various industries, companies often employ workers through alternative arrangements such as zero-hours contracts, contractors, agency staff, the self-employed, and consultants. Despite these varied employment types, employers still owe a duty of care to ensure the safety of all their workers in the workplace.

Therefore, if you have sustained a broken toe at work due to your employer’s negligence, you could still be entitled to seek compensation for your injury, regardless of your employment status. If you would like more information on how to proceed with a compensation claim for a toe injury, please contact us using the number above today.

Will I Be Sacked for Making a Toe Injury at Work Claim Against My Employer?

If you make a toe injury compensation claim against your employer for a genuine injury it would effectively be illegal for you to face any form of disciplinary action, bullying or harassment at work.

If you do get singled out in any way for suing your employer, you should seek advice about pursuing separate legal action for unfair or constructive dismissal.

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

You are entitled to start a personal injury claim against your employer without legal representation. Be that as it may, the claims process can be really intricate at times and could be made more difficult if your employer contests your version of events.

As such, you might want to take on a legal specialist who has taken on similar cases to yours in the past. Not only should this make your claim more straightforward, but it could improve your toe injury settlement.

If a solicitor from our panel offers you legal representation for your toe injury claim and you want to proceed, they’ll do so on a No Win, No Fee basis. This means before any work is carried out, you’ll sign a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). As a result:

• Your solicitor won’t need to be paid for their work in advance.
• If your toe injury at work claim fails, you don’t need to pay for your solicitor’s time.
• You’ll have a success fee deducted from your settlement if compensation is paid.

Success fees are a capped percentage of any compensation payout. When using a CFA, the success fee is currently limited to 25% of the settlement.

Will I Have to Go to Court?

It is quite unusual for toe injury claims to require court intervention in our experience. It’s far more likely that your claim will be settled between your solicitor and your employer’s insurance provider.

On rare occasions, solicitors might opt for court action if they suspect you have a very strong case but your employer will not admit liability or they’ve made a compensation offer that is far too low.

How Long Will a Toe Injury Claim Take?

At this stage, it’s not possible to estimate how long your toe injury claim will take as there are many factors to be considered. For instance, claims can be delayed if your employer won’t accept liability for your accident. Similarly, if you’ve sustained a serious injury at work such as multiple traumatic toe amputations, it may take some time before your prognosis will be properly understood.

Generally, simple toe injuries that fully resolve in under twelve months might be settled in less than 6 months while more complex cases can take up to a year or longer in some cases. If your case is taken on by one of our solicitors, they’ll explain how long they think the process will take after assessing your case in detail.

Contacting Us About a Toe Injury Compensation Claim

If you’ve found this guide about claiming compensation for a toe injury at work useful, please contact us now about your free initial consultation. To do so you can:

• Call our legal advisors on 0333 241 2519.
• Use our online chat service which is available 24 hours a day.

There’s no obligation to proceed with a claim following your call but if you do want to proceed and a solicitor agrees to help, your toe injury at work claim will be managed on a No Win, No Fee basis.