Lifting Injury Compensation

I made a claim for lifting injury compensation after a heavy lifting accident at work for which my employer admitted liability. However the Injuries Board assessment of how much compensation for a lifting injury I should get seems low to me. Should I accept it?

Eoin P. Campbell, LL.B., Solicitor

Editor in Chief

Eoin P. Campbell

Question:

I made a claim for lifting injury compensation after a heavy lifting accident at work for which my employer admitted liability. However the Injuries Board assessment of how much compensation for a lifting injury I should get seems low to me. Should I accept it?

Answer:

Without conducting an evaluation of your lifting injury compensation claim, it is impossible to determine whether you should accept the Injuries Board´s assessment of how much compensation for a lifting injury you should receive or not. The Injuries Board will have made their calculations based on the information you provided them when you submitted your lifting injury compensation claim and the independent medical examination you underwent.

Unfortunately there is no dedicated area on either the online application or the hard copy of Application Form A for you to expand on how the heavy lifting at work injury has affected your everyday life and, without knowing the how badly you may have been incapacitated by your accident, the Injuries Board will have calculated how much compensation for a lifting injury you were entitled to based only on the medical facts of your lifting injury in relation to your sex, age and general state of health prior to your accident at work and the specific injury compensation figures published in the Book of Quantum.

Your “loss of amenity” is an important factor in a lifting injury claim for compensation should you be unable to complete day-to-day tasks or if your enjoyment of leisure and social pursuits has suffered because of your heavy lifting at work injury. Due to the nature of some lifting injuries, this factor can account for a substantial part of a lifting injury compensation claim and it is strongly recommended that you maintain a diary to record the effect that your lifting injury has on your daily quality of life.

If you have suffered any negative consequences to your emotional well-being due to how your heavy lifting at work injury occurred or during your recovery, you may also be able to include this element of your accident in your lifting injury claim for compensation. Some victims of a serious lifting injury at work develop anxiety and depression during their recovery due to the constant immobility and, if these emotional traumas manifested after the medical examination of your lifting injury had taken place, they would have been omitted from the information communicated to the Injuries Board and left out of the Injuries Board´s assessment of your claim for lifting injury compensation.

With so many possible variables, it is easy to understand why no two lifting injury claims for compensation are the same. It could be possible that your perception of how much compensation for a lifting injury you should be entitled to is based upon what you have heard or read but, unless you undergo an evaluation of your injury and its consequences with an experienced work injury claims solicitor, it is unlikely that you will ever be certain that the assessment conducted by the Injuries Board reflects the true extent of your lifting injury or represents adequate lifting injury compensation.

As the Injuries Board Ireland has already issued its assessment of your lifting injury compensation claim, it is recommended that you speak with a work injury claims solicitor at the first practical opportunity. Once you have discussed the circumstances of your lifting injury at work and the consequences that the injury has had on your quality of life, your solicitor will advise you whether to accept the Injury Board Ireland´s assessment of your lifting injury claim or to pursue your entitlement to lifting injury compensation through other channels.