Being injured at work can be both confusing and distressing. Your injuries can cause pain and difficulties or bring with them more worries, like how your life and income will be affected.
Therefore, it’s essential to take immediate steps to protect yourself when you sustain an injury at work. You can file a personal injury lawsuit or a workers’ compensation claim to get your deserved settlement.
Here are four steps you should take after being injured at work.
1. Inform your supervisor.
Find your supervisor immediately after you sustain an injury at work and let them know what happened. If you fail to do so, you may not be eligible for employee benefits. Your employer might claim you were injured away from work if you don’t report the accident immediately.
You are required to write a notice to your employer in some states, but others allow verbal notice. However, it’s essential to report any on-the-job injuries in writing to be safe.
2. Seek immediate medical attention.
Get your injuries treated by your workplace first-aider immediately after the accident. After that, get a full assessment of your work injury by a qualified physician or medical practitioner.
While some injuries might initially look minor, they can later develop into something serious. For instance, head injuries can take hours or even weeks to appear fully. In a worst-case scenario, even a slight injury can become a long-lasting condition if you don’t get proper treatment.
When you see a doctor, be sure to let them know that your injury is work-related. Tell them exactly what happened and all your symptoms. The doctor should record everything you tell them and send the report to the worker’s compensation board.
3. File a workers’ compensation claim.
Anyone is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits if injured at work. Workers’ compensation will cover the medical treatment you require to recover from your job-related illness or injury. It will also partly replace the salary or wages you lose while recovering and help you get back to work.
Be sure to hire an experienced attorney to get your claim right. If you injured your hip, a hip injury workers’ compensation lawyer in Pennsylvania can guide you through the complicated process of filing your claim and ensure you get all the benefits you are entitled to. You certainly don’t want to remain within the statute of limitations, so file your case right away to ensure you don’t miss the deadline.
4. Keep track of your expenses.
A personal injury claim might last for some years, so it’s best to record everything you have lost or paid out due to your injuries. Record your losses on a paper, computer, or Smartphone to ensure you don’t miss them out on your claim.
It’s also essential to be able to prove your losses. Therefore, keep any evidence of your losses by taking pictures of your receipts and then sending them to your personal injury lawyer.
Endnote
Getting injured at work can lead to pain that may affect your physical and mental health for months, years, or the rest of your life, in the worst cases. Luckily, there are regulations in place to protect you when you get injured at work. If you are injured at work, follow these steps to build a solid claim and ensure you secure the compensation you deserve.
[Photo by Mikael Blomkvist]
