Forklift Accident Claims
Check if you can claim compensation
If you were injured in a forklift accident at work that was not your fault, you may be able to claim compensation. We will explain your options clearly and help you understand the next steps.
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Can you claim for a forklift accident at work?
You may be able to make a forklift accident claim if you were injured in the last three years, or more recently became aware the injury was linked to the accident, and your employer, or another party, was responsible. Employers have a legal duty to keep you reasonably safe, including how lift trucks are maintained, how operators are trained, and how vehicles and people are kept apart.
You would usually be claiming against your employer’s insurance rather than against the business itself or a colleague. This applies whether you were the operator, a pedestrian on foot, or working nearby.
The law your employer had to follow
Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 puts the general duty on your employer: to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all employees. That includes safe plant and systems of work, and the information, instruction, training and supervision needed to make the work safe. The regulations below set out what that means for lift trucks.
- The truck must be suitable for the job and only used for work it is suitable for, under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, regulation 4
- It must be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair, and where it has a maintenance log that log must be kept up to date, under regulation 5
- It must be inspected at suitable intervals and after anything happens that could affect its safety, and the result of each inspection must be recorded and kept until the next one, under regulation 6
- Everyone who uses it, and everyone who supervises or manages its use, must have adequate health and safety information and, where appropriate, written instructions, under regulation 8
- Everyone who uses it must have adequate training, including in the risks and the precautions, and so must anyone who supervises or manages its use, under regulation 9
- Every lifting operation must be properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out in a safe manner, under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, regulation 8
Sitting below the regulations is the HSE Approved Code of Practice L117, Rider-operated lift trucks: operator training and safe use, published in 2013. An approved code is not itself the law, but it has a particular status: if your employer did not follow it, they have to show they met the legal duty some other way.
One duty matters more than any other where someone on foot is injured. Regulation 17 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 requires every workplace to be organised so that pedestrians and vehicles can circulate in a safe manner, and says that where vehicles and pedestrians use the same traffic route there must be sufficient separation between them. Traffic routes must also be suitably indicated where that is needed for safety. If there were no marked walkways, no barriers and no separation on your site, that is the regulation to look at.
What vibration white finger compensation covers
Forklifts need a thorough examination, which is a separate legal requirement from servicing. The HSE puts it plainly: regular inspections as part of a preventive maintenance scheme or a scheduled service are not a thorough examination. The lifting parts fall under LOLER and everything else that affects safety, such as brakes, steering and tyres, falls under PUWER.
The intervals are set by law. Lifting equipment used for lifting people, and any accessory for lifting, must be thoroughly examined at least every six months. Other lifting equipment must be thoroughly examined at least every twelve months. A forklift used only to move loads falls into the twelve month group, and one fitted with a working platform to lift a person falls into the six month group.
If the truck that injured you was out of examination, or the inspection records required by PUWER regulation 6 do not exist, that is a documentary failure rather than a matter of opinion. It is one of the first things we ask for.
Why forklift accidents lead to a claim
Forklift trucks are among the most common causes of serious injury in warehouses and factories. Industry figures suggest around 1,300 people a year in the UK are hospitalised after a forklift accident, most of them preventable. Because a loaded truck is heavy and hard to stop, the injuries can be severe.
Employers must manage these risks under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER), the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER), and the HSE Approved Code of Practice L117 for rider-operated lift trucks. Where those duties were not met and you were hurt, you may be able to claim. Our solicitors will explain where you stand and handle the claim for you.
is usually the time limit to start a forklift accident claim, from the date of the accident, or from when you knew your injury was linked to it. Different rules apply for children. If you are unsure, we can check for you.
Common causes of forklift accidents
You may be eligible to claim if the accident was caused by your employer’s or another party’s negligence. These are the failures forklift injury claims are usually built on.
Poor training or supervision
Operators or pedestrians who were not properly trained, or a site where forklift movements were not supervised or controlled. PUWER regulation 9 covers both the operator and the person supervising.
Faulty or unmaintained trucks
Brakes, hydraulics, tyres or warning devices that failed, or a truck that was not inspected, maintained and thoroughly examined as PUWER and LOLER require.
Unsafe loads and layout
Overloaded or badly stacked pallets, loads that fell, or a workplace where vehicles and people on foot were not kept safely apart contrary to regulation 17.
No separation on the traffic route
No marked walkways, no barriers, no separate pedestrian door, or a blind corner where a driver could not see someone on foot.
Pressure, pace and shift patterns
Being told to move loads faster than was safe, to carry a passenger on the forks, or to keep working with a truck that had already been reported as faulty.
Hire, agency and shared sites
A hired truck that was not examined, or a site where more than one employer was operating and nobody had taken charge of the traffic arrangements.
However your accident happened, if someone else was at fault you may have a claim. Tell us what happened and we will let you know where you stand.
Forklift truck accident claims, telehandlers and other lift trucks
A forklift truck accident claim is not limited to the counterbalance truck most people picture. The same duties apply across the machines you find on a working site, and the questions a claim asks do not change with the machine.
Counterbalance forklift trucks
The standard warehouse and yard truck, and the machine most people mean when they say forklift.
Reach trucks and order pickers
Used in narrow aisles and at height, where racking collisions and falls from the platform are the usual problems.
Telehandlers
Telescopic handlers on construction sites and farms. They are lifting equipment in the same way, so LOLER and PUWER apply and the thorough examination duty applies.
Pallet trucks and stackers
Powered and manual. Low speed does not mean low risk: a loaded pallet truck is heavy enough to cause serious foot and ankle injuries.
There is no such thing as a forklift licence in the way there is a driving licence. What the law requires is training that is adequate for the truck, the load and the site, and a certificate from years ago on a different machine may not be adequate at all. Refresher training and familiarisation on the specific truck are part of what the HSE expects.
Can you be sacked for making a forklift accident claim?
Start with the money, because it is usually the real worry. The compensation comes from your employer’s insurance, not out of the business. Employers have to carry employers’ liability insurance for exactly this, so a claim does not take money from the company or from your colleagues.
On the job itself, the honest answer is more useful than a flat promise. There is strong protection where you raised a health and safety concern. Under section 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 a dismissal is automatically unfair if the reason is that you brought circumstances you reasonably believed were harmful to health or safety to your employer’s attention by reasonable means, or that you left or refused to return to a place of serious and imminent danger, or took appropriate steps to protect yourself or others. For a section 100 dismissal there is no minimum length of service, where ordinary unfair dismissal normally needs two years.
If you are dismissed or treated badly after an accident or after raising a safety concern, that is a separate employment matter with its own, much shorter deadline, and it needs its own advice quickly. Tell us if it has happened and we will say so plainly rather than leaving it inside the injury claim.
How much compensation for a forklift accident?
A forklift accident can cause serious harm, including crush injuries, fractures, back and spinal injuries, head injuries and, in the most serious cases, amputation. A claim is usually made up of two parts: compensation for the injury itself, and compensation for the financial impact.
Forklift accident compensation is worked out from those two parts together, so two people with the same diagnosis can end up in very different positions depending on their age, their trade and whether they can go back to the work they did before.
- Pain, suffering and the effect on your daily life
- Lost earnings, now and in the future
- Treatment, rehabilitation and travel costs
- Care, support and home adaptations if needed
The injury itself is valued against the Judicial College Guidelines, which set severity brackets that courts and insurers both work from. They are now in their 18th edition, published on 9 April 2026. We have not reproduced bracket figures here, because the figures are revised with each edition and many of the tables circulating online are taken from superseded ones.
Every claim is assessed individually. Your solicitor will explain what your claim may be worth once an independent medical report sets out how the injury has affected you.
For serious injuries, an interim payment can sometimes be arranged before the claim ends, to help with immediate costs such as lost wages or treatment. Whether that is possible usually depends on whether liability has been admitted.
Was the accident reported, and does it matter if it was not?
The more serious workplace injuries have to be reported by the employer under RIDDOR, generally those causing more than seven days off work or on a set list. In 2024/25 employers reported 59,219 non-fatal injuries to employees that way, while the Labour Force Survey put the number of workers who suffered a non-fatal injury of any kind at around 680,000. The HSE says in terms that employers substantially under-report.
So no, it does not sink your claim if nothing was reported. It is common. What it does mean is that the written trail is thinner, which makes the other evidence above matter more and makes acting quickly more important.
How long do you have to make a forklift accident claim?
The time limit is three years, under section 11 of the Limitation Act 1980, running from the later of the date the cause of action accrued and your date of knowledge. For most forklift accidents those are the same day, because the injury is obvious at the time.
Date of knowledge, defined in section 14, matters where the harm emerged later. A back injury that was put down to a strain and turned out to be a disc injury, or hearing damage, can start the clock when you first knew the injury was significant and attributable to what happened. Knowing whether any of it amounted to negligence in law is expressly irrelevant.
Two exceptions. For a child the three years begin on their 18th birthday, making their 21st birthday the deadline. Where someone lacks the mental capacity to conduct proceedings the limitation period does not run at all while that lasts. The court also has a discretion under section 33 to allow a claim outside the three years where it is equitable to do so.
How much compensation for a forklift accident?
A forklift accident can cause serious harm, including crush injuries, fractures, back and spinal injuries, head injuries and, in the most serious cases, amputation. A claim is usually made up of two parts: compensation for the injury itself, and compensation for the financial impact.
Every claim is assessed individually. Your solicitor will explain what your claim may be worth once an independent medical report sets out how the injury has affected you.
- Pain, suffering and the effect on your daily life
- Lost earnings, now and in the future
- Treatment, rehabilitation and travel costs
- Care, support and home adaptations if needed
For serious injuries, an interim payment can sometimes be arranged before the claim ends, to help with immediate costs such as lost wages or treatment. Your solicitor will explain whether that is possible in your case.
Evidence that supports your claim
Clear evidence helps show how the accident happened and how the injury has affected you. You do not need to gather everything before you get in touch.
We can help.
Not sure what to collect? You do not have to work this out on your own. Tell us what you have, and we can request the accident report, CCTV and records on your behalf.
No Win No Fee forklift accident claims
You can start a forklift accident claim without paying anything upfront. If your claim is unsuccessful, you will not pay a fee for our work, subject to the terms of your agreement.
If your claim succeeds, an agreed success fee is deducted from your compensation. Your solicitor will explain this clearly before you commit to anything.
You will see the full terms in writing before your claim begins.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know before starting your claim.
Can I claim if I was injured by a forklift at work?
Yes, if your employer failed in its duty to keep you reasonably safe, for example through poor training, a faulty truck, or not keeping vehicles and people apart, and that led to your injury. Forklift injury claims are brought against the employer’s insurance, and it does not matter whether you were the operator or on foot nearby.
Who is responsible for a forklift accident?
Usually the employer or the business in charge of the site, because they are responsible for training, maintenance and safe systems of work. Depending on what happened, a contractor, the truck’s owner or a maintenance provider may also share responsibility. You are normally claiming against an organisation and its insurer, and we will identify the right party for you.
Can I get sacked for making a forklift accident claim?
The compensation comes from your employer’s insurance, not from the business. On your job, section 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 makes a dismissal automatically unfair if the reason was that you raised a health and safety concern, with no minimum service needed. If you are dismissed after an accident, get advice quickly, because that is a separate claim with a shorter deadline.
What if the accident was partly my fault?
You may still be able to claim. This is known as contributory negligence, where responsibility is shared. Your compensation can be reduced to reflect your share, but you are not automatically prevented from claiming. Tell us what happened and we will give you a straight view of where you stand.
How much compensation could I receive for a forklift injury?
It depends on how serious the injury is and how it has affected your life, work and finances. Compensation covers the injury itself, plus losses such as lost earnings, treatment and care. We cannot promise a figure, but once an independent medical report is prepared, your solicitor can explain what your claim may be worth.
How long do I have to make a claim?
In most cases you have three years from the date of the accident, or from when you realised your injury was linked to it. For children, the three years usually starts on their 18th birthday. If you are unsure, contact us and we will check whether you are still in time.
Do forklift operators need a licence?
Not a licence in the way a driving licence works. The law requires adequate training under PUWER regulation 9, to the standard the HSE sets out in L117. So a certificate is not a defence on its own, and not having one does not stop you claiming if you were told to drive the truck.
What if the forklift had not had its thorough examination?
That helps your claim. A thorough examination is a legal requirement separate from servicing, at least every twelve months for a truck used to move loads and every six months if it lifts people. Either the report exists or it does not, so there is little for an insurer to argue about.
Can I claim if I was an agency or temporary worker?
Yes. The duties to provide a safe system of work and adequate training apply to agency and temporary staff as well. Which organisation the claim runs against depends on the arrangements on site, and that is for us to work out.
What should I do first after a forklift accident?
Get the injury recorded in the accident book, see a doctor so the injury is in your medical records, and ask in writing for the CCTV to be preserved. Retention periods are often short, so that request is the urgent one.
Check if you can make a claim
Tell us what happened and we will review your details and get back to you. We will explain your options in plain English, with no obligation to go ahead.
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Most forklift accident claims must be started within three years. Tell us what happened and we will explain your options clearly, with no obligation to go ahead.
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