By Marlon Redding. Last Updated 23rd September 2022. Welcome to our hand injury claims guide. Sustaining a hand injury can cause you to have to take time off of work and can also result in a lot of disruption within your everyday life. If you have suffered a hand injury through no fault of your own, you may be eligible to make a hand injury claim.
We are constantly using our hands, often without thinking about it and so to suddenly stop being able to use one or both of our hands because of an injury, everyday tasks can be incredibly difficult or even impossible. Often the accidents that result in someone sustaining a hand injury are due to negligence or carelessness of some kind. It may be that the local council are to blame, your employer or a shop owner for example, whoever is responsible for your injury should be held accountable. Hand injury settlements can be a great financial help if you haven’t been able to work because of your injury and will also cover any extra expenses you have incurred as a direct result of becoming injured. Regardless of where your injury occurred, if it wasn’t your fault, you may be able to make a claim for compensation and this is something we, at Legal Helpline, can help you to do.
Hand injury claims
Jump to a Section
- Hand injury claims guide
- What counts as a hand injury?
- How common are hand injuries?
- Typical causes of injuries to hands
- I’ve injured my hand, what should I do?
- Common hand injury compensation claims
- Proving fault for a hand injury
- Hand Injury Compensation Amounts (2022)
- Hand Injury No Win No Fee claims
- Can Legal Helpline process my hand injury claim?
- Contact Legal Helpline today
- Helpful links and resources
Hand injury claims guide
Out of all Accident and Emergency visits, hand injuries make up 10% of these, meaning that they are in fact fairly common occurrences.
If you have been left unable to fully grip anything or use your hand as you normally would after being injured in an accident caused by someone else, whether or not your symptoms are permanent or temporary, you should certainly consider filing a claim for hand injury compensation.
There are various factors that get taken into account when putting together a compensation claim for a hand injury that wasn’t your fault, including the level of pain and suffering you have endured, any cosmetic issues apparent that have resulted from the injury, and the degree of loss of function of the hand. The main aspects of your claim that the court will be concerned with are:
- The severity of the hand injury you have sustained.
- The impact the injury has had on your everyday life.
- The total of expenses that you have incurred directly due to your injury that was caused by someone else.
Within this guide, you will find lots of helpful and factual information that will be of assistance if you decide to file a claim for compensation against those responsible for your injury.
What counts as a hand injury?
In accordance with UK personal injury claim law, there are certain hand injuries that can be claimed for and these are part of the following three groups of types of injury:
- Strains, Sprains and Tears – Although commonly thought of as being minor injuries, strains, sprains and tears in the hand can be serious because they affect the function of the ligaments, tendons and muscles in the hand often resulting in the loss of ability to grip objects properly. When you think about it, we are constantly picking objects up, holding them, moving them and so on, so to lose the ability to do that can be extremely debilitating, in fact, it could result in your having to take time away from work or even having to permanently give up your job depending on the severity of the injury.
- Fracture or crush injuries – The hand, although small, is a very complex part of the body as it is made up of a number of bones varying in size, tendons, ligaments and muscles that all connect together in a way that then allows us to grip all different types and sizes of objects. When the bones in the hand become fractured or are crushed, apart from being incredibly painful, it can render the hand useless until it has healed. As you can imagine, a broken thumb or fingers can leave you quite helpless in a number of ways, possibly requiring help at home constantly and also being unable to work resulting in you losing your income.
- Damage to the nerve fibres in the hand – In the fingertips, there is a network of nerve endings that give us our sense of touch. If these nerve endings were to be damaged, our sense of touch would be reduced or lost therefore resulting in simple tasks becoming difficult to undertake. The nerve endings allow us to establish if something is too hot or too cold and so if they are damaged, the risk of suffering serious burns to the fingers and hands greatly increases.
Hand injuries can result in growing financial pressures due to lost income and extra expenses incurred as a direct result. But also, they affect our quality of life hugely as our ability to carry out normal everyday tasks is suddenly reduced.
How common are hand injuries?
Hand Injuries are unfortunately a common occurrence and can happen anywhere whether it be whilst at the supermarket, in a park, or at work, anywhere at all. Hand injuries in the workplace are particularly common and account for an estimated 40% of all workplace injuries causing employers to lose around 6 working days a year for every hand injury, which means that up to 900,000 working days across the UK are lost each year due to hand injuries related to work.
Typical causes of injuries to hands
There are a number of causes of hand injuries with some being more common than others, although it is important to note that there are never two injuries exactly the same. Some of the more common reasons for hand injury claims are:
- Trapping your hand in a car or van door.
- Dropping something onto the hand.
- Trapping your hand in a piece of machinery.
- By slipping, tripping and falling over.
- Accidentally putting your hand through the glass in a window.
- Being involved in a road traffic accident either as a driver or passenger.
- By being a pedestrian involved in a road traffic accident.
- Injuring your hand in a military exercise.
- Sustaining an injured hand in combat.
If you have sustained an injury to your hand because of a reason other than what’s listed above, providing it can be proven that it was not your fault, you can still file a claim for compensation just the same.
The most common compensation claims for hand injuries that we see as personal injury claims specialists are:
- Claims for hand injuries at work – All employers in the UK are required by law to follow strict government guidelines concerning the health and safety of their employees and these are written within the legislation of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. They have a duty of care to their employees to provide a safe environment in which to work. In order to do this, they should carry out risk assessments and act upon any findings that may appear hazardous. They are also supposed to have relevant and sufficient health and safety policies and procedures in place in order to keep hazards at bay and dealt with should one occur. Any equipment and machinery should be regularly maintained to ensure they are fit for purpose and safe to use.
Of course, sometimes accidents can still happen despite your employer doing everything they can to prevent them and in cases like this, a negligence claim is likely to be unsuccessful. However, if they have failed to adhere to their health and safety responsibilities and you become injured as a result, then claiming compensation for a broken hand injury at work, hand crush injury compensation, whatever type of hand injury, would likely be successful due to them being negligent.
- Claim for a hand injury caused by a slip, trip or fall – If you have sustained a hand injury because of an accident where you have slipped, tripped and fallen in a public place, then those responsible for the maintenance of the area could be found liable if the accident wasn’t your fault. Any business or property occupiers or owners are responsible by law for making sure their premises and public areas are a safe environment for anyone who has access. This law also applies to the council and any public area they own or are in charge of such as public footpaths for example. Regular maintenance checks should be carried out and any foreseen problems or risks dealt with promptly and accordingly. If they fail to ensure their premises are as safe as humanly possible, then they could be found responsible for a person’s injuries if they had an accident on their property due to negligence of the occupier or owner.
- Claim for a hand injury suffered in a public place – Very often, accidents in public places resulting in a hand injury is found to be the council’s fault. As mentioned above, the council are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of any public area they are in charge of. If they are negligent in their responsibilities and someone gets hurt, then they could be found liable. We have helped many people successfully claim for hand injury compensation resulting in the hand injury compensation amounts they deserve regardless of whether they suffered a minor soft tissue injury or something more serious such as a fracture, we have helped them to get the maximum hand injury settlements that are possible.
- Claim for a hand injury caused by a road traffic accident – If you suffered injuries to your hands after being involved in a road traffic accident as a driver, passenger, cyclist or pedestrian, and the accident wasn’t your fault, then you may be entitled to make a compensation claim. We have successfully dealt with many road traffic accident compensation claims for hand injuries and can help you to make yours, just give us a call.
I’ve injured my hand, what should I do?
If you have sustained a hand injury due to someone else’s negligence, there are a number of things you can do that can help build hand injury claims, such as:
- Getting Medical Assistance – Get your hand injury checked and treated by a medical professional first and foremost. Obviously, for health reasons, this is the most important thing to do particularly if your injury is severe. But also, due to the fact that compensation claims amounts are heavily influenced by the type and severity of any injury sustained, having a proper diagnosis will help to ensure that you receive the compensation relative to your injury and suffering.
- Witnesses – Having witness statements that back up your claim can be really good for strengthening your case, therefore, if there were any witnesses to the accident or incident where you got injured, try to take down their contact details.
- Expenses – Keep the receipts of any expenses, such as medical, travel or childcare, that is of a direct consequence of your injury. These can be included in your claim, but proof of expenditure will be required.
- Diary of Events – Keep a note of everything that occurred when you suffered your injury, also try to include a record of the level of pain you experienced and the resulting day to day problems you had to face because of your injury, such as not being able to go to work or drive, get washed and dressed by yourself etc.
- Photos – Photos of your injury are visual proof of tour pain and suffering.
Common hand injury compensation claims
At Legal Helpline, we have a specialist team, many of whom have years of experience in making compensation claims for different types of hand injuries such as:
- Breaks, fractures and crush injuries – The hand contains a number of different bones and when an incident occurs that results in any of these bones becoming injured, apart from being incredibly painful, the ability to use your hand can also be affected which can then have an effect on your ability to work as operating machinery and using tools, for example, may not be possible. Even carrying out normal everyday tasks might be impossible until the injury has healed enough. A hand injury compensation calculator will take into account the severity of the injury you have sustained.
- Strains and sprains, muscle tears, ligament and tendon damage – In order to grasp or release objects, the muscles, ligaments and tendons in the hand need to be working efficiently. If you suffer damage to them, then this ability will be impaired or impossible until healing has taken place. Even damage to the palm of the hand can lead to damaged tendons causing the proper function of the hand to cease until healed.
- Damaged hand nerve fibres – The fingertips have many nerve endings in them which give us our sense of touch, if these nerves become damaged, our sense of touch can be compromised as the sensation is reduced which in turn can largely affect our ability to carry out many tasks and so can not only affect our everyday life but also have a negative impact on our ability to work.
When making a hand injury compensation claim, the amount awarded isn’t generally affected by how the injury occurred, so regardless of whether it occurred due to an accident in a public place, because of a road traffic accident or even due to an accident in the workplace, for example, it won’t really have any impact on the amount you could potentially be awarded. When making a claim due to negligence, typical payouts for personal injury will greatly depend on the type of injury and it’s the severity and so they will have the biggest influence on the final settlement award.
Proving fault for a hand injury
In order for your hand injury compensation claim to be successful, you have to be able to solidly prove that the accident or incident that resulted in your injury was caused by someone else’s negligence, mistake, or carelessness.
For example, if you sustained an injury to your hand whilst at work, for your claim to successful, you have to prove that it was because of negligence. This could be in the form of faulty equipment, lack of training, incorrect or lack of personal protective wear supplied, or any other type of negligence by your employer or colleagues.
Whether you were driving, was a passenger, cyclist, pedestrian or riding a motorbike, if you injured your hand in a road traffic accident that was caused by someone else, you need to be able to prove it.
Or maybe a cluttered area or slippery surface caused you to fall and hurt your hand. If this happened inside, then the person or business responsible for the premises could be the ones liable and so you would need to prove this, just as you would if it happened whilst in a public area and the council were at fault. Therefore, you could establish grounds to make hand injury claims.
Hand Injury Compensation Amounts (2022)
There is no ‘one size fits all’ philosophy where compensation amounts are concerned as every case will be unique and any amount awarded for a hand injury by a claims court will be decided after taking into account the type of injury and its severity and any expenses incurred as a direct result of the injury.
When making a compensation claim for an injury, it is a good idea in support of your claim to provide a medical report that will give the details surrounding the nature of your injury and any short or long term issues it may cause. If you haven’t yet seen a medical professional yet, we can arrange a local appointment for you, for free, to have a thorough assessment of your injury conducted. If you have a legitimate claim, we can also arrange for you to see a physiotherapist.
When the court calculates your award amount, as mentioned earlier, the circumstances in which it occurred will make no difference, but the type and severity of the injury will be the main decisive factor as well as other factors.
The items that will make up your award amount include:
- The level of pain and suffering you have experienced or are experiencing.
- Costs of any medical treatment. Things like prescription fees, consultation fees, costs of any surgical procedures and so on, will be taken into account here.
- Any rehabilitation treatments needed such as physiotherapy.
- Travelling costs are a direct result of your injury.
- Any income lost or associated benefits such as bonuses.
- The level at which your quality of life has been affected due to not being able to enjoy your usual hobbies or not being able to work for example.
As you can see, each of these factors will vary from case to case and so any compensation awarded for a hand injury will be decided upon each individual’s circumstances.
As a claims management company which has dealt with many hand injury compensation cases, we can confidently say that one of the most popular questions we get asked is ‘How much compensation will I receive?’, as already explained above, we cannot give a definitive answer to this question. However, by using our hand injury claim calculator and taking into consideration all past claims, we can provide information on the average awarded amounts for certain injuries of the hand. Please see the table below to at least get an idea of what you could possibly be awarded should your case be successful.
| Hand Injuries (JCG) | Average Awarded Amount | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| A) Complete or functional loss of both hands | £140,660 to £201,490 | Damage ruining functionality of a person's hands |
| C) Loss of One Hand | £96,160 to £109,650 | For crushing injuries that may involve amputation |
| D) Amputation Of Middle or Index Fingers | £61,910 to £90,750 | With injuries such as these removing a person's ability to grip |
| B) Serious Damage To Both Hands | £55,820 to £84,570 | Injuries causing cosmetic and functional harm |
| E) Serious Hand Injuries | £29,000 to £61,910 | Greatly reducing a person's ability to use their hands |
| F) Severe Finger Fractures | Up to £36,740 | Injuries that result in partial impairment |
| G) Less Serious Hand Injury | £14,450 to £29,000 | Crushing Injuries impacting a hand's function |
| S) Serious Thumb Injuries | £12,590 to £16,760 | Injuries such as nerve damage, fractures or partial deformity |
| H) Moderate Hand Injury | £5,720 to £13,280 | Such as crushing injuries, deep cuts or muscle injuries |
Table)
The compensation brackets featured in the table above are taken from the Judicial College Guidelines and relate to compensation for pain and suffering. This is called general damages, and it is partly awarded based on medical evidence.
A claim can also include compensation for financial losses because of an injury. For example, you could potentially claim for:
- Lost earnings if you were unable to work
- Care or treatment costs
- The price of mobility aids to help you perform tasks
This would be paid out under the term of special damages.
Our advisers can give you more information about claiming for a hand injury, and compensation amounts for this type of injury.
Hand Injury No Win No Fee claims
At Legal Helpline we offer a no win no fee service for cases including hand injury claims. This gives our clients a way of rightfully making a claim for an injury that was not their fault without the worry of financial risks.
No win no fee is basically an agreement that states you do not have to pay us anything if we were representing your case and lost. If we do not win, you do not pay any fees at all. On the flip side to this, if we are successful and win your case, we will ask for payment of our fees but this will be paid as a small percentage of your awarded amount which we would have made provisions for within your claim. So as you can see, with our no win no fee policy, there is no risk to your current finances at all, which for many is a huge relief.
Can Legal Helpline process my hand injury claim?
Legal Helpline has a highly experienced panel of personal injury solicitors that specialise in accident and injury claims and have successfully dealt with hand injury compensation claims many times over the years.
We have a fantastic reputation and track record of not only making a success of the claims cases we take on but also for our high standard in customer service. Our team are friendly, reliable and work hard to get our clients the compensation that they deserve.
We offer an exceptional service with added bonuses such as our offer of a free consultation, the ability to arrange a free local medical for you and of course our no win no fee policy. We work hard on every case we take on to make sure that we have the best chance of winning the maximum amount that we can for you whilst keeping you informed every step of the way.
You really couldn’t ask for a better personal injury claims firm than Legal Helpline.
Hand Injury Claims FAQs
Here are some commonly asked questions about hand injury claims.
How much compensation do you get for a wrist injury?
Every case is different. Therefore, personal injury claims are valued according to the amount of suffering experienced as a result of the incident in question. If you sustain a hand or wrist injury, please call Legal Helpline today to see if you could have grounds for a claim and learn how much you could get in compensation.
When should I go to the doctor for a hand injury?
If you’ve sustained a hand injury that you believe someone else may be at fault for, you could be entitled to compensation. In this case, it’s always best to seek medical attention as soon as possible to ensure that you have the injury treated and the incident medically logged in your records. This may support any future claim you make. For a free consultation to see if you have a case, please contact Legal Helpline today.
Contact Legal Helpline today
If you’d like to discuss any aspect of your case with Legal Helpline, just call them today on 0161 696 9685. Your call will be answered by a member of our team who, after an initial few questions, can offer you a free, no-obligation, consultation if you so wish. During this consultation, you can discuss your case in more detail, asking as many questions as you wish regarding any part of the claims process or about us as a firm. We will also use this time to establish all of the facts from you surrounding your case so that we have a basis on which to start to build your claims case. After this initial consultation, if you’d like us to represent your case, we can then set about gathering further evidence and information in order to build a strong case ready to take to court.
Helpful links and resources
An NHS guide to hand tendon injuries – There is lots of useful information on here regarding what can happen when the tendons in the hand get damaged and what treatments or surgical procedures are available to help mend them.
You can read more of our accident at work claims guides below:
- If you’ve suffered an injury in an accident in a supermarket, you may want to brush up on your legal rights. This guide offers advice on the criteria for making a personal injury claim, as well as examples of potential compensation awards.
- Accidents at work caused by tiredness and fatigue
- Claim compensation for slipping at work and hurting your back
- How to make an NHS accident at work claim
- How to claim compensation for an accident at work during your probationary period
- Why is it important to report accidents in the workplace?
- I was injured due to no workplace training, can I claim?
- How to claim for a back injury suffered while working for the NHS
- Office-based accident at work claims
- How to make a workplace back injury claim
- Employee rights after an accident at work
- Assault at work compensation claims
- Agency worker accident at work claims
- Tendon injury at work claims
- How to make a claim for an injury caused by defective work equipment
- How to claim for a back injury at work caused by lifting?
- Inadequate protective equipment compensation claims
- Ladder accident at work compensation claims
- Vibration white finger compensation claims
- Stuck in a lift at work? See if you can claim compensation
- Compensation examples for accident at work claims
- Fatal accident at work claims
- Claiming when injured due to lack of work safety boots
- Manual handling claims
- Slip, trip, fall at workplace compensation claims
- Forklift accident compensation claims
- Warehouse accident claims
- Accident working abroad compensation claims
- Construction accident claims
- Self-employed accident at work claims
- Scaffolding accident compensation claims
- Could I be sacked for an accident at work claim?
- Firefighter injured at work claims
- Employers’ responsibilities after a work accident
- Claim for carbon monoxide poisoning at work
- I did not take time off work after an accident, could I claim?
- Chemical burn at work – can I claim compensation?
- Claiming for a work accident after leaving the company
- Do employers pay for work-related injury claims?
- Do you have to be an employee to make a work accident claim?
- Industrial deafness compensation claims
- Time limits for work injury claims
- Part-time employee injury claims
- I got hurt at work, do I need a lawyer?
- Time Limits And Limitations For Personal Injury Claims
- How Long Is The Limitation Period For Injury Claims?
- Contractor Injured At Work Claims
- How To Make Bone Fracture Claims
- Orthopaedic Injury Claims
- Compensation For Losing A Limb
- No Stairwell Lighting Caused An Accident – How To Claim
- Wheelchair Injury Claims Guide – Have You Been Injured In A Wheelchair?
- Defective Stair Lighting Caused An Accident – How To Claim Compensation
- Who Could Make A Fatal Accident Claim?
- How To Choose A Fatal Accident Solicitor
- Trailing Leads Hazards Compensation Claims Explained
Thanks for reading our hand injury claims guide.