If you’ve suffered a personal injury while working in an office environment, you may be entitled to claim compensation—particularly if your employer’s negligence contributed to the accident. While offices aren’t usually considered high-risk workplaces, accidents still happen, and many of them could be prevented with the right safety measures in place.
At Lacey Solicitors, we help clients across Belfast and Northern Ireland understand their rights after a workplace injury and guide them through the claims process.
Are Office Accidents Common in Northern Ireland?
Surprisingly, yes. While sectors like farming and construction see higher injury rates per worker, the sheer number of people employed in administrative and office-based roles means that injuries in offices are still frequent and significant.
According to the Office of National Statistics., around 11.5% of people in Northern Ireland work in admin or secretarial roles. That’s over 100,000 individuals potentially exposed to preventable workplace hazards.
If you’ve been injured at work—whether through a trip, slip, or poorly set-up workstation—and it wasn’t your fault, you could be eligible to make a personal injury claim.
What Types of Accidents Happen in the Office?
Even low-risk environments like offices have hidden dangers. Common causes of injury in office buildings include:
- Slips, trips, and falls on wet floors or cluttered walkways
- Poor ergonomics, such as incorrect desk and chair setups causing back, neck, or shoulder strain
- Defective electrical equipment leading to electric shocks or fires
- Unsafe storage of cleaning chemicals without proper COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) assessments
- Lack of fire evacuation procedures and clearly marked escape routes
- Exposure to asbestos in older office buildings—responsibility for surveys and removal may be outlined in your lease
- Inadequate safety signage, missing accident books, or unclear information about first aiders and insurance details
Musculoskeletal injuries are among the most common, including repetitive strain injuries (RSIs) and slipped discs. Even tripping over a box of printer paper can result in a serious injury if health and safety policies aren’t followed.
What Should My Employer Do If I Have an Accident at Work?
We previously highlighted that your employer has a legal duty of care to provide a safe working environment. This includes:
- Conducting risk assessments
- Reporting serious accidents to the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI)
- Providing necessary health and safety training
- Ensuring proper signage, first aid access, and accident recording measures are in place
If they’ve failed in any of these duties and you’ve been injured as a result, you may be able to claim for employer negligence.
Are You Entitled to Full Pay if Injured in The Office?
There is no automatic legal right to full pay if you’re off work due to an injury. However, you may be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) or additional contractual sick pay if offered by your employer.
Importantly, all UK employers must have employers’ liability insurance by law. This covers compensation claims, including those made after workplace accidents in offices.
Can I Claim for an Accident in the Office if it Was My Fault?
Yes—you may still be eligible for compensation even if you were partly to blame. If your employer also contributed to the circumstances of your injury (for example, by failing to maintain a safe working environment), then a claim may still succeed under the principle of shared liability.
That said, you should always speak to an expert about liability.
At Lacey Solicitors, we recently secured compensation for a young Lisburn woman who was injured at work when a glass filled with boiling water broke and spilled on her lap.
Our client had used heat-resistant glasses at home and assumed that similar looking glass, with the same handle in her office was also safe. Unfortunately, the glass wasn’t heat-resistant, leading to a burn injury. Initially believing it was her fault, we demonstrated that any reasonable person would have made the same assumption.
We successfully secured compensation for our client in the High Court of Northern Ireland due to the employer’s failure to provide properly labelled, safe equipment.
How to Claim Compensation After an Office Injury in Northern Ireland?
If you’ve been injured in an office accident anywhere in Northern Ireland—from Belfast to Derry, Newry to Antrim—speak to the experienced team at Lacey Solicitors.
As trusted personal injury solicitors in Belfast, we specialise in helping employees claim compensation after workplace accidents. We’ll advise you on your case, gather the necessary evidence, and fight for the compensation you deserve.
