What Can We Do When Injured at Work?
When you suffer an injury at work, it can be difficult to know what to do next. A worker’s compensation lawyer can help you navigate the system in your state and ensure that you get the benefits you deserve while letting you focus on recovering from your injury. More than 337 million work accidents occur worldwide each year. Another 2.3 million people die each year from work accidents and occupational diseases. Workplace injuries are common but sometimes preventable.
If you’re working and suffer an injury on the job, you might be concerned about how to deal with the situation. Thankfully, there are several steps you can take to ensure that your recovery process goes as smoothly as possible and that you get the help you need to get back on your feet after an injury at work.
Nobody wants to think that they could be injured on the job. But it’s good to know how to protect yourself physically, financially, and legally in the event of an injury, especially if you’ve already been injured. If you’ve been injured at work and want to know what you should do next, this article will give you everything you need to know to make the most of your situation and regain your health as quickly as possible!
What to Do When You Get Injured at Work?
If you become ill or injured at work, it is vital that you:
- Seek medical attention immediately. If necessary, call an ambulance or other transportation to go to a doctor’s office or hospital. Your employer is obliged to pay for such transportation, do not hesitate to ask for the appropriate help, even if you do not have health insurance.
- Tell your doctor immediately that your injury or illness is work-related. Obtain a certificate from your doctor stating that the injuries or illnesses occurred while you were performing your job duties.
- Follow all the doctor’s instructions to help your full recovery. Do not let your medical care stop, go to each appointment and take the medication and other instructions are given.
- Follow your workplace protocol and procedures, such as recording the details of the accident or illness in an injury log.
- Call in a team of highly qualified veteran workers’ compensation attorneys
- If you can go back to work, follow all return-to-work procedures that your company may have.
- Understand and follow all the rules of the workers’ compensation company. If you violate any part of them, you may lose some of your benefits.
Who is Eligible for Worker’s Compensation?
First, you must be a worker—that is, you must be an employee of someone else. This means that self-employed individuals are generally not eligible for worker’s compensation, though there are exceptions.
For example, if your injury occurred while working for a client or customer on a temporary basis, you may still be able to get compensation. Second, your injury must have been caused by an accident or illness that occurred while performing work duties—the catch here is that some states define work more broadly than others.
How do I Report my Injury?
Reporting your injury to your employer is an important first step when you’re injured on the job. Even if it seems like no one cares, or that reporting an injury will be time-consuming and take away from your workday, you should speak up about any injuries because it could protect your right to worker’s compensation.
It’s a good idea to alert a supervisor of any injuries right away, but in some cases—if you don’t have a supervisor or someone else in authority is involved with causing your injury—it may be a good idea to file a report directly with HR or even management.
Reporting work injuries immediately will make sure that people know what happened.
What are Some Other Questions I Need to Ask My Lawyer?
The last thing you want to do is spend months (or years) doing research on your own, especially if there are others who could help you navigate through what often turns out to be a convoluted legal process.
An experienced worker’s compensation lawyer can take care of all of these details for you—you just need to ask them the right questions first. It’s important to know upfront whether or not there are any caps on monetary damages (and what those caps look like), whether your case will end up in arbitration or go before a jury, and how much time you have after your injury for taking legal action.
Types of Work Accidents & Work-Related Illnesses
There are many things that contribute to or cause work-related illness or injury, including:
- Faulty machinery
- Explosions
- Exposure to toxic chemicals
- Falling objects
- Falls from heights
- Physical overexertion
- Company vehicle accidents
Types of Injury Claims Include
These are the types of injuries on which you should hire a worker’s compensation lawyer to get maximum compensation.
- Back, neck, and shoulder injuries
- Brain and head injuries
- Bone fractures
- Burns
- injuries caused by puncturing, crushing, or crushing
- electrocution
- Exposure to harmful chemicals
- Eye injuries
- Hearing loss
- Loss of limbs
- Mesothelioma
- Scars or disfigurement
- Spinal Cord Injuries
- Wrongful death
Physical evidence and physical witnesses can quickly disappear or fade. Your employer may also try to destroy or eject items that are important to your case.
Hope this article helps you to know what to do if you face a workplace injury. It is better to hire a worker’s compensation lawyer to get your legal rights and read more informative articles Here: