Compensation for Bruising at Work

Should I accept the Injuries Board assessment of how much compensation for bruising at work even though I think it seems too low?

Eoin P. Campbell, LL.B., Solicitor

Editor in Chief

Eoin P. Campbell

It is impossible to recommend whether you should or should not accept the Injuries Board’s assessment of how much compensation for bruising at work without executing a full evaluation of your claim for work related bruising. The Injuries Board Ireland would have made their calculations based on the information you supplied when you submitted your application for assessment and also from the independent medical examination you undertook.

It must be acknowledged that expanding on the impact the bruise injury has had on your everyday life could be problematic since there is no dedicated area to do so on either the hard copy or online version of Application Form A. Therefore, the Injuries Board will have calculated the amount of work bruise injury compensation you qualified for based only on the compensation figures published in the Book of Quantum and the medical facts of your bruise injury in relation to your general state of health prior to your accident, age and possibly your sex.

Any quantifiable emotional trauma you have experienced as a result of the accident or subsequent injury may also be included in compensation for bruising at work claim, as victims of a bruise injury may become depressed and anxious during the recuperation period or may even have developed post-traumatic stress disorder if the injury was sustained in a particularly distressing accident. If symptoms of psychological injuries did not manifest until after the medical examination of your bruise had been completed, they would have been excluded from the information provided to the Injuries Board and omitted from the Board’s assessment of your work bruise injury compensation.

Additionally, your “loss of amenity” – which refers to the negative effect your injury has had on your quality of life, if you are unable to perform everyday tasks, for example, or if you can no longer participate in social or leisure pursuits that you enjoyed before the accident occurred – is an important element in a compensation for bruising at work claim. This element has the potential to account for a significant area of a compensation claim for work related bruising due to the nature of some bruise injuries and it is recommended that you record in a diary the effect that the bruise has had on your day to day quality of life.

You would be well advised to consult a bruise injury claims solicitor at the first opportunity possible. Unless your injury and its consequences is fully evaluated, it is unlikely that you will ever know exactly if the Injuries Board assessment genuinely reflects the extent of your injury or represents sufficient compensation for bruising at work.

Once you have discussed the circumstances of your injury and the repercussions that the injury has had on your quality of life, your solicitor will recommend whether to accept the assessment by the Injuries Board Ireland or if you would be better served by pursuing your entitlement to work bruise injury compensation by alternative means.