The Telegraph's legal expert, Solicitor Advocate Frank Maguire of Thompsons Solicitors is an expert in employment law and personal injury cases. This week he explains how you might still have a case for compensation, even if the accident that caused your injuries was your own fault.

Fault. It's a funny word. After any mishap, you might well say, "it's all my fault" when that may not be the case. Even if you do feel you were to blame, you might not be in the eyes of the law.

Through our membership of the European Community, which holds Health & Safety in very high esteem, we have very strict laws to ensure that workplaces are safe.

In certain circumstances those regulations place an absolute duty on an employer.

That means that if there is legislation, the employer must comply with it to make the workplace safe. If he does not then apart from any criminal proceedings he will be legally obliged to pay compensation if there is an accident. .

That is the case, no matter what anyone thinks about who is at fault or where the blame may lie.

In short, where the legislation applies, if there is an accident there is automatically fault on the part of the employer.

One example is the legislation around work equipment.

If an accident arises from a faulty piece of work equipment then the injured party will be entitled to compensation no matter how they may have acted at the time of the accident.

Another relates to what the legislation calls "dangerous parts of machinery". That is a saw blade, or the like.

An employer must at all times guard such dangerous parts of machinery. If they do not, and there is an accident, no matter what the conduct of the employee, the employer is legally at fault.

Accordingly, if you have had an accident and you are thinking "its all my fault" it may be that nothing could be further from the truth.

My advice is: always speak to a lawyer, just to check. It won't take long and you may be surprised by the result.