In this guide to chemical injury claims, we discuss the process of claiming compensation for the effects of a chemical burn at work. The suffering that hazardous substances can cause is potentially life-changing, and if your case meets the eligibility criteria for a personal injury claim, you could seek compensation for it.
After covering claim eligibility, we talk you through the evidence you can collect to prove employer negligence. Additionally, we discuss chemical injury compensation and how it may be able to address multiple forms of damage.
We also provide some useful insight into why people make compensation claims on a No Win No Fee basis with the personal injury solicitors from our expert panel.
As well as reading through this guide, you can get useful information about chemical burn injury claims by using our support service. As part of a free initial consultation, we can also assess your chances of starting a claim. Choose any of these options to reach us:
- Call 020 8050 2736.
- Contact us through our query form.
- Chat with an advisor by clicking on the live chat tab.
Browse Our Guide
- Can You Claim Chemical Injury Compensation?
- How To Make Chemical Injury Claims
- Examples Of Chemical Injury Claims
- What Chemical Injury Compensation Could You Receive?
- Why Claim For Chemical Injuries On A No Win No Fee Basis?
- Read More Related To Personal Injury Claims
Can You Claim Chemical Injury Compensation?
The question of whether you can claim compensation for a workplace accident revolves around your employer’s legal duty of care. This means that if an employer has tasked you with working with hazardous chemicals, they are required by law to keep you safe in any way they can. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA) outlines their duty in Section 2 by stating that employers must take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that workers are kept safe.
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) gives specific guidance on measures employers should be taking when substances hazardous to employees’ health are present. These measures include:
- Performing regular risk assessments.
- Providing the correct personal protective equipment (PPE).
- Preventing exposure to harmful substances, or restricting chemical exposure as much as possible.
- Carefully monitoring exposure and employee health.
Employees can make personal injury claims against their employers if these eligibility criteria can be met:
- The employer owed a duty of care under legislation including HASAWA and COSHH.
- They breached this duty, for example, by ignoring health regulations.
- This led to an accident where you suffered chemical injuries.
What Substances Can Cause A Chemical Injury?
Depending on where you work, you might be in contact with different chemicals. Among the substances used in the workplace that could cause harm are:
- Chlorine.
- Ammonia.
- Hydrochloric acid.
- Sulphuric acid.
- Sodium hydroxide.
These chemicals can be found in everyday items such as cleaning products, disinfectants and water treatment solutions.
If you suffer chemical burns or ingest chemicals because your employer breached their duty of care, you have the right to claim. Call today for free guidance on chemical injury claims and learn if you can make an accident at work compensation claim.
How To Make Chemical Injury Claims
If you have a valid case to claim compensation for an injury, or even multiple chemical burn injuries, you should gather as much evidence as possible. The evidence you gather needs to prove who was liable for your accident and the subsequent injuries you suffered.
Examples of evidence that could be gathered for a chemical injury compensation claim include:
- Photos of the accident scene and your injuries.
- Footage of the incident. For example, CCTV footage may be available.
- A copy of your health records. Medical records can show the extent of the harm suffered and the treatment you received. You may potentially undergo an independent medical assessment during the claim as well.
- You could also get a copy of your workplace’s accident book entry.
- Contact details for any possible witnesses.
Our panel’s solicitors can help with this part of chemical injury claims. If instructed, they can assist with evidence collection and present proof effectively to help you get the best possible outcome. Just call the number at the top of this page if you’d like more information about how a personal injury solicitor can make the claims process more straightforward.
Examples Of Chemical Injury Claims
As we discussed previously, chemical injury compensation claims could be made against employers who breach their duty of care. These examples highlight how a breached duty could lead to a harmful chemical accident.
- A company does not check or maintain pipes used to funnel ammonia gas. A pipe bursts, releasing gas into a nearby worker’s eyes and causing blindness as well as respiratory damage.
- An employer fails to check that chemical vats are stored safely and correctly within a factory. Due to this, they fail to notice that a vat is damaged and leaking, causing an employee to suffer a chemical burn injury to their hands.
- An employer does not give adequate training on manual handling of caustic chemicals. While moving vats, an employee spills chemicals onto themselves, suffering severe burns as a result.
What Chemical Injuries Could Be Caused?
Contact with dangerous chemicals can be extremely painful and cause permanent scarring, or could even have potentially fatal consequences.
Burn injuries can range from a mild burn, where the outer layer of the skin is affected, to a more painful partial thickness burn or a devastating full thickness burn injury that damages multiple layers of skin.
Swallowing or breathing in a harmful substance could cause internal injuries to the lungs or other vital organs. Furthermore, eye injuries involving chemical substances could lead to partial or total blindness.
To learn more about chemical injury claims and what injuries you could receive compensation for, just call the number at the top of the page.
What Chemical Injury Compensation Could You Receive?
How much compensation you receive will depend on the specific factors of your case, such as how badly you were injured and how much it will affect your life going forward. To account for the different ways a chemical burn injury can affect you, personal injury compensation can be formed of up to two heads of loss.
- General damages refer to the physical pain and psychological harm suffered because of your injuries.
- Special damages compensation covers the financial impact of your injuries. We will cover this in more depth later on.
Those responsible for calculating general damages compensation can come to a figure using numerous sources, including your medical evidence. They can also refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), a document that features brackets with a general guideline of compensation amounts for different injuries.
We have used some JCG figures for the table below to give you a rough idea of what could be paid out in successful chemical injury claims.
Guideline Compensation Table
Outside of the top entry, these figures are taken from JCG guideline brackets. The table is only intended as a guide.
| HARM | SEVERITY | COMPENSATION | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple Serious Injuries Plus Monetary Costs And Losses | Very Serious | Up to £500,000+ | Financial compensation for numerous physical or mental injuries. Additionally, the payout accounts for medical costs, missed earnings and other monetary losses. |
| Injuries Affecting Sight | Total Blindness | In the region of £327,940 | Loss of sight in both eyes. |
| Loss Of Sight In One Eye With Reduced Vision In The Remaining Eye (ii) | £78,040 to £129,330 | The remaining eye has reduced vision and/or additional problems like double vision. | |
| Incomplete Loss Of Sight In One Eye (f) | £28,900 to £48,040 | Serious but incomplete loss of vision. There is no significant risk of loss or reduction of vision in the other eye, but there is constant double vision. | |
| Scarring To Other Parts Of The Body | Significant Burns | Likely to exceed £127,930 | Significant burns that cover 40% or more of the body. The percentage body area affected is one factor that dictates the exact award. |
| Noticeable Scars | £9,560 to £27,740 | The chest, back, leg(s), arm(s) or hand(s) are affected by multiple scars or one disfiguring scar. | |
| Facial Disfigurement | Very Severe Scarring | £36,340 to £118,790 | Burns or scars that have a very disfiguring cosmetic effect and cause a severe psychological reaction in relatively young claimants. |
| Lung Disease | Breathing Difficulties | £38,210 to £66,920 | Difficulty falling short of disabling breathlessness that requires fairly frequent inhaler use. |
| Digestive System | Illness/Damage Resulting From Non-Traumatic Injury (i) | £46,900 to £64,070 | Toxicosis leading to serious and acute pain, among other complications. The patient requires hospital admission for days or potentially weeks. |
| Chest | Toxic Fume/Smoke Inhalation | £6,500 to £15,370 | Inhalation leaves residual damage, albeit the damage does not interfere permanently with lung function. |
As aforementioned, special damages compensate you for the financial losses your injuries have caused you. For example, this could include:
- A loss of earnings.
- Medical expenses.
- Travel costs.
- Care costs.
It is worth tracking your financial losses closely and keeping records because the amount paid out under the special damages head of loss can often form the majority of a chemical burn injury claim payout. Evidence could include payslips and invoices.
You can call us to learn more about personal injury compensation and how it is calculated.
Why Claim For Chemical Injuries On A No Win No Fee Basis?
Our panel of solicitors have a proven track record in helping people pursue chemical injury claims. By claiming compensation with the support of a personal injury solicitor, you get the reassurance of having an experienced professional to guide you through the claims process.
The solicitors on our panel offer their services under a Conditional Fee Agreement. What this means for you is:
- No upfront payment to obtain their services.
- No running service fees to pay as the claim progresses.
- Not paying for the solicitor’s work at all if the claim fails.
The solicitor only collects a fee for their work after a successful claim. This takes the form of a percentage of your compensation and is referred to as a success fee.
Contact Us Today
Whether you’re looking to start a chemical injury claim, or just want to know more about how to claim for an accident at work, our advisors can help. If you have your case assessed and we find that you have a valid claim, you can be connected to an expert solicitor right away.
We don’t charge for our consultation service and there is no obligation to claim. You can contact us at any day or time through one of these options:
- Phone: 020 8050 2736.
- Online: contact us on our website.
- Live Chat: just click on the tab to the right of your screen.
Read More Related To Personal Injury Claims
We offer plenty of accident at work claim guidance, such as these articles:
- We discuss claiming for a minor injury suffered at work.
- Useful guidance on how long you have to claim after an accident.
- Our top tips on preventing an accident at work.
These sites also provide relevant information:
- NHS information on chemical burns and what to do if you’re hurt.
- Guidance on chemicals for employers, provided by the Health and Safety Executive, which regulates workplace safety in Britain.
- GOV.UK information about Statutory Sick Pay and how to request it.
Thank you for reading our chemical injury claims guide. Please call if you want to discuss your potential case or ask us a question.