Falls from height compensation claims in Scotland

A fall from height can change your life in a second. One moment you are on a ladder, a scaffold or a loading platform doing your job and the next you are dealing with fractures, hospital stays, lost wages and severe stress. If your fall was caused by someone else's negligence such as an employer who failed to keep you safe, you may be entitled to falls from height compensation. Thompsons acts only for injured people only and we never represent employers or insurers. We handle fall from height claims on a no win no fee basis, which means pursuing what you are owed costs you nothing up front, and nothing at all if the claim does not succeed.

You do not need to have all the answers before you speak to us. Call 0800 0891 331 for a free, no-obligation discussion regarding  your accident, and we will tell you honestly whether you have a claim worth pursuing.

What counts as a fall from height?

A fall from height refers to any fall from one level to a lower level that could cause injury. That includes falls from ladders, stepladders, scaffolding, roofs, vehicles, loading bays, platforms, mezzanine floors and raised walkways. It also covers falls through fragile surfaces, such as a skylight or a roof panel, and falls into openings such as unguarded pits, shafts or excavations.

There is no minimum height in law. People assume a claim only exists if they fell from a great distance, but that is not how the Work at Height Regulations 2005 or the courts approach it. 

A fall from the second rung of a ladder can shatter a wrist or fracture a skull just as can a fall from a roof, and the legal test is the same: Was the fall caused by a failure to take reasonable care for your safety? Some of the most serious injuries we see come from falls of under two metres, because nobody thought the height was dangerous enough to bother with precautions.

If you have been told your fall "wasn't high enough", ignore that advice. It is wrong.

Can I make a fall from height compensation claim?

To bring a fall from height compensation claim under Scots law, three things need to be true. 

1. Someone owed you a duty of care.
2. They breached that duty through negligence.
3. That breach caused your injury. 

In a workplace fall, the duty is almost always your employer's, because every employer in Scotland has a legal obligation to plan work at height properly, provide safe equipment, and train the people using it.
Employees are the most common claimants, but they are not the only ones. Agency workers and self-employed contractors working on someone else's site are also bowed a duty of care by whoever controls that site. This means that a roofer engaged as a subcontractor can still claim against the principal contractor whose scaffold collapsed. Members of the public injured on business premises, in shops, on building sites they were lawfully passing through, or in rented accommodation, can claim against the occupier or landlord responsible for the hazard.

Many people hesitate to take action because they think the fall was partly their own fault. Perhaps you rushed, or you did not clip on your harness that one time. Under Scots law this is called contributory negligence, and it reduces your compensation proportionately rather than wiping out the claim. 

If a court decides you were 25% responsible, you can still recover 75% of the full value. In our experience employers and their insurers lean heavily on contributory negligence arguments to knock money off settlements, which is exactly why you want a claimant-only firm pushing back on your behalf. Thompsons has never acted for an employer or an insurer, so there is no conflict of interest anywhere in the building.

Common causes of falls from height at work

Behind almost every workplace fall sits a decision someone else made, or failed to make. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply across Scotland and set the standard: work at height must be avoided where possible, properly planned where it cannot be avoided, and carried out with the right equipment by trained people. When employers fall short of that standard, the causes tend to look familiar.

• Missing or inadequate guardrails and edge protection on roofs, platforms and scaffolds. Edge protection is the first line of defence, and its absence is one of the clearest breaches of the regulations.
• Defective ladders, or ladders used for jobs they were never designed for. A ladder with a worn foot, or one propped at the wrong angle on uneven ground because nobody provided a tower scaffold, is an accident waiting for a victim.
• Unsafe scaffolding, whether badly erected, overloaded, or altered by someone unqualified. Scaffolds must be inspected regularly and the inspections recorded. Gaps in those records often tell the whole story.
• No harnesses or fall-arrest equipment, or equipment provided without anchor points or training in how to use it. Handing a worker a harness and walking away does not discharge an employer's duty.
• Poor training and supervision. Workers sent up to height without instruction, or left to improvise because a supervisor was elsewhere, are being exposed to risk the law says they should never face.
• Fragile roofing. Falls through skylights and brittle roof sheets kill people every year, and the regulations demand specific precautions, such as crawl boards and warning signage, before anyone goes near a fragile surface.
• No risk assessment, or a risk assessment that gathered dust in a drawer. If the job at height was never assessed, the employer cannot show the work was planned, and that failure sits at the root of the accident.

If any of this sounds like your accident, the responsibility likely sits with your employer, not with you. Employers sometimes tell injured workers that "accidents happen" or that raising a claim will cause trouble. It is unlawful to dismiss or victimise someone for bringing a genuine personal injury claim, and your claim is met by the employer's insurance, not their own pocket.

Common injuries from falls from height

Falls from height are among the most serious workplace accidents in Scotland, and the injuries reflect that. At the less severe end, we see fractured wrists, arms and ankles from instinctively breaking a fall, along with dislocations, ligament damage and soft tissue injuries that can still keep someone off manual work for months.

Further along the spectrum come the injuries that completely change lives. These include head and brain injuries, from concussion through to lasting cognitive impairment. As well as spinal cord injuries, which can mean partial or complete paralysis. Another life changing injury is multiple fractures that require surgery and metalwork. Internal injuries to organs that are not obvious at the scene but become critical hours later. Some falls, sadly, are fatal, and we cover claims for bereaved families further down this page.

It is important to note that the harm is not only physical. Anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder are common after a serious fall, especially when the person has to return to the same kind of work. Psychological injury can be claimed in its own right under Scots law, and we make sure it is assessed properly rather than brushed aside.

Rehabilitation is also important to consider, both for your recovery and for your claim. Physiotherapy, occupational therapy, counselling and specialist pain management can make a real difference to how well you recover, and the cost of that rehabilitation forms part of the compensation we pursue. Where the injury is serious, we work with medical experts to understand your long-term needs before any settlement is agreed, because once a claim settles, it settles for good.

How much compensation for a fall from height?

Compensation in Scotland can be divided into two parts:

1. Solatium: This is the award for the injury itself such as your pain, suffering and the loss of enjoyment of life the injury has caused.
2. Financial losses: This is both past and future losses. This includes lost earnings, reduced earning capacity if you cannot return to your old job, medical and travel expenses, the cost of care and support (including care provided free by family members), equipment, home adaptations and pension losses.

People understandably want a figure, and search for the average payout for a fall. But the honest answer is that averages are close to meaningless, because a claim for a broken wrist that heals in twelve weeks and a claim for a spinal injury that ends a career have almost nothing in common. 

As broad guidance only, a straightforward fracture with a good recovery may attract solatium in the low thousands to around £15,000. Serious fractures with lasting effects can run from £15,000 to £50,000 or beyond. Severe brain and spinal injuries attract awards in the hundreds of thousands, and total claims in catastrophic cases regularly exceed £1 million once lifelong care and lost earnings are included.

Those figures are indicative and absolutely not promises. Every case is valued individually on medical evidence, and the financial-loss element is often larger than the injury award itself, particularly for younger workers facing decades of reduced earnings. This is where the choice of solicitor genuinely affects the outcome. Insurers value claims low as a matter of routine. Our job is to build the evidence that supports the true value and refuse to settle for less. Call 0800 0891 331 and we will give you a realistic view of what your claim is worth, free of charge.

Evidence to support your fall from height claim

Good evidence wins claims, and the best evidence is gathered early. If you can, and only if it is safe and practical, it helps to have:

• An accident book entry: Every workplace should have one, and the entry should be made as soon as possible after the fall. If your employer refused to record it, tell us; that refusal is itself telling.
• The RIDDOR report: Serious workplace falls must be reported to the Health and Safety Executive, and the report is useful evidence of what the employer accepted happened.
• Photographs of the scene: The ladder or scaffold, the missing guardrail, the fragile roof. Conditions get "fixed" quickly after an accident, so pictures taken on the day are gold.
• Names and contact details of witnesses: Colleagues who saw the fall, or who can speak to how the job was normally done, often make the difference in a disputed case.
• Medical records: Attend your GP or A&E even if you initially feel able to shrug the injury off. The record links the injury to the accident.
• Receipts and payslips: Showing your expenses and lost earnings.
• Training records and risk assessments: Which we can compel the employer to produce.

Do not worry if you have little or none of this. A missing accident book entry or a lost photograph does not stop a claim from starting. Once instructed, Thompsons gathers the evidence for you. We recover documents from the employer, trace witnesses, obtain your medical records and instruct independent medical experts. You concentrate on getting better. We do the rest.

How long after a fall can you claim compensation?

In Scotland you generally have three years from the date of the fall to raise a claim, or three years from the date you first connected your injury to the accident if that came later. Miss the deadline and the right to claim is usually lost for good, although the court has a narrow discretion to allow late claims in exceptional circumstances. It is not a discretion anyone should rely on.

There are two main exceptions:

1. Anyone injured before their sixteenth birthday, the three years do not start running until they turn sixteen.
2. Where an injured adult lacks legal capacity, the clock is paused for as long as the incapacity lasts.

Three years sounds like plenty of time but in practice, the sooner you start, the stronger your claim. Scaffolds come down, sites change, witnesses move on and memories blur. Evidence that is easy to secure in the first weeks can be impossible to find two years later.

Once a claim begins, how long it takes to settle depends on the injury. A straightforward fracture claim where the employer admits fault might resolve within months. A serious brain or spinal injury claim takes longer, because settling before your long-term prognosis is clear would risk undervaluing everything that comes after. We will always tell you where your claim stands and what happens next, so the process never feels like a black box.

Claiming for a fatal fall from height

Some falls from height can be fatal, and no amount of compensation puts that right. What a claim can do is remove the financial uncertainty that follows a sudden death and hold the responsible party to account.

Under Scots law, bereaved relatives can claim for the loss of the financial support the deceased provided, for funeral costs, and for what the law calls loss of society: an award recognising grief, the loss of the deceased's companionship and guidance, and the distress caused by their death. Eligible family members typically include a husband, wife or civil partner, a cohabiting partner, children (including accepted stepchildren), parents, and in some circumstances siblings and grandparents. Scots law is more generous than English law in who it recognises here, and the awards Scottish courts make for loss of society reflect that.

A fatal workplace fall may also lead to a fatal accident inquiry, held before a sheriff to establish what happened and what should change. These inquiries can be gruelling for families. We represent and support relatives throughout, making sure their questions are asked and answered.

If you have lost someone to a fall at work, we know a phone call to a law firm is a hard thing to face. We will handle your case with care and at your pace. Call 0800 0891 331 when you feel ready.

No win no fee fall from height claims

Worrying about legal costs after an injury is the last thing anyone needs, and we are dedicated to removing that worry. Thompsons runs fall from height claims on a no win no fee basis. There are no upfront costs and nothing to pay as the case progresses. If the claim does not succeed, you pay us nothing at all.

If the claim wins, a success fee is deducted from your compensation, capped at no more than 20% of your damages. You keep at least 80% of everything recovered, and we explain the figures in plain terms before you sign anything, not after.

The point of no win no fee is simple. It means the strength of your case, not the size of your bank balance, decides whether you can take on an employer's insurer. Those insurers have lawyers on tap. With Thompsons, so do you, and ours only ever act for injured people. We do not take instructions from employers or insurance companies under any circumstances, so you will never wonder whose side we are on.

Start your falls from height compensation claim today

You have read this far because something went wrong that should not have. The next step is one phone call, and it commits you to nothing.

Thompsons is a claimant-only firm. We win more than 90% of the cases we take on, and we recover £1 million every week for clients across Scotland. Our solicitors deal with falls from height compensation claims across the country, from construction sites in Glasgow to warehouses in Aberdeen, and we know how employers and insurers defend these cases because we spend every working day on the opposite side of the table.

Call 0800 0891 331 now for a free, no-obligation consultation, or send us your details through our contact form and we will call you back. We will listen to what happened, tell you honestly whether you have a claim, and if you do, we will fight it on no win no fee terms from the first conversation to the final settlement. Time limits apply, and evidence fades. The sooner you speak to us, the stronger your position.