36% of workplace injuries are categorised as slips, trips and falls, so businesses are being called to put safety measures in place to guard against them and educate employees on ways to avoid them.

Nearly 5 million sick days were taken in the UK over the past 12 months due to accidents at work. Not only is the money paid for injury compensation claims a significant cost to businesses, but so is the reduced productivity in the lost man hours.

Figures from Scottish Compensation show that in Scotland each year, nearly 3000 workers are killed and 10000 are injured in work-related accidents.

Slips, trip and falls commonly take place at construction sites, often due to tools and machinery left lying around. The report also showed that many workplace accidents also happen in offices, meaning all businesses need to be aware of the risks and implications of not providing a safe working environment.

The former NHS employee, who retired in 1996 and whose work was mainly office-based, filed a compensation claim through the NHS Injury Benefit Scheme, which provides compensation to staff who have suffered injury or disability as a result of their work.

The Department of Health has now ordered the Sandwell and West Birmingham Trust to make the payment. The trust had previously been fighting the compensation, disputing that they were not responsible for paying the large sum.

A director for the trust expressed that the payout does not relate to physical personal injury or a workplace accident.

South Wales Police dog handler Mark Pugh, 50, became severely depressed and suicidal after he was attacked by a mob of fans at the trouble-hit FA Cup tie between Cardiff City and Leeds United in 2002.

Mr Pugh has already won his claim for a disability pension, but has been denied a lump-sum compensation claim because although he has been categorised as 100% disabled, the South Wales Police Authority believe that he is not unable to work at all.

“Applications for these payments are very rare because only officers who have suffered 100% disability which is permanent are entitled to them,” explained a spokesperson for the authority.

Nigel Daniel, Mr Pugh’s solicitor, said his client has been treated “appallingly” and believes that the authority has made an “incorrect decision.”

Mr Pugh was in the news recently when it was revealed that South Wales Police spent over £100,000 on Operation Thames, a surveillance operation where almost a dozen officers from South Wales Police and the neighbouring Dyfed-Powys force were used to spy on him for months. This was an attempt by the authority to see if he was faking his disability and therefore deny him of his disability pension.

Judith Tomlinson, 58, from Baginton near Coventry, has mesothelioma, a fatal asbestos-related cancer. She strongly believes that her father’s work overalls and company van could be responsible for how she contracted the disease.

Roland Adcock, Mrs Tomlinson’s father, was a foreman at construction firm Mason McCabe, based in Acocks Green, Birmingham, from 1958 to 1982. It is believed that he was exposed to asbestos when he worked on a contract in Castle Bromwich.

Despite the evidence, Mrs Tomlinson has been denied compensation because the company her father worked for has since closed down.

The current law allows workers suffering from industrial illnesses and injuries to claim compensation from their employers. If their firm has shut down, suffering workers can still file a claim against the firm’s insurers. However family and loved ones who have also been affected can only currently claim from a current firm.

Mrs Tomlinson’s solicitors have expressed that they are continuing to seek compensation for their client.

“We will continue to fight for compensation for Judith but at the present time the law is different for secondary victims – namely people who were not employees of the company using asbestos,” explained Alida Coates at Irwin Mitchell solicitors.

Miss Dean, who is currently studying law at university, was awarded the compensation when she took her case to a UK employment tribunal, who have sited wrongful dismissal by the company. She was born without a left forearm and told those in the court that “I never let my disability get in the way of living a fulfilled life. I do not want special treatment.”

The student has stated that she made the disability known to her employers after accepting the role and was told she would be able to wear a cardigan on the shop floor. However she was later informed that the cardigan breached the “looks policy” of the store and she was instead assigned to the stockroom until the store’s winter uniform arrived.

The company have released a statement saying that the tribunals findings were based “on the events of a single day” and that these “were not at all representative of Dean’s overall employment with A&F.”

In 2004, A&F spent nearly $50 million to settle claims for discrimination in the US.

Broken down, Miss Dean was awarded £7,800 compensation for injury to her feelings, £1,077 in lost earnings and £138 for wrongful dismissal.

Firms could face costly personal injury claims if they fail to adequately protect their workers from the H1N1 virus. Therefore employers are being urged not to ask staff to stay at work or to come in if they are exhibiting symptoms of the illness, as doing so could be in breach of the Health & Safety Act.

Managers should take necessary precautions as early as possible to ensure their employees are protected. As the Government has predicted that up to 12% of the British workforce could be off with swine flu by September, employers who protect their staff in advance will be protecting themselves from potential employment compensation claims and excessive absences.

“If employers can show they have taken reasonable steps to provide a safe working environment, they will not be liable, either in criminal or civil proceedings,” said James Wilders, employment law partner at law firm Dickenson Dees.

“These do not need to be complex and would include ensuring rooms are properly ventilated, having soap and hygiene gel available, communicating company policy on illness and, above all, ensuring people with symptoms are sent home promptly.”

The calls from the CWU come after Angela Smith MP advised that the law should be updated so that workers can claim for compensation if they are attacked and injured by dogs on private land. An amendment of the Act could also allow the owner to be prosecuted if a claim is made.

Workers that regularly travel to and enter people’s homes, such as nurses, police officers, utilities workers and postal staff, are at a high risk of suffering personal injury as a result of dog attacks. However, at present the law does not cover incidents that take place on private property.

Billy Hayes, the general secretary of the CWU, claims that around 6,000 postal staff are injured in dog attacks every year, but up to 70 per cent of these incidents happen on private land, where the law currently does not apply.

“Angela Smith’s Bill comes not a moment too soon,” he said. “The Dangerous Dogs laws in the UK currently leave thousands of postal workers at risk from debilitating dog attacks with no legal right to pursue damages or to have action taken against dangerous dogs and their owners.”

“If a person wishes to own an animal, particularly a dog, then they have a duty to ensure that it doesn’t cause personal injury and damage,” he added.

Road accidents and public liability claims have soared in recent months, as a result of damage to roads caused by the winter’s cold weather. The public themselves have not been helping the situation either, as many people are avoiding servicing their cars in an effort to save money, or in fear that they will be hit with expensive repair and maintenance costs. This has also contributed to the rise in accidents, due to more cars on the road which could be considered as not roadworthy.

There has also been a sharp rise in the number of work accident claims in the country. According to recent research, firms are putting less importance on health and safety regulations, possibly in an attempt to cut costs. However this could work against them if an accident does occur and a compensation claim is made.

Shaaira Alexis is suing after she drank blackboard cleaning fluid placed in her water bottle by a schoolgirl, the High Court in London has been told.

Although Miss Alexis, 52, made a full recovery, she filed the compensation claim, saying she had suffered mental scars from the attack, and was once so scared of leaving her classroom that she urinated in a wastepaper bin.

Her poor attendance record at Brampton Manor School in Newham, east London, led to her losing her job in August 2006 and, having been unable to become a headteacher or department head, she set up a string of failed businesses.

Miss Alexis, described by her barrister William McCormick as an “excellent teacher” and a “valuable member of staff”, has launched a compensation claim for £700,000 in damages to cover lost earnings and pension entitlements against the London Borough of Newham.

Mr McCormick said other “extremely nasty” incidents at the 1,450-pupil school, in one of Britain’s poorest areas, had resulted in “ganging up on staff”. The local education authority denies negligence and disputes the value of her compensation claim.

Rose Gibb is said to be reviewing her legal options after a compensation claim for £175,000 was rejected by Mr Justice Treacy.

She quit her £150,000-a-year post as chief executive of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in Kent just days before the organisation was heavily criticised in a report in October 2007 on the spread of clostridium difficile on overcrowded and dirty wards.

She had filed the compensation claim, arguing that because she left her post by mutual agreement, she was entitled to a £250,000 severance package, with £175,000 compensation and £75,000 notice pay. The Department of Health only paid her notice pay after there was a public outcry over the agreement.

Ms Gibb said the ruling had been made on a “contentious and complex point of law”. She is now taking further advice from her lawyers and union, although it is unclear whether she will appeal against the decision on her compensation claim.