A Guide To Claiming For Injuries Due To No Eye Protection At Work

This guide tells you when you may be eligible claim compensation for any injuries you have sustained due to having no eye protection at work. Employers should provide their employees with the sufficient equipment and training they need to complete their tasks safely. Not having the proper eye protection could compromise your occupational safety.

So, if your employer did not provide you with personal protective eyewear, such as safety goggles, safety glasses, and face shields, and you suffered harm as a result, you might be able to make an accident at work claim.

First, we state the accident at work claims eligibility criteria and explain when someone may have valid grounds to pursue a claim for job related eye injuries. Following this, we delve into different types of eye injuries that could be suffered due to not wearing eye protection at work.

Then, we tell you the types of evidence that are useful to have in order to prove a workplace injury claim. Moreover, in the section after this, you can find a guideline compensation table for different sorts of eye injuries.

To conclude this guide, we tell you how you can make a No Win No Fee personal injury claim with our panel of solicitors and the benefits of doing so. You might be connected with our panel if you speak with a member of our team about your circumstances. Our advisors can also offer you free advice for your case and answer any questions you may have about the claiming process. Here is how you can have a chat with our team:

A man in a white t-shirt, tilting his head to the side and holding it in pain. There are white bandages around his head and left eye.

Jump To A Section

  1. How To Claim For Injuries Caused By No Eye Protection At Work
  2. Types Of Work-Related Eye Injuries
  3. Types Of Proof In Workplace Injury Claims?
  4. Examples Of Payouts For Eye Injuries At Work
  5. Get Help Claiming For Injuries Caused By No Eye Protection At Work
  6. Learn More About How To Claim For Eye Injuries At Work

How To Claim For Injuries Caused By No Eye Protection At Work

All employers owe a legal duty of care to their employees as under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. To fulfil their duty of care, employers must ensure the safety of their employees and reduce the risk of injury by taking reasonable steps.

Some reasonable steps that employers are expected to take include implementing health and safety procedures, regularly risk-assessing workplace equipment, facilities, and the environment to eliminate hazards, and responding to any reports of hazards as soon as practically possible.

Specifically, the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 outlines how employers must provide employees with appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) as part of their duty of care. This is to protect them further in job roles where the risks and hazards cannot be fully minimised. Employers must ensure that their PPE is fit for use, provides adequate protection and that employees are instructed on how and when to safely use it.

Thus, if you were given no eye protection at work when you should have been, you may be able to claim compensation. As such, here are the accident at work claims eligibility criteria you will need to prove:

  1. You were owed a duty of care from an employer.
  2. The employer breached this duty.
  3. You were injured as a result of this breach.

You might not be able to make a claim if you suffered an injury due to failing to to wear eye protection that your employer provided to you.

If you discuss your circumstances with our advisors, they can tell you whether you have valid grounds to make a claim.

Limitation Periods

To make a personal injury claim after an accident at work, you must begin legal proceedings within 3 years. These 3 years commence from the date your workplace injury occurred. This is stated in the Limitation Act 1980.

There are just a couple of exceptions to this time limit. If the claimant is younger than 18 or does not have the mental capacity to claim, the time limit will be paused.

A litigation friend can step in to begin the claim on the claimant’s behalf while the time limit is paused.

The time limit will be paused until either the claimant’s 18th birthday or the date of they recover their mental capacity. If a claim has not been made on their behalf by these dates, the injured party will gave three years to begin their claim from these respective dates.

Our team can give you more information about the limitation period of personal injury claims.

Male construction worker wearing yellow gloves and an orange helmet, holding his left eye in pain that has a white square plaster on.

Types Of Work-Related Eye Injuries

Examples of eye injuries which could be sustained if someone is not provided with the appropriate eye safety equipment, such as safety glasses or goggles, include:

Furthermore, here are a few examples of the types of accidents which could lead to an employee suffering an eye injury if given no eye protection at work:

  • On a construction site, an employee uses a saw to cut bits of material such as wood and metal. Due to a lack of safety goggles being provided, debris in the air such as sawdust and mental filings get into the employee’s eyes and cause a corneal abrasion injury.
  • An employee can suffer serious penetrating injuries to the eye if, when in the manufacturing industry, a piece of machinery malfunctions, leading to sharp objects being ejected. This can cause penetrating injuries if the employee does not wear safety glasses, due to not being provided them.
  • In industrial manufacturing, if a hazardous substance is accidentally spilt, an employee could suffer a chemical burn if they have not been provided goggles to wear. Chemical burns to the eyes can even lead to serious eye injuries such as blindness.

Please don’t hesitate to speak with one of our advisors about how your specific eye injury occurred. Depending on your circumstances, you can be advised on what you should do next.

Types Of Proof In Workplace Injury Claims?

Evidence in any personal injury claim is necessary to show how duty of care was breached and the injury you suffered as a direct result of this breach. So, some useful types of evidence you can collect include:

  • CCTV footage of your accident taking place.
  • Photographs of the accident scene and of the visible effects of your injury.
  • A copy of the accident report in the workplace accident book.
  • A copy of your medical records after seeking medical care following the accident. For example, copies of scan images that highlight the extent of your injury and notes detailing the treatment you have received.
  • Taking contact details from potential eyewitnesses, such as fellow employees, so a statement can be taken from them at a later date.

A solicitor from our panel can assist you in gathering evidence for your case, such as the above. This is just one of the services which they offer to make the personal injury claims process less daunting for you. So, contact our team to see whether you can be connected with a specialist solicitor from our panel.

A close-up shot of an opened eye that is bloodshot.

Examples Of Payouts For Eye Injuries At Work

Up to two potential heads of loss, called general and special damages, could be awarded for a successful workplace injury claim.

General damages are an award for the mental harm and physical effects you have experienced due to your injuries. Thus, some factors of these effects that are looked at are:

  • The severity of the injury.
  • The extent to which quality of life has changed.
  • How long the expected recovery period is.

You may be asked to undergo an independent medical assessment during the claims process. The reports and results from this assessment can help with the valuation of general damages.

The Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) may also be used to help. The JCG has a range of different guideline compensation brackets for various injuries.

Guideline Compensation Table

Here is a table full of different types of eye injuries (except the very first row) that can be found in the JCG and that you may suffer due to not having safety eyewear at work. Also included are their accompanying guideline compensation values. 

Please remember that the figures provided can only be used as guidance and cannot be guaranteed because all personal injury claims are unique. 

InjurySeverityGuideline compensation valueComments
Multiple serious injuries along with special damagesSeriousUp to £350,000+An award for sustaining multiple injuries at a serious severity, along with their monetary losses such as medical costs and lost earnings.
Injuries affecting sightTotal blindness (b)In the region of £268,720Complete loss of sight in both eyes.
Loss of sight in one eye with limited vision in the other eye (c) (i)£95,990 to £179,770Where the other eye has a serious risk of future deterioration that goes beyond the risk of sympathetic ophthalmia.
Loss of sight in one eye with limited vision in the other eye (c) (ii)£63,950 to £105,990Where the other eye has reduced vision and there may be additional problems like double vision.
Total loss of one eye (d)£54,830 to £65,710The award will depend on factors such as age, cosmetic effect and psychiatric damage.
Complete loss of sight in one eye (e)£49,270 to £54,830The risk of sympathetic ophthalmia will be taken into account.
Serious but incomplete loss of vision in one eye (f)£23,680 to £39,340With no significant risk of reduced vision in the other eye.
Minor but permanent impaired vision in one or both eyes (g)£9,110 to £20,980Includes cases where some double vision is present, and if there is permanent sensitivity to bright light that do not require dark glasses to be constantly worn.
Minor (h)£3,950 to £8,730Injuries that cause initial pain and a temporary interference to vision, including exposure to fumes and being struck in the eye.

Are There Other Damages You Could Claim Compensation For?

If your compensation claim is successful, while general damages will always be awarded, special damages may be awarded too. Special damages are an award for the monetary losses you have suffered due to your injuries. For example:

  • Loss of earnings because you require medical treatment and time off work to recover from your injury.
  • Home adaptations if you need to make permanent changes to your living space to accommodate your injury.
  • Medical costs, such as paying for prescriptions and painkillers.

To have a greater chance of receiving special damages, keep proof of your injury’s financial impacts. For example, any receipts, invoices, payslips, and invoices you may have that can show this.

Get in touch with our team today to discuss further how much compensation could be awarded if you were injured due to not having protective eyewear at work.

Get Help Claiming For Injuries Caused By No Eye Protection At Work

If you have valid grounds to make an eye injury at work claim, one of the solicitors on our panel may be able to help you through the claiming process. Additionally, you could be offered a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) by them. A CFA is a specific type of No Win No Fee agreement.

The benefits of a CFA are that you will not have to pay for your solicitor’s services if your claim is not successful. You also will not need to pay them for their work before and during the claiming process.

Instead, if your claim is successful, your solicitor will deduct a success fee from the awarded compensation. A success fee is a percentage. The law caps the percentage that can be deducted as the success fee. This means you will definitely receive the majority of your compensation.

'no win no fee' written in red font with a white background.

Speak To A Member Of Our Specialist Team

Speak to a member of our specialist team today to see if you could make a claim for an injury from being given no eye protection at work on a No Win No Fee basis with a solicitor on our panel. Our panel of solicitors have years of experience. They will strive to make the claims process as easy for you as possible. To speak with our team:

Learn More About How To Claim For Eye Injuries At Work

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