Compensation for accident at work in Fife cafe

Mrs Robertson was injured at work following an accident that happened as a result of the negligence of a fellow employee.

A colleague had spilled liquid on the floor during a short turnover period in a busy café in Fife. However, they failed to properly clear up the spillage or sign post the area to warn others.

Mrs Robertson believed that the spillage had been properly cleaned up and although she was wearing slip-resistance shoes, she slipped and fell, hurting herself badly.

“I couldn’t grab onto anything to stop myself from falling and ended up nose-diving to the floor. I banged my forehead off the concrete floor and the blood was running down my face, it wouldn’t stop. My work called an ambulance.”

Work accident leaves permanent scar

The injury from the fall left Mrs Robertson with a permanent scar on her forehead as well as pain in her wrist for several months. Fortunately, she only required one day off work following the accident. 

“I went back to work with a big plaster on my forehead and I’ve been left with a red scar. My manager didn’t even acknowledge it or speak to me about the accident other than to say it looked like it was healing nicely.”

After the way work treated me, I decided to make a claim

“It’s not in my nature to create any hassle or be centre of attention but I decided to get in touch with Digby Brown because of the way I was treated by management after the accident.

“It was a health and safety issue, the area had not been cleaned correctly and the shoes were meant to be non-slip.

“I wasn’t the first person it had happened to and they should have done more. Your employer needs to consider you too and look after you. I thought, what if it happened to someone else and I had done nothing?”

Insurers argue victim is partly to blame for work accident

Digby Brown’s personal injury lawyers in Kirkcaldy were able to persuade Mrs Robertson’s employer to admit liability for the accident early on, and before the case was raised in court. 

However, the insurance company dealing with Mrs Robertson’s claim on behalf of her employer insisted that she was 30% to blame for the accident at work. They said that they would be reducing any award of compensation by 30%.

Our lawyers disputed the argument that Mrs Robertson was 30% to blame as we considered that she was not to blame at all.

The accident was caused by the sole fault of the employee who failed to properly clear up the spillage.

Successful result by taking the case to court

The insurance company were partly persuaded by the arguments put forward by our experts in Kirkcaldy. They reduced the blame on the part of Mrs Robertson to 20%, and an offer of £5600 was made to Mrs Robertson. This included the 20% deduction in the level of compensation.

Our personal injury lawyers in Kirkcaldy recommended to Mrs Robertson that we raise a court action in order to secure a higher, and fairer, compensation payment.

They were of the view that Mrs Robertson was not at all to blame for her accident and so the compensation should not be reduced by 20%.

Within two weeks of the court action being raised, Digby Brown were able to recover a fair compensation settlement for her injuries.

Insurers admit 100% blame for accident at work

After a court action was raised, there was no longer an argument that Mrs Robertson was partly to blame for the accident. She was offered £8,000 which is a fair level of compensation for the injuries she suffered from after the accident at work.

“My solicitor Abigail was great, always keeping me up to date and offering advice and suggestions to build a case. I met with her at their Kirkcaldy office which was very helpful. She also went that little further and took a personal interest, asking after the family although she didn’t have to.

“Abigail clearly knew her stuff and advised me accordingly which helped me get more compensation. I was happy with the final outcome and would happily recommend Digby Brown and use them again myself if I needed to.”