Cold Injury Compensation

When serving in colder climates, it is just as important for military personnel to have the correct equipment as it is for those serving in the desert. Not having the right equipment leads to cold injuries and leads to a number of cold injury compensation suits and this is starting to happen more and more often.

Just one example is a 26-year-old soldier, who was discharged after he developed cold injuries due to not being supplied with the equipment suitable for his deployment. The non-freezing injuries caused tissue damage, intolerance to any cold conditions, numbness and pain for the long term, among many others. This was all due to being made to hike in freezing conditions without the correct boots.

After that, he was to attend an appointment at the Cold Injury Clinic but was made to go on another exercise in freezing conditions, again without the correct equipment, before his appointment. This led to his injuries becoming aggravated, which led to more of a claim for cold injury compensation. Even after his appointment, the soldier was made to attend another freezing exercise and this was after he had been told to stay inside for the next three months.

After he was discharged due to his injuries, he was forced to become a delivery driver, on a lower wage; however, his dream was to become a firefighter after his career in the military. This was when he decided to seek information about cold injury compensation. This came under a personal injury claim and the soldier walked away with £160,000 in compensation for the way that he was treated whilst being a member of the armed forces.

It is important for all soldiers and officers to be properly equipped for anything that they need to do. This also means that risk assessments need to be undertaken and the correct care needs to be administered as soon as injuries start to appear. This is something that had not happened in this case and it is not the only one. Too many armed forces personnel will go on a training exercise or deployment without the correct equipment and this just leads to cold injury compensation claims.