Cold Injury Claims Compensation Calculator

Welcome to our cold injury claims guide. If you have suffered injuries from working in cold and wet conditions, you may be able to claim compensation if your employer is found negligent. 

We first look at how compensation is calculated for personal injury claims and when someone would be eligible to claim compensation for an accident at work. Then, we look at how an employer’s actions or inactions could potentially lead to an employee suffering cold injuries. 

Furthermore, we discuss what types of evidence can help during a cold injury claim. We conclude with a look at how an accident at work solicitor can help with your personal injury claim on a No Win No Fee basis. 

If you are eligible for cold injury compensation, our panel of personal injury solicitors can greatly help you. It is free to chat to us today and our lines are open 24/7:

A person wearing yellow trousers and brown boots standing on an icy path.

Jump To A Section

  1. Compensation Calculator For Cold Injury Claims
  2. Can You Make A Cold Injury Compensation Claim?
  3. How Can An Employer’s Actions Lead To A Cold Injury Compensation Claim?
  4. What Evidence Can Help Cold Injury Claims?
  5. Why Claim Cold Injury Compensation On A No Win No Fee Basis?
  6. More Resources Related To Work Injury Claims

Compensation Calculator For Cold Injury Claims

If your cold injury compensation claim is successful, there could be two heads of loss that make up your settlement. These are called general damages and special damages. 

General damages compensate for how you have physically and mentally suffered due to the incident. As such, this head of claim will consider:

  • Loss of amenity. 
  • The time period of your recovery. 
  • The severity of your pain. 

Legal professionals and others helping with your cold injury case will often ask you to attend an independent medical assessment during the claims process. Any reports from this assessment are often looked at alongside the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) so that the value of your general damages can be calculated. 

The JCG is a publication with guideline compensation brackets for all different kinds of physical and psychological injuries/illnesses. 

Compensation Table

We have provided a table with information from the JCG (except for the top row, which is not from the JCG) below. 

Please bear in mind that no figure from the JCG can be guaranteed, as all cold injury claims are unique.

InjurySeverityGuideline compensation valueNotes
Multiple serious injuries with special damagesSeriousUp to £500,000+An award for sustaining multiple serious injuries with financial losses like lost earnings and travel expenses.
FootAmputation of both feet (a)£206,730 to £245,900Both ankle joints are lost.
Amputation of one foot (b)£102,470 to £133,810The ankle joint is lost.
HandAmputation of index, middle, and/or ring fingers (d)£75,550 to £110,750Grip will be extremely weak and the hand will render very little use.
Amputation of little finger (m)£10,550 to £14,940Little finger amputation.
ToeAmputation of all toes (a)£44,570 to £68,430Compensation will depend on whether the amputation was traumatic or surgical.
Amputation of the great toe (b)In the region of £38,210Big toe amputation.
Cold injuriesAggravating features (b)In the region of £39,660A combination of acute psychological problems, chronic pain, and a likelihood of future problems with joints.
Less serious cases (c)Around £18,310A long-term cold sensation of either the feet or hands, causing intermittent discomfort and pain.

Special Damages

Special damages compensate for how you have financially suffered from your cold injury, such as:

  • Loss of earnings due to missing work to recover. 
  • The costs for prescriptions and other medical bills. 
  • Travel expenses to attend medical appointments. 

General damages will always be awarded when a claim is successful, whereas special damages will only sometimes be awarded. So, providing evidence in the form of bank statements, receipts, invoices, and payslips is extremely beneficial. 

Contact us to learn more about how your specific workplace injury claim may be valued. 

Can You Make A Cold Injury Compensation Claim?

You may be able to make a cold injury compensation claim if you can prove that your freezing cold injuries or non-freezing cold injuries were caused by your employer being negligent.

All employers owe a duty of care to their employees under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. This duty of care means that employers must take practicable steps to ensure safety within the workplace and to minimise the risk of employee injury. 

Thus, if your employer breaches their legal duty, this would class as them being negligent. However, a negligent employer alone isn’t enough to make a personal injury claim.

So, here is the eligibility criteria for cold injury claims:

  1. Your employer owed you a duty of care. 
  2. Your employer breached this duty of care. For example, by failing to provide you with gloves when your work duties brought you into a cold environment.
  3. You suffered cold injuries as a result of this breach of duty.

If you can provide evidence that each of the above criteria applies to you, have a chat with us today. Additionally, continue reading to look at some examples of how an employer could breach their duty of care.

How Is A Freezing Cold Injury Different To A Non-Freezing Cold Injury?

Here are the differences between a freezing cold injury and a non-freezing cold injury:

  • A freezing cold injury happens in sub-zero temperatures and includes frostbite and frost nip. Parts of the body that can be susceptible to this injury include fingers, toes, ears and the nose. 
  • A non-freezing cold injury is caused by prolonged, gradual cooling of the feet or hands. It doesn’t have to be freezing. 

Whether you are suffering from a freezing cold injury or a non-freezing cold injury, please contact us if you believe that your employer breached their duty of care. Our friendly team can confirm your claim eligibility and further discuss cold injury claims. 

How Can An Employer’s Actions Lead To A Cold Injury Compensation Claim?

If your employer requires you to work in cold environments that could lead to multiple injuries, they are obliged to perform certain actions to adhere to their duty of care.

Here are some examples of how an employer could be negligent:

  • The appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), such as boots, socks, gloves, or waterproof clothing, is not provided. This causes frostbite on your fingers. 
  • An employer asks their employees to perform an unnecessarily long shift in cold and wet conditions without regular breaks. Tissue damage occurs as a result. 
  • The necessary training to know how to prevent cold injuries is not provided. 

Cold injuries may be more likely to occur for these types of employees:

  • Fishermen.
  • Farmers.
  • Meat processors. 
  • Butchers. 
  • Refrigeration services. 

Feel free to have a chat with us today about your circumstances to find out whether you can claim cold injury compensation. In addition to checking your eligibility, they can discuss the cold injury claims process. 

Someone with a cast on their foot and crutches.

What Evidence Can Help Cold Injury Claims?

Here are some useful types of evidence to provide for cold injury claims:

  • Photographs of your injuries and the working conditions. 
  • Witness contact details from fellow employees, so they can give a statement later on in the claims process. 
  • Copies of your doctors’ notes and medical records that show the full extent of your injury. 
  • Keep a personal treatment and symptoms diary.

Please bear in mind that you will not be eligible to claim cold injury compensation if it cannot be proven that your employer breached their duty of care. If you are struggling with collecting all of your evidence, don’t worry. If you meet the eligibility criteria, a solicitor from our panel will be able to help you. Call our advisors today for a free assessment. 

Can I Claim If I’m A Self-Employed Worker?

Yes. Even if you’re self-employed, all employers owe you a duty of care whenever you are on their premises, even if they’re not your employer. So, if you are expected to work in any workplace, a duty of care is owed to you and you may have a compensation claim if negligence can be proven. 

You can find out more about your rights as a self-employed worker with our team. 

How Long Will It Take To Claim Compensation?

There is no set answer to this question as every claim is unique. Should your cold injury claim be successful, how long it will take depends on many factors, such as:

  • The severity of your injury. If your injury is serious and life-changing, your claim may take longer since it may take time for the full impact of your injury to be determined. 
  • Whether your employer accepts liability. If liability is denied, or if it isn’t clear with whom the fault lies for your cold injuries, then your claim may take longer. 

If you are connected with one of the solicitors from our panel, they will keep you updated throughout each step of the claims process. Call an advisor from our team today to talk about cold injury claims. 

Why Claim Cold Injury Compensation On A No Win No Fee Basis?

If you’re eligible to claim cold injury compensation, our panel of No Win No Fee solicitors can offer you a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) to help with your case. 

Under a CFA:

  • Before the claims process begins, there are no solicitor charges to pay. 
  • During the claims process, there are no solicitor charges to pay. 
  • After the claims process, if you are unsuccessful, there are no solicitor charges to pay. 

Instead, if you are successful after the claims process, your solicitor can take a percentage of your awarded compensation. This percentage is known as the success fee and is legally capped.  

Contact Us

Contact us today to learn more about cold injury claims and to find out whether you can sue your employer. Our team can give you free advice and can potentially connect you to one of the No Win No Fee personal injury solicitors from our panel. You can contact us 24/7:

Two No Win No Fee solicitors discuss cold injury claims.

 

More Resources Related To Work Injury Claims

Here are some of our other accident at work claims guides:

Additionally, here are some pages from other websites that might be useful:

Thank you for reading our cold injury claims guide. If you have any questions that have not been answered in this guide, please contact us today.