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Farm Accident Injury Claims

If you’ve had an accident on a farm, and someone else was fully or partially responsible, get in touch with our trusted Personal Injury lawyers today, and we will help you.

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Farmers carry out essential work in providing food for our country, but sadly agriculture has one of the highest rates of death and serious injury of any industry in the UK. Farms are full of hazards – ranging from farming equipment, pits and even unpredictable livestock, which can cause serious injuries. Farmers are also more at risk of developing Industrial Diseases from inhaling agricultural substances and chemicals.

Some people wonder whether you can make a claim for compensation if you sustained an injury on a farm that was not your fault, or developed an Industrial Disease. The short answer is yes – if you worked in agriculture, or on a farm, your employer has the same duty of care as all other UK workplaces, and should’ve taken measures to keep you safe from injuries or illness.

If you were visiting or passing a farm and were injured, we could help you make a claim against the business or owner. We’ll help by gathering evidence to investigate who was legally responsible for your injury. Get in touch today for a Free Case Assessment – we’ll listen to your situation and let you know if you could make a No Win, No Fee claim.

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Our expert lawyers could help you make a claim for compensation for:

Our lawyers have an excellent track record of helping people claim the best possible compensation for injuries. This includes injuries caused by accidents at work, where we can help prove that your employer did not follow health and safety laws. Compensation can help if you’re suffering financially from loss of earnings if you’ve been off work, and help you get on the road to recovery.

We specialise in helping people access early care and rehabilitation when they need it, for serious injuries such as:

We could ask the responsible party to pay some of your compensation in early installments (interim payments) to help you get on the road to recovery before your claim has even settled.

Could I Claim Compensation for a Farm Injury or Disease?

Our team could help you claim compensation for an injury or disease that developed due to someone else’s actions or negligence. We must be able to prove that your employer or the farm owner failed in their duty of care to you. Even if you were partly at fault, we may still be able to help you make a claim, so get in touch with us for advice.

The exact amount of compensation you could get for a farm injury or Industrial Disease will depend on:

  • Who was responsible;
  • How severe your condition or injury is;
  • How the injury/condition has affected your life;

Any costs you’ve already incurred as a result or any care you may need in the future.

We could help you make a claim for:

Our Personal Injury lawyers could help you claim compensation for an injury you suffered while working on a farm, as your employer is responsible for taking measures to keep you safe. For example, they must provide you with training and appropriate protective gear, and monitor the farm for any hazards to stop you from getting into danger. If you think they failed in this legal duty of care, we could help you make a claim, even if you were partly at fault.

Because farmwork can be so dangerous, the government have specific health and safety guidelines on how your employer should keep you safe at a farm. For example, they must:

  • Keep buildings in good repair, keep workshops tidy and surfaces safe;
  • Keep machinery and vehicles in good working order;
  • Enter confined spaces only when absolutely necessary;
  • Carry out risk assessments, ensure you have the skills to carry out your work safely and provide suitable equipment/scaffolding.

Injuries from animals are very common, so your employer should train you on the following principles and monitor this:

  • Having proper restraining and handling equipment to minimise the risk of handling livestock;
  • Containing animals that need to be restrained for treatments etc, so that they’re unable to move at will;
  • Having at least two people present when separating an animal from its herd;
  • Using leg restraints if cattle are likely/known to kick.

If you’re a self-employed farmer, you may have been injured by defective or faulty tools, equipment or a vehicle. In this case, we could help you make a faulty equipment claim against the manufacturer or third-party firm.

Sadly, some farm injuries can be fatal. If your loved one passed away as a result of a farm injury, we know that claiming compensation may not be your first priority. But when you’re ready, we’re here to advise you if you would like to make a claim on their behalf.

You might have been injured while visiting a farm for leisure purposes, to ride horses or even while visiting a petting farm with your child. If you were a contractor, walker or cyclist on a farmer’s land, and were injured in an accident that could have been prevented, you may be entitled to compensation.

The owner of the farm, or business in charge, has a legal duty of care to protect members of the public from being injured on their premises. Farmers/agricultural businesses must follow legal Health and Safety regulations such as:

  • Keeping you safe from livestock;
  • Abiding by age limits on children driving or operating certain vehicles/machines;
  • Avoiding obstructing roads with compost, hedges etc. Our Road Traffic Accident team could help if you were involves in a road accident with a tractor or involving a farmer.

The duty of care farmers have to ‘members of the public’ can sometimes extend to trespassers or people on public footpaths. If you’re unsure whether you could make a claim, contact our Personal Injury specialists today for a Free Case Assessment.

Employers on farms have a legal duty of care to protect their workers from their exposure to dangerous substances and chemicals, so if your employer failed in some way to protect you from developing an Industrial Disease, we could help you make a claim. For example, your employer may have failed to:

  • Conduct risk assessments and deliver the correct training to prevent you from dangerous levels of exposure to substances/chemicals;
  • Monitor your health to detect early symptoms and seek medical advice;
  • Put lids on storage bins;
  • Install dust extraction/fresh air blowers inside;
  • Provide Personal Protective Clothing (PPE) and equipment like respirators.

You can be regularly exposed to a number of dangerous chemicals while working in farming such as:

  • Dust from crops, flour, grains, animals and composted materials;
  • Asbestos fibres from equipment, machinery or old farmhouses;
  • Fertilizers;
  • Pesticides;
  • Paints, oils, cleaning chemicals etc;
  • Medicines and feed additives for animals;
  • Toxic gases e.g. from slurry pits;
  • Exhaust fumes;
  • Animal-borne diseases.

These substances that can put you at high risk of Industrial Diseases, for example:

If your loved one has sadly passed away as a result of a farming-related disease, and their employer could have taken steps to prevent this, we know this can be an extremely difficult time. When you’re ready, our Industrial Disease team are here to listen and advise you if you would like to make a claim for compensation.

The symptoms of Industrial Diseases can be debilitating and devastating for you and your family, especially if you know that your employer could have stopped them from developing. Our specialist Industrial Disease solicitors are here for you, and will talk you through your legal rights and help you make a claim for compensation so you can access the care and support you need.

Why Choose Simpson Millar?

  • Nationally Accredited Experts

    Our law team are widely respected for their expertise and many of our solicitors are accredited by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and the Motor Accident Solicitors Society (MASS).

  • Personal Injury Specialists

    Our specialist team have years of experience achieving millions of pounds in compensation for people with injuries and Industrial Diseases.

  • We Keep You Informed

    We believe in openness and transparency so we’ll always keep you up to date on your case and what the final settlement may be.

  • We’re connected

    We have access to world-class clinicians, occupational therapists, psychologists and more. We also have charity links to help you access the help you need, for example with the Spinal Injuries Association.

How the Farm Injury Claims Process Works

Try and contact us as soon as possible after your injury. We will find out as much information as we can from you, and let you know if you could be eligible to make a claim.

We will investigate your claim and aim for the best compensation possible. You can help us do so by keeping:

  • Medical records or receipts from prescriptions;
  • Photos and videos of the scene of any accident you had, or any areas of work that caused you harm;
  • Contact details of the farm owner, or any witnesses or colleagues that you worked with.

Here is what to expect during the claims process.

    1

    Meeting your lead Solicitor

    We’ll put you in touch with the lead Solicitor that will handle your claim and will be a specialist in the field. We’ll make sure you’re kept up to date and work with you towards the best possible outcome.

    2

    Collecting the evidence

    Our team will get to work on investigating your claim and gathering evidence to prove your case. This could include medical records, witness statements or photos from the accident scene, so try to keep these. An independent medical expert will also assess and report on your injuries.

    3

    Organising care you may need

    We can organise any specialist care or rehabilitation you might urgently need and we can get this in place early before your claim is settled. An independent medical expert will assess how you’re coping with your injuries at the moment and any support you might need in the future.

    4

    Settling the case

    We’ll contact the other party and ask them to admit liability for the incident. We’ll negotiate and take all the factors we’ve investigated into account to work towards the compensation you deserve.

Meet some of our Personal Injury Solicitors

Meet Our Personal Injury Claims Team

What Our Clients are Saying About Our Personal Injury Claims Service

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FAQs about Farm Injury and Illness Claims

We often take on claims on a No Win, No Fee basis. This means that if we don’t win your case, you don’t pay a penny. It also means you don’t have to worry about paying anything upfront, which can ease financial stress.

We could ask the responsible party to pay some of your compensation in early installments (interim payments) to help you get on the road to recovery before your claim has even settled.

We’ll always be open and clear from start to finish about finances, there will never be hidden costs.

When we negotiate your compensation, we will take into account how your injury or condition has impacted your life. Compensation could help you:

  • Recover loss of earnings if you’ve had to take time off work;
  • Recover costs you’ve already incurred e.g. travel costs or prescriptions;
  • Access any ongoing support and rehabilitation you might need. This could include physiotherapy or adaptations to your home or car.
  • Buy aids and adaptations to help you return to work, or even retrain in a different industry if you can no longer work in agriculture because of your injuries or condition.

We treat every client on a case-by-case basis, so we will listen to your situation and take all these factors into account so you can access the exact support you need.

If you were injured on a farm, you usually have three years from the date of the accident to start your claim. However, if your injury or any complications develop later, the three years will start when you’re diagnosed.

For example:

  • If you’re making a claim on behalf of your child, you have until their 18th birthday to do so. After this, they can make a claim for themselves, up until their 21st
  • If the accident where the person suffered an injury was sadly fatal, it’s possible to make a claim for compensation on behalf of your spouse or loved one who has passed away. We know this is already an extremely difficult time, so we want to make things straightforward for you and give you the support you need. We know that no amount of money can reverse what happened to your loved one, but when you’re ready, we are here to listen and help you.
  • If the person who was injured has a form of mental impairment, such as a brain injury, learning disability or dementia, and is unable to make decisions for themselves, you could make a claim on behalf of them. Our Court of Protection lawyers are here to help if you need to assess whether that person lacks the capacity to make legal decisions.

If you developed an Industrial Disease while working on a farm, the time limit for starting a claim is three years from the date you were diagnosed.

We would always advise you to get in touch as soon as possible as sometimes there are exceptions to this, so it’s better to contact us early to give yourself the best chance at securing compensation.

Sadly, you may have a loved one who has passed away from exposure to asbestos or other substances on a farm years ago. We know it can be devastating to know this could have been prevented, so we are here for you if you would like to make a claim for compensation. We could even help if the farm/company are no longer trading, by making a claim against the employer’s insurers. You generally have 3 years from the date of your loved one’s death to make a compensation claim on behalf of their estate.

The person/company that pays your compensation will depend on your claim, and who is found to be responsible.

If the other party admit responsibility, we can ask them to pay you some of your compensation in early installments (interim payments), before your claim is even settled.

If you’re making a claim for an accident at work, or an Industrial Disease claim, your employer will likely have an insurance company in place, so your compensation would come from their insurers, rather than your workplace directly.

In other circumstances, for example if you were injured while visiting a farm, you could make a claim against the farm owner. The law on this can vary, so for advice on your situation, call our Personal Injury team today on 0808 239 3227 or request a callback.

Yes, you could make a claim on behalf of your child if they were injured at any point up until their 18th birthday.

Once they turn 18, they can make a claim for themselves – they’ll have until their 21st birthday to do this.

If your child was injured whilst trespassing onto a farm, the owner of the premises may in some circumstances still be responsible for their safety (e.g. by keeping buildings and sheds safe). The occupier of the premises may have failed in their duty of care to the public, even if the child unlawfully trespassed. Any dangerous parts of premises (eg fragile rooves, unsafe equipment) should be cordoned off and have warning signs displayed.

If your child was partly responsible for an accident at a farm, you may still be eligible to make a claim. Get in touch with us today to see how we could help.

If the other party does not accept responsibility, we may need to start court proceedings. We always try and negotiate a settlement for you without the case needing to go to Court – most claims are settled before they make it to this point.

Our Personal Injury lawyers and Industrial Disease teams have a strong track record in gathering evidence prove your case, and work towards the maximum compensation for you so you can get the justice you deserve.

Get in touch, today!

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