Injury during work time

[suehen]

About 10 years ago our DS had an accident at College it was an enrichment day they call it, for our DS he said at the A&E well this is not what I thought my enrichment day would be. They had been mountain bike riding when in his own words, mum it was my fault was coming down to quick did not notice the rock and hit the rock and went over the handle bars hit another rock and he said he heard a crack, broken collar bone, wrist, and ribs it could have been worst, I got the call from his College he was being airlifted to the nearest hospital with possible head injuries. I arrived at A&E I saw his tutor with his helmet it was in 2 pieces I nearly burst out crying there and then, the poor man looked in shock he just said I sorry we were suppose to be looking after him, after seeing DS I went out to see his tutor to update him and told him this could have happen with us, and it is just an accident and they happen anywhere, any time it took DS a few months to recover its never stopped him riding a bike. The number of people who said we should put in a claim I said no-one at his college had control of his bike and even our DS said no-one was to blame at College they called every few days for an update.

[Lumpy]

First and most important question is did you report the accident/incident at the time through your companies normal accident/incident reporting system. If the injury was not immediately noticable did you report it in a reasonable timeframe e.g. 24 hours. If you did not then I see little point in pursuing a claim as any sensible company would immediately refuse to pay on the grounds the injury was not reported following agreed company procedures.
I work in Health and Safety and have received a number of claims from employees over the years. The first thing myself and our insurance company look at is was the injury reported and if it wasn't we reject the claim. We have never paid out for a claim where the injury was not reported at the time.