Step 1: get medical treatment on the same day
If you are injured at work, see a doctor or attend A&E on the same day, even if the injury appears minor. There are two reasons this matters.
The first is your health. Injuries that feel manageable at the time of the accident can develop into something more serious over hours and days, and early clinical assessment gives you the best chance of the right treatment.
The second is evidence. The clinical record created by your GP or A&E department establishes the link between the accident and the injury, records your symptoms at the earliest point, and sets a date that cannot be disputed later. Medical records are the foundation of the medical evidence in any compensation claim. An injury that is not documented medically is significantly harder to value and to prove.
When you attend, tell the doctor clearly that the injury happened at work. The mechanism of injury should be recorded in the clinical notes. If you have photographs of the injury, take them with you. Keep copies of any referral letters, sick notes, and discharge summaries.
Step 2: report the accident to your employer in writing
Report the accident to your employer or your line manager as soon as you are able to, and ask for it to be recorded in the official accident book. Under Regulation 25 of the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981, employers with ten or more employees are required to keep an accident book. Even where no formal book exists, your employer has an obligation to record incidents.
Ask to see the entry once it is made and photograph it. The accident book record is often one of the first documents requested in a claim and gives you independent contemporaneous evidence that the accident occurred.
If your employer refuses to record the accident, or if you are too badly injured to report it immediately, send a written account to your manager or HR department by email as soon as possible after the event. The email creates its own time-stamped record. Keep the sent copy.
RIDDOR 2013 (the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) requires your employer to report certain categories of workplace accident to the HSE: specified injuries (fractures, amputations, serious burns), over-seven-day incapacitation that keeps you off work, and dangerous occurrences. If your injury is serious, ask your employer whether they have filed a RIDDOR report. If they have, it creates an additional official record.
Step 3: photograph everything before it is changed
Photograph the hazard that caused your injury before it is cleared, repaired, or removed. Employers and site managers frequently tidy hazards immediately after an accident, sometimes within minutes. Once the hazard is gone, you cannot recreate it.
Take photographs of:
- The specific hazard (the wet floor, the trailing cable, the broken step, the unguarded machine)
- The wider area where the accident happened, including any warning signs (or their absence)
- Your injury itself, on the day and over the following days as bruising or swelling develops
- The accident book entry
Date-stamped photographs taken on a mobile phone are admissible evidence in personal injury proceedings. They are among the most powerful evidence in a claim where the employer argues that no hazard existed or that the conditions were safe.
If CCTV covers the area where the accident happened, write to your employer immediately requesting that the footage be preserved. CCTV recordings are often overwritten automatically after 7 to 28 days. A written request to preserve footage shifts responsibility to your employer if the recording is subsequently deleted.
Step 4: collect witness information on the day
If any colleagues, contractors, or other workers witnessed the accident or are aware of the hazard that caused it, get their personal contact details on the day: mobile numbers, not just work email addresses. Witnesses move between jobs, employers redeploy staff, and people lose track of former colleagues quickly.
A witness who can give evidence that:
- the hazard had been present for days before the accident
- complaints about the hazard had been raised with management
- the employer had been warned about the unsafe condition
can transform a disputed claim into an undisputed one. That same witness is much harder to locate six months later.
You do not need a formal written statement at this stage. A name and a phone number is enough.
Step 5: do not sign anything without legal advice
If you are injured at work, your employer's liability insurer may contact you quickly. In some cases the contact comes within days or even hours. The insurer may ask you to give a recorded statement, offer a prompt payment in settlement, or ask you to sign a discharge or release document.
Do not sign any document from an insurer or your employer without first speaking to a regulated personal injury solicitor. A discharge document, once signed, extinguishes your right to bring further proceedings arising from the same accident. If the true value of your claim is significantly higher than the initial offer (because the full extent of your injuries or your long-term prognosis was not yet known), signing early permanently closes the door on recovering the difference.
A reputable solicitor will give you an honest assessment of your case. If the value does not justify the process, they will tell you. Most workplace injury solicitors offer a free initial consultation and will not charge you to give that initial view.
Step 6: keep a note of every expense and loss
From the day of the accident, keep a record of every financial loss caused by your injury:
- Days lost from work and the wages you were not paid (if you receive only Statutory Sick Pay of £123.25 per week rather than your normal wage, the difference is recoverable as special damages)
- Travel costs to hospital appointments, GP appointments, and physiotherapy
- Prescription charges and over-the-counter medication
- The cost of any care or assistance provided to you while you were incapacitated
Keep receipts. These out-of-pocket losses form the special damages element of your claim and are recoverable in addition to compensation for the injury itself.
What are your rights if you are injured at work?
Being injured at work gives you three categories of legal protection:
The right to bring a compensation claim. Your employer owed you a duty of care under section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. If they breached that duty and you were injured as a result, you have a right to claim compensation on a no-win-no-fee basis. Most claims are funded by a Conditional Fee Agreement with no upfront cost. For a guide to how this works, see our no win no fee guide.
The right not to be dismissed. Section 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 makes it automatically unfair to dismiss or disadvantage an employee for bringing a health and safety claim or raising a safety concern. Retaliation by an employer is both unlawful and, in practice, rare: the claim is handled by their insurer, not by your employer personally.
The right to Statutory Sick Pay. If you are too unwell to work, you may be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay at £123.25 per week for up to 28 weeks, paid by your employer. Any gap between SSP and your normal earnings is recoverable as part of your compensation claim. For more detail on your full entitlements, see our injury at work rights guide.
How long do you have to claim if you are injured at work?
The standard time limit is three years from the date of the accident under section 11 of the Limitation Act 1980. If you were injured at work more than three years ago and have not yet started court proceedings, you need urgent legal advice but should not assume your right to claim has automatically expired: there are limited exceptions, including for claimants who were minors at the time of the accident.
The three-year limit is not a reason to delay within it. The earlier you act, the stronger your position on evidence. CCTV footage that was not preserved on the day of the accident is gone permanently. A medical record made six months later is weaker evidence than one made on the day. The first week after a workplace accident is when most of the evidence in a subsequent claim is either preserved or lost. For the full rules on time limits, see our time limits guide.
This guide is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Every claim turns on its own facts. For advice about your specific situation, speak to a regulated solicitor. You can find one through the Find a Solicitor service (Law Society) or through APIL.
Frequently asked questions
What should I do immediately after being injured at work?
Get medical treatment the same day (GP or A&E), report the accident to your employer and photograph the accident book entry, photograph the hazard before it is cleared, collect witness contact details, and do not sign anything from an insurer before getting legal advice. The first 24 to 48 hours are when the most important evidence is preserved or lost.
Can I be sacked for reporting an injury at work?
No. Dismissing or disadvantaging an employee for raising a health and safety concern or making a personal injury claim is automatically unfair under section 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. In practice, retaliation is extremely rare because the claim is handled by the employer's liability insurer, not by the employer personally.
How long after being injured at work can I claim?
Three years from the date of the accident in most cases, under section 11 of the Limitation Act 1980. Different rules apply for under-18s (the three years runs from their 18th birthday) and for industrial disease (time runs from the date of knowledge). Do not assume you have missed the window without checking with a solicitor.
Do I have to report my injury to get compensation?
You do not have to file a formal RIDDOR report yourself (that is the employer's duty). But reporting the accident in your employer's accident book and attending a doctor on the day of the injury are both strongly in your interests: they create the contemporaneous records on which a successful compensation claim is built.
Browse every plain-English guide in the work accident guides hub, or read the main guide to how a claim works.
This guide is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Every claim turns on its own facts. For advice about your specific situation, speak to a regulated solicitor.