Introduction to Health and Safety at Work

8.7 
Compensation and insurance 
issues
Accidents arising out of the organization’s activities 
resulting in injuries to people and incidents resulting in 
damage to property can lead to compensation claims. 
The second objective of an investigation should be to 
collect and record relevant information for the purposes 
of dealing with any claim. It must be remembered that, 
in the longer term, prevention is the best way to reduce 
claims and must be the fi rst objective in the investiga-
tion. An overzealous approach to gathering informa-
tion concentrating on the compensation aspect can, in 
fact, prompt a claim from the injured party where there 
was no particular intention to take this route before the 
investigation. Nevertheless, relevant information should 
be collected. Sticking to the collection of facts is usually 
the best approach.
As mentioned earlier the legal system in England 
and Wales changed dramatically with the introduction 
of the Woolf reforms in 1999. These reforms apply to 
injury claims. This date was feared by many because of 
the uncertainty and the fact that the pre-action protocols 
were very demanding.
The essence of the pre-legal action protocols is as 
follows:
1. ‘Letter of claim’ to be acknowledged within 21 days
2. 90 days from date of acknowledgement to either 
accept liability or deny. If liability is denied then full 
reasons must be given
3. Agreement to be reached on using a single expert.
The overriding message is that to comply with the proto-
cols quick action is necessary. It is also vitally important 
that records are accurately kept and accessible.
Lord Woolf made it clear in his instructions to the 
judiciary that there should be very little leeway given to 
claimants and defendants who did not comply.
What has been the effect of these reforms on day to 
day activity?
At the present time there has been a dramatic drop 
in the number of cases moving to litigation. Whilst this 
was the primary objective of the reforms, the actual drop 
is far more signifi cant than any one anticipated. In large