To sue my current employer?

[AchyBreakyArm]

Regular, name changed, naice ham, but woo etc. A few weeks ago I tripped over a wire that shouldn't have been there in the office I work in, which is local government. I've worked there for nearly ten years and a number of people have had near misses with exactly the same thing. Unfortunately for me I broke my arm. Had an op a few days later to insert a plate which will be there for life. Obviously life is very difficult, having a 4 year old, also my house is upside down due to works. The cast is off now and I'm in a splint for at least another month. I've gone back to work and I was fully paid whilst off. There have been a few expenses, hospital travel, waterproof cover for cast etc. Not loads of money but I can do without it at any time, especially near Christmas. Anyway...... It never occurred to me until lots of colleagues and friends and then my Union advised me to go for compensation. Obviously the employer was at fault, the wire shouldn't have been there and there have been many (unreported) near misses. There was no warning signage up or similar.

Financially I'm not massively out of pocket, only for the sundries listed. It's making my life very difficult and putting massive pressure on my already overworked DP because there's a lot I can't do.

I'm slightly concerned that I'm going to mega piss my employer off. There's quite a lot of dispute between the workforce and management at the moment due to various reasons which will likely out me if I go into them, and it's the sort of job that I will be in until I retire/get sacked/die blahblahblah. I know in theory they can't discriminate against me but they might.

I have solicitors services free with Union, all I need to do is pick up the phone.

What would you do? Have you done this?

Being in IT, we often need to run cables all over the shop. They should always be covered in thick rubber protectors which are very difficult to trip over. They also protect the cables - since you'd be amazed what a stiletto can do to a CAT5 ...

Similar happened to my mum - she went through unison. They were shite. She still has problems with the injury now and has a certain amount of disability as a result. She bitterly regrets not going directly to a personal injuries solicitor rather than letting unison get involved.

I deal with insurance claims for a large organisation and from what you describe I'd guess you have a pretty open and shut case. Contrary to what was said above I find that insurers do not strongly defend workplace claims and, in fact, it's almost impossible as an employer to avoid liability for accidents at work regardless of how many policies/H&S rules you have. A broken arm would likely net you a few £k. I guess what it comes down to is are you happy to be part of the compensation culture?

Sorry to hear about your arm. I hurt my shoulder which resulted in surgery at work at few years ago. I sued, and won. For me though, it was more about my company's attitude to the accident, they were far from accommodating; making me take annual leave for hospital appointment and scans and unpaid during surgery and recovery. I wanted them to acknowledge they were wrong (having told me it was my fault). I won. They admitted liability without it going to court and was awarded (a modest) compensation. It did take almost 3 years however. Good luck whatever you decide.

Could I suggest that you just ask then to reimburse you first? It may not need to be a court case. They may very well be happy to give you all reasonable expenses and be grateful to you for saving them the time and expense of a court case.