Unfortunately, personal injuries happen every day and in a variety of places. If you suffer an injury wholly or partly due to someone else’s negligence, this is often covered by personal injury law. You may be able to seek compensation for your injury.
We help people whose lives have been disrupted by an accident to get the compensation they need while they recover from their injury.
Here are some of the most common personal injury types and their causes.
Common types of personal injury claims
Motor vehicle accidents
If you’re injured in a motor vehicle accident caused by someone else – whether you’re a driver, passenger or pedestrian – you may be eligible to claim compensation for your injuries. This includes motorcyclists and cyclists.
Motorcyclists are often involved in accidents because they are more difficult for other road users to see. In fact, a motorcyclist is more likely to be involved in a motor vehicle accident than a car.
Cyclists are also more likely to be injured in a road accident, as they’re less protected than vehicle drivers. If you’re injured in a bicycle accident, you can make a claim against the at-fault driver’s compulsory third party insurance to get compensation for your injuries.
Medical negligence
Medical negligence refers to when a medical professional causes a patient injury or loss through a lack of reasonable care. This could occur in a hospital, GP clinic, aged care facility or anywhere else where you might get treatment from a medical specialist.
Medical professionals, or their hospital or medical practice, take out medical indemnity insurance to cover themselves against the risk of this type of event.
Workers compensation
While Australia has strong work health and safety laws that protect workers, workplace accidents do still occur.
If you suffer a physical injury or mental harm due to your employment, you can make a claim for workers compensation payments to cover your lost earnings and medical treatment.
Public liability
Accidents happen in public spaces every day, whether it’s the supermarket or an office building. When you suffer an injury on a business property due to the owner or occupier’s lack of care, you may be entitled to make a public liability claim. Organisations are required to hold public liability insurance for just this reason.
Local councils also hold public liability insurance to cover claims for accidents on public transport, in local parks and other council areas. If the council has been wholly or partially negligent in their duty of care, and you’ve been harmed as a result, you could make a claim for lost income and superannuation, medical fees and other expenses.
Top causes of personal injury in NSW
Now that you’ve read about the most common types of personal injury in New South Wales, what are the common causes of these claims?
Workers compensation
While every workplace has work health and safety obligations and legislation they must comply with, these work-related accidents are still common:
- slips, trips and falls
- repetitive strain
- lifting, pulling, pushing objects incorrectly
- being hit by moving objects
- workplace bullying and harassment, pressure, poor working conditions, poor supervision
- forklift and truck accidents.
Motor vehicle accidents
Drivers are expected to follow the road rules and have a duty of care to other drivers and road users. However, there are more people using the roads than ever and these vehicle accidents are common:
- colliding with another vehicle
- hitting property, like fences and buildings
- colliding with pedestrians
- opening a car door suddenly
- cutting a driver off or not giving way
- driving in a bicycle lane
- pulling out of a driveway without looking.
Medical negligence
In Australia, we have a high quality medical industry, and doctors, dentists, nurses and other health professionals with the highest skill and knowledge. However, sometimes they do breach their duty of care for patients and cause physical or mental harm. These are some common causes of injury:
- procedures on incorrect body parts or person
- medicine errors
- lack of warnings about medicine side effects or risks
- failure to diagnosis a condition
- delays in providing test results
- mistakes during births or pre-natal care
- plastic or cosmetic surgery malpractice.
Public liability
With so many people out enjoying public spaces, it’s not surprising that accidents can and do happen. Common causes of public liability claims include:
- slips, trips and falls in supermarkets and other outlets
- playground and schoolyard injuries
- sporting injuries
- boating accidents
- dog or other animal attacks
- physical and sexual assaults.
Claiming personal injury for these specific causes
Each of these personal injury claims is different so they are assessed on a case-by-case basis. But, generally, to make a successful claim, you need to prove that:
- the negligent party breached their duty of care
- you suffered harm or loss
- the other party should’ve foreseen the risk of it happening
- the harm or loss occurred directly because of their negligence.
Note: workers compensation is a little different because it’s a no-fault system. If you suffer a work-related injury, you may be eligible to make a claim whether or not your employer was at fault.
However, you may sue your employer if can prove the injury was due to their negligence and you reach a certain threshold of injury. You may receive a lump sum that compensates you for all past and future economic loss you’ll suffer due to the injury.
How can you protect yourself from these accidents?
You should always take reasonable steps to prevent harm occurring. These means using the roads and public transport according to the law, following training and direction from supervisors at work, and following signage and direction in public places.
But unfortunately accidents still happen. This is where you need a legal professional in your corner.
How Main Lawyers can help
Multiple personal injury claims can be some of the most complex cases we see, so we always recommend getting legal advice. At Main Lawyers, we offer a free, no-obligation consultation so you can find out all your options.
Give us a call today to see how we can help!