While lifts (or elevators) are undoubtedly convenient, there are some risks associated with their use. Some of these risks are due to the users’ failure to heed safety precautions while using the lift, others are because of a fault with the lift itself. If you’ve been injured in an accident using a lift caused by manufacturing or maintenance issues, for example, you could be compensated for your suffering.

This guide to making a lift accident claim will show you how the process of claiming compensation works and what you could potentially claim compensation for.

We are here to help you get your lift accident claim started. You can call one of our specialist advisors if you’d like a no-obligation review of your case. Your advisor will provide free advice and explain your options after assessing your claim with you. If the grounds for the claim are strong enough, you could be partnered with one of our personal injury solicitors. If they take on your case, you’ll get access to specialist legal representation on a No Win No Fee basis.

Please call us today on 0800 6524 881 if you’d like to begin a claim right away. Otherwise, please read on to learn more about the process of making a lift accident claim.

Am I Eligible To Make A Lift Accident Claim?

Any business that provides access to a lift for its staff, customers, or visitors has a legal duty of care to try and ensure the lift can be used safely. Legislation such as the Lift Regulations 2016 and the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 can be used to establish this duty. Before one of our personal injury solicitors will take on a lift accident claim, they’ll check whether:

• The defendant has breached their legal duty of care by being negligent; and
• Their negligence caused an accident in a lift; and
• You were injured during that accident.

If your case is taken on, your solicitor will do all they can to prove how your accident occurred, who was to blame, and the severity of the injuries you sustained. Later on, we’ll list some of the evidence you could use to support this process.

Common Lift-Related Accidents

Fortunately, most lifts are well maintained and safe to use. Lift-related accidents are few and far between but when they happen, they can be very serious.

Some of the more common accidents in lifts that can happen include:

• Where the lift stops at the wrong place meaning you trip or fall because the lift floor is out of alignment.
• If the lift jolts to a halt and causes you to fall and injure yourself.
• Where the lift fails and leaves you trapped inside.
• If you slip or trip on items left in or around the lift.
• Where the lift’s safety mechanisms fail and a limb is trapped in the doors.
• If you slipped on a wet floor if the lift had been cleaned recently but put back into use before it had dried.
• Where the lift drops down the shaft.

Some of these examples are more common than others but you could be compensated if you’ve suffered anything other than very minor injuries. Importantly, this could include compensation for psychological injuries such as any anxiety or distress caused by being trapped in a lift.

Negligence Leading To Accidents In Lifts

As explained above, in most cases you’ll only be eligible to claim for a lift accident if it was caused by the operator’s or manufacturer’s negligence. For example, if an accident occurs that the operator or manufacturer had no way of preventing, a solicitor might not agree to take on your claim. However, it doesn’t hurt to ask our claims advisors to be sure.

Some examples of negligence that could result in a lift accident claim include:

• A failure to maintain the lift in line with regulations and the manufacturer’s guidance.
• Failing to carry out regular checks of the lift.
• Where staff did not know what to do during an emergency because of a lack of training.
• If the emergency intercom was not working.
• Where damage to the lift had not been repaired in a timely manner.

If you believe you should be compensated for injuries sustained during an accident in a lift, please contact our team to discuss your options today.

How Much Compensation For A Lift Accident Could I Claim?

Compensation for a personal injury claim is designed to help you get back on your feet, as much as possible, following an accident in a lift caused by somebody else. If your claim is successful, you could be compensated for the effects of your injuries (general damages) and any associated costs (special damages). In real terms, this means you could receive compensation to cover:

• The physical pain and suffering caused by your injuries.
• Any mental harm you’ve suffered during or after your lift accident.
• The impact your injuries have had on your hobbies, family activities or social life.
• Care costs if somebody else needed to support you while you recovered from your injuries.
• Any income you’ve lost or are likely to lose in the future because of your injuries.
• Medical expenses, rehabilitation costs and, in some cases, private medical treatment.
• Travel expenses.
• The cost of replacing items damaged at the time of your lift accident.
• The cost of adapting your home to improve your quality of life if you’ve been left with a permanent disability.

Assessing your lift accident claim properly is important as you cannot claim further compensation once you’ve settled with the defendant. If your case is taken on by one of our solicitors, they’ll do everything they can to try and win as much compensation for you as possible.

Stuck In A Lift Compensation Amounts

When calculating compensation for being stuck in a lift, personal injury solicitors can refer to Judicial College guidelines for general damages in personal injury cases as there isn’t a set amount that each and every claimant would receive. Below you’ll find compensation amounts for psychiatric injuries and varying degrees of severity.

• £54,830 – £115,730 compensation for severe psychiatric damage.
• £19,070 – £54,830 compensation for moderately severe psychiatric damage.
• £5,860 – £19,070 compensation for moderate psychiatric damage.
• £1,540 – £5,860 compensation where psychiatric damage is considered less severe.

If you’ve suffered physical injuries from a lift accident, our compensation calculator below will be useful for other injury settlement amounts.

To try and ascertain how severe your injuries were, a medical assessment is typically required as part of the lift accident claims process. This will be carried out by an independent specialist and can usually be arranged locally. In your meeting, the specialist will examine your injuries and talk with you about how you’ve suffered. They’ll list their findings in a report for all parties involved in your claim and detail your prognosis.

Evidence To Support A Lift Accident Claim

If you are going to proceed with claiming compensation after being injured in a lift accident, there are some steps you could take that could help to secure important evidence to support your case. They include:

• Report the accident to the lift operator. By doing so, you’ll be able to ask for a copy of your accident report form. This can be used to prove the date and time of your accident.
• Collect witness details. If somebody else was present when you were injured using the lift, ask them for their contact details. If necessary, your solicitor could contact them for a statement of what they saw.
• Seek medical attention. If you’re not taken to the hospital by ambulance, you may wish to make your own way there to have your injuries treated. If you do, your medical records could be requested to help prove the extent of any injuries.
• Take photographs. Where possible, you should try and capture the cause of the lift accident by taking pictures on your phone. Ideally, you should do this immediately (if it’s safe to do so) or before the cause is repaired, replaced, or removed.
• Ask for camera recordings. If the lift was covered by security cameras (inside or out) ask for any relevant CCTV footage to be sent to you. This request needs to be made quickly as most CCTV data is deleted within weeks.

Please contact us if you’d like us to review any evidence you’ve secured already for free.

Time Limits For Making A Lift Accident Claim

If you make a lift accident claim for a personal injury in the UK, you’ll usually have a 3-year time limit to stick to. This will commence from:

• The date you were injured in the lift; or
• The date your injuries were diagnosed.

The latter might be the case if you’ve been suffering psychologically after being trapped in a lift but you didn’t receive a diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), for example, until a later date. If you’ve been diagnosed with PTSD, you may want to head over to this page on PTSD compensation claims.

Our advice is to get in touch as soon as possible to begin your claim.  By doing so, there should be plenty of time for your solicitor to arrange for your medical assessment and to collect any evidence needed to support your case. Our solicitors will always be as efficient as possible to try and ensure your claim is finalised as soon as possible.

Starting A Lift Accident Claim

Hopefully, the information in our guide to lift accident claims has helped you to decide what to do next. If you’ve chosen to take action for your suffering, please consider calling our team on 0800 6524 881 to get the ball rolling.

During your free initial consultation, we’ll review your options with you and give you legal advice on your chances. If your claim is viable, we’ll pass your case to one of our No Win No Fee personal injury solicitors.

Please feel free to call or connect to live chat if you’ve got any more questions about making a lift accident claim.