Can you explain the claim process for recovering office slip injury compensation? It is not something that I have ever considered doing and I know nothing about the claims process.
Eoin P. Campbell, LL.B., Solicitor
Editor in Chief
The first step in the legal process of recovering office slip injury compensation is to submit an application for the assessment of your claim to the Injuries Board. The claim forms for doing so can be downloaded from the Injuries Board website. In addition to personally completing the claim form (Form A), you must have your injuries assessed by a doctor who must complete a medical assessment form (Form B) detailing your injuries. Both of these documents form the basis of your claim and can be submitted by post or even online.
Once the Injuries Board receives the application for assessment, it will send a formal “Notice of Claim” to your employer or other person responsible for the injuries you sustained when you slipped in the office, advising them that a claim for office slip injury compensation is being made is being made against them and requesting their consent to continue with an assessment of your compensation claim.
The respondent (your employer or other negligent party) is given 90 days in which to respond to the claim for office slip injury compensation. If consent is granted to assess your office slip injury claim, you may be asked to undergo an independent medical examination before your assessment is completed by the Injuries Board. If consent is denied, you will be issued with an authorisation to pursue your claim for office slip injury compensation through the Irish court system.
It can take the Injuries Board up to 9 months before the assessment is completed, after which time both parties will be notified of how much office slip injury compensation has been assessed. Both parties are allowed to accept or reject the assessment at this point and are given 28 days to arrive at a decision. If both parties accept, an order to pay is issued and the insurance company of the respondent must make payment. If either party declines the assessment for being too high or too low, the matter must then be resolved by negotiation between the two parties or – if no agreement can be reached – through the courts.
If you use a solicitor to pursue your office slip injury claim, the likelihood exists that a settlement of compensation for an office slip injury can be reached by negotiating directly with the negligent party´s insurance company. More than a third of office injury claims are settled by negotiation in Ireland and the time taken to receive an award of office slip injury compensation can be significantly reduced pursuing this course of action.
Therefore, before you start the legal claims process to recover office slip injury compensation it is advisable to speak with a personal injury solicitor. After listening to your account of the accident and how you were injured, the solicitor will assess whether you have a claim for compensation for an office slip injury which is worth your while to pursue.
Although you have sustained an injury at work, in order for an office slip injury claim to be made you must establish that your employer could have prevented the accident from occurring and that, by failing to make the workplace safe, he has been negligent and failed in a duty of care to you. Provided that this is the case and your injuries were severe enough to be treated by a doctor, you should be entitled to claim compensation for an office slip injury.