Workplace Accidents in the UK: Lessons from Solicitor Patrick Mallon on Protecting Employees’ Rights
It takes only a split second for a normal working day to go wrong. A ladder slips. A box is lifted the wrong way. Someone forgets to put a “wet floor” sign down. Suddenly, you’re not just nursing an injury, you’re worried about money, your job, and how long you’ll be out of action.
Personal injury solicitor Patrick Mallon has seen this scenario countless times. He’s an expert solicitor with more than twenty years’ experience handling personal injury claims, and he leads the workplace and public liability team at Legal Expert. His clients range from builders injured on site to office staff who’ve tripped on loose carpeting. Different jobs, same problem: what happens when an employer doesn’t keep people safe?
“Every worker in Britain has the right to go home in the same condition they started their shift,” he says. “When corners are cut, it’s the employee who pays the price.”
Why the Numbers Still Shock
The Health and Safety Executive publishes its injury statistics every year, and the figures don’t make comfortable reading. Hundreds of thousands of people are injured at work annually. Construction and transport grab the headlines, but quieter industries aren’t immune. Office staff complain of back problems, wrist injuries, even stress breakdowns.
Mallon points out that these numbers only scratch the surface. “A lot of cases never get reported,” he says. “People worry about rocking the boat with their boss.”
What Mallon Tells Injured Workers
His first bit of advice is blunt: speak up straight away. If an incident isn’t written down in the company accident book, proving it later becomes much harder.
Second, get evidence while you can. A quick mobile photo, the names of colleagues who saw what happened, a doctor’s note: all of these add weight to a claim. “I’ve had cases turn on something as simple as a text message sent right after the accident,” Mallon explains.
Third, don’t wait around. In most cases, the law gives you three years to start proceedings. It sounds like a long time, but injuries linger, paperwork piles up, and suddenly the deadline has passed.
Finally, he says, don’t be scared of No Win No Fee. “They’re not as mysterious as people think. It’s just a way to make sure ordinary workers can afford a solicitor. The only catch is you’ve got to know what percentage might be deducted at the end. Ask the question at the start.”
The Tougher Climate for Claims
Things aren’t getting easier. Insurers are quicker to contest liability than they were a decade ago, and reforms being debated in Westminster may limit how much compensation injured workers can realistically recover.
But there’s another side to the story: evidence is stronger than ever. CCTV in workplaces, health tracking devices, and digital medical records all help build cases that would once have relied only on witness memory. “If we use the tools properly, we can put together claims that are very hard to knock down,” Mallon says.
So What Should You Do If You’re Hurt at Work?
Mallon’s advice boils down to a handful of simple steps:
- Report it and make sure it’s written down.
- Get medical treatment and keep every scrap of paperwork.
- Take photos if you can, and jot down names of colleagues who saw it.
- Hang on to proof of lost wages or extra costs.
- And maybe most important, get legal advice early.
Why It Matters
For Mallon, these cases are about more than just money. “It’s about dignity,” he says. “People shouldn’t have to suffer in silence when their employer didn’t do their job properly.”
He tells me about clients who were terrified of losing their income, who thought taking on a big company was pointless. “The truth is, the law is there to protect workers. They just need someone in their corner who knows how to use it.”
