Workplace Injury - Who Is Liable When the Workplace Turned Out Not to Be Safe
An accident at work raises two issues at once: a medical one, decided in the first hours, and a legal one, lost in those same first hours, when no report is drawn up, the camera footage "does not exist" and the injured worker is made to sign a note saying it was their own fault. The Occupational Safety Law made the employer's duties concrete, and breaching them changes an injury case fundamentally.
This page explains how a workplace injury case is won: what must happen on the first day, what the Labour Inspectorate checks, what mandatory insurance covers and what it does not, how the loss is calculated in terms of salary, treatment and lost earning capacity, when a criminal element arises, and how a lawyer defends an employer that genuinely complied with the safety rules.
Updated · Practice area: Employment lawyer
An Injury Case From the First Hour to the Judgment
The first 24 hours: preservation
An ambulance called from the workplace (the record confirms the location), photos of the site, the equipment and the missing protective gear, witness contacts, the circumstances correctly recorded in the medical file: "at the workplace, at the machine", not "fell at home". Do not sign any document that puts the blame on you.
The report and notification of the inspectorate
The employer must investigate the accident, draw up a report and notify the Labour Inspectorate immediately of any serious, group or fatal incident. If the employer refuses a report or drafts it without the injured worker, the lawyer applies to the inspectorate directly and demands one.
Checking the safety duties
The risk assessment document, the signed briefing log, the record of protective equipment issued, technical inspection of the equipment, the presence of a safety officer. The absence of any of these is a breach of the law and evidence of the employer's fault; the inspectorate's inspection act records it.
Insurance and social guarantees
For high-risk work the employer must hold insurance; the lawyer checks the policy, the limit and the exclusions and files the insurance claim in time. Insurance covers part of the loss; the rest is claimed from the employer. Having no insurance is itself a breach.
Calculating the loss
Treatment and rehabilitation, lost salary for the period of incapacity, for permanent loss of earning capacity the future income difference based on a medical-social expert report; moral damages; in a fatal case, the loss of dependants. The lawyer supports each item with a document.
Demand, settlement, lawsuit
A written demand to the employer and the insurer; negotiation, in which the inspectorate's act and the criminal prospect are the employer's main motivation; a lawsuit without a court fee for personal injury, with interim security. Limitation is 3 years, but evidence disappears within weeks.
Who Is Liable and to What Extent - Scenarios and Their Legal Outcome
Employer liability for an injury depends on fault, but fault is easier to prove than it seems: any breach of a safety rule is a sign of fault, and for a source of increased danger no fault is needed at all.
When an Injury Becomes a Criminal Case - and What That Changes for the Civil Claim
A breach of occupational safety rules that causes serious injury or death is a separate offence under the Criminal Code. That means a serious injury triggers an investigation on the prosecutor's initiative or the victim's complaint, and the person responsible for safety (often the safety officer, the site manager or the director) becomes the accused.
For the civil claim this is a double-edged tool. On one side, the investigation file (expert reports, interviews, seized documents) is admissible evidence in the civil case and gives the victim what they could never obtain alone. On the other, the criminal prospect pushes the employer towards settlement, and compensating the loss is a mitigating circumstance for the accused. The lawyer applies for the victim to be recognised as a civil claimant within the criminal case itself.
The Labour Inspectorate's role is separate: an inspection act recording specific breaches, a fine and the power to suspend the site. The inspectorate's act is almost ready-made evidence of the employer's fault in the civil case, and the lawyer requests an inspection in the first days after the injury, before the breaches are "corrected".
What a Workplace Injury Claim Consists Of
- Lost salary
- For the whole period of incapacity at the full average salary, not the reduced sick-pay rate. The difference is the employer's liability, including the average of bonuses and overtime.
- Loss of earning capacity
- For permanent or lasting consequences, an expert examination sets the percentage of loss; the damage is the share of income you can no longer earn, paid periodically or as a lump sum. The largest component of an injury case for a young victim.
- Treatment and rehabilitation
- Actual and necessary future costs: surgery, prosthetics, rehabilitation, care, home adaptation. Receipts and a doctor's prescription for each.
- Moral damages
- Physical suffering, change of lifestyle, psychological consequences. In a workplace injury the degree of the employer's fault increases the amount; a gross safety breach is a significant factor for the court.
- Insurance and social payments
- Insurance payouts and state programme funding are deducted from the loss; there is no double recovery. But anything above the limit and the policy exclusions remain with the employer.
What Protects an Employer in an Injury Case - Only Documents Created Before the Injury
- A risk assessment document for each workplace, updated and signed by the safety officer.
- A briefing log covering induction, on-the-job and periodic briefings, with the employee's signature and date.
- A record of protective equipment issued and of its use being monitored: warnings, disciplinary measures for non-use.
- Technical inspection and maintenance records for equipment, certificates.
- An insurance policy for high-risk work with a limit that matches the real risk.
- An accident investigation procedure and report form, prepared in advance, not on the day of the incident.
Three Workplace Injury Cases
A fall from scaffolding on a building site
A worker with no contract, no harness, from 4 metres. Employer: "he is not ours". Lawyer: proof of employment (messages with the foreman, transfers, colleagues), an inspectorate inspection (no harnesses existed on site), a criminal case. Treatment, 14 months' salary, compensation for lost earning capacity and moral damages.
A hand injury on a machine without a guard
An operator lost fingers; the employer produced a signed briefing log. Lawyer: a briefing does not replace a missing guard, the machine is a source of increased danger, no technical inspection for 3 years. The insurer paid the limit; the employer paid the rest by settlement.
Employer: an injury while ignoring protective gear
The employee had documented receipt of a helmet, had been warned twice about wearing it, and was injured without it. Lawyer for the employer: the briefing, the issue record, two written warnings, camera footage. The court found 50% contributory fault; no criminal case was opened.
Questions About Workplace Injuries
The employer offers to "pay for treatment himself" if we skip the report. Should I agree?
No. Without a report you lose the fact of the injury, while the employer loses only an inspectorate fine. A verbal promise covers neither the full cost of treatment, nor lost salary, nor long-term consequences. If the employer is acting in good faith, he will sign a written agreement based on the report too; the lawyer drafts it so that future costs are included.
I am receiving sick pay. Is that not compensation for the loss?
Sick pay is temporary incapacity support, often less than the salary; the difference is claimed from the employer. Treatment, rehabilitation, loss of earning capacity and moral damages are not part of sick pay at all. Receiving sick pay does not exclude a lawsuit.
Occupational disease: harm accumulated over years. Is that a workplace injury too?
Legally a separate category, but on the same principle: a causal link with working conditions established by medical expertise, and a check of the employer's safety duties (ventilation, noise, chemicals, protective equipment). Limitation runs from the diagnosis, not from the start of exposure.
The company is small and has no "safety officer". Is that a breach?
The Occupational Safety Law applies to every employer; the form of the officer depends on size (in-house, outsourced, or the employer personally after training), but risk assessment, briefings and protective equipment are mandatory for all. "We are small" is no defence in an injury case.
I was dismissed while on sick leave after the injury.
Two separate breaches: dismissal during incapacity is restricted by the Code, and dismissal after an injury is a sign of victimisation. The 30-day period for challenging the dismissal is not suspended by sick leave; contact a lawyer immediately. The injury loss and the voidance of the dismissal are combined in one claim.
Lawyers for Workplace Injury Cases
An injury case is won or lost in the first week: with the report, the inspectorate and a correctly written medical record. Within 15 minutes the coordinator connects you with a lawyer who handles occupational safety cases on the victim's or the employer's side.
No published lawyers in this category yet
That does not mean we cannot help. Call us - we will match you with a specialist for a remote consultation or from a nearby city.
Call: 568 330 318Injured at Work? The First Days' Documents Are the Core of the Case
In a free consultation the lawyer tells you what must be recorded right now, who is liable and what counts as loss in your case - the coordinator calls you within 15 minutes, and you can contact us from the hospital.