Can I claim if the accident at work was partly my fault?

The short legal answer

UK personal injury law does not work on an all-or-nothing basis. The Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945 says that where a person suffers damage partly because of their own fault and partly because of another person's fault, the damages are reduced "to such extent as the court thinks just and equitable having regard to the claimant's share in the responsibility for the damage."

In plain English: if the court decides you were 20% to blame, you receive 80% of the full compensation figure. You do not lose the claim.

How the percentage is decided

Three factors are weighed:

• Causative potency — how directly your action contributed to the injury, compared with the employer's breach.
• Blameworthiness — whether you were briefly inattentive, made a judgement call under pressure, or did something deliberately risky.
• Foreseeability of the consequence — whether a reasonable worker in your position would have anticipated the injury.

Crucially, the employer's duty to provide a safe system of work is non-delegable. The fact that you were the one who carried out the unsafe act usually does not shift the majority of blame to you, because the employer's duty was to make the unsafe act impossible or to actively prevent it.

Typical reductions in workplace cases

• 10–15% — not wearing provided PPE in a momentary lapse.
• 20–25% — taking a known shortcut around a written safe system of work.
• 25–33% — failing to follow specific training despite recent refreshers.
• 50% — serious deliberate breach, e.g. removing a machine guard.
• 75%+ — rare, and usually only where the worker was the senior decision-maker on site.

These are rules of thumb from reported cases, not statutory tariffs. The court fixes the figure on the evidence.

Evidence that protects your share

• The accident book entry and any RIDDOR report.
• Risk assessments and method statements relating to the task.
• Training records — what you received, when, and whether refreshers were given.
• Witness statements from colleagues describing the actual practice on site (which often differs from the written procedure).
• Photos of the workplace, machinery guarding, and any PPE provided.

Common problems

The employer says "you were trained" without producing records. The burden of proof for adequate training sits with the employer under regulation 13 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. If they can't produce signed training records, the argument usually falls away.

You felt pressured to skip a safety step. If you can show that supervisors tolerated or encouraged cutting corners, that's a breach of the employer's duty under regulation 3 — and it usually defeats a contributory negligence allegation.

You weren't wearing PPE. Ask three questions: Was the PPE provided, in the right size, and in good condition? Were you supervised to confirm you were wearing it? Was the task itself made impossible without it (lock-out, interlocked guard)? If the answer to any of these is no, the employer's failure usually dominates.

When to speak to a solicitor

If the insurer's first letter says "you were the author of your own misfortune" or quotes a high contributory negligence percentage, take legal advice before responding. These letters are negotiating positions, not legal conclusions. A regulated personal injury solicitor will obtain the training records, risk assessments and witness evidence the insurer hopes you won't pursue.

See also: employer responsibilities · how a claim works · what if I didn't report the accident?