When you go about your day to day life at work, you might not often think about what would happen if you became injured. Whether you work in an everyday office building with minimal risks, or in a high risk work environment such as a construction site, it is always possible to become injured at work. While there’s no point in stressing about this potential injury in your day to day life, it is crucial that you remain aware of your rights as an employee in the event of an injury.
If you have been injured at work, or you simply want to learn more about the financial consequences of workplace injuries, you have come to the right place. In this article you will find helpful advice on how to deal with workplace injuries, and the next steps you can take.
The Workplace Injury
Workplace injuries take all sorts of forms. Although we might all imagine a typically dramatic scenario including a tragic accident involving life-changing injuries, this is often not the case. Common workplace injuries include:
- Tripping and falling. Tripping and falling can happen in any kind of workplace, and is therefore one of the most common forms of workplace injury.
- Repetitive injuries such as RSI or muscle problems from overworking. RSI is very common in individuals who spend all day every day on a computer; likewise, muscle issues can occur from sitting down for too long without breaks.
- Inhaling poisonous gases and fumes.
- Accidents such as heavy objects falling from high shelves, or collisions of workplace vehicles.
- Hearing problems from loud noise exposure. This is a common injury in manual labor such as construction or factory work.
- Burns or scarring from exposure to dangerous chemicals.
- Being injured by another person, for example in an altercation or misjudgement of distance.
All these, and many more, are viable workplace injuries which should be taken very seriously.
And if you are unaware about how to do that then the click URL and know in details the things you should keep in mind when you face any such incident.
Even if the injury will not have long term health effects, it is still worth considering your next steps if you are injured in the workplace.
Workers’ Compensation
If you are injured at work, there are multiple options ahead of you when it comes to financial compensation. First of all, there is workers’ compensation, better known as ‘Workers’ Comp.’ This form of compensation allows you to receive wages and other financial benefits, in lieu of you taking legal action against your company for creating an unsafe work environment.
Workers’ compensation is a form of insurance that covers most injuries in the workplace. If you are injured and can no longer work, you must complete the necessary paperwork and file an official claim in order to keep being paid while you recover from the injury.
Workers’ compensation comes with all sorts of questions and complications. These are best answered by your human resources representative at work, but here are a couple of key points to know!
- Workers’ compensation claims are actually filed by your employer, not the individual. As an employee, you must immediately inform your employer of the situation as soon as you are injured at work. They will then pass the paperwork for you to fill in, and file the claim to their insurer as soon as possible.
- Workers’ compensation claims can take a long time to be paid if they are disputed by the insurer. This means if the insurer has any issues with your claim, they can refuse to pay out the fees you are asking for. These disputes can take months, even years, to resolve. In the meantime, many employers pay the fees out of pocket – while others leave employees in the cold.
- The amount of workers’ compensation you will receive is calculated using your median salary and the level of injury you have sustained.
Other issues, such as are workers’ comp claims taxable or the specifics of the insurance policy, should be discussed with your employer.
Suing For Damages
If you are unhappy with simply claiming workers’ compensation and wish to sue your company for damages after an injury, you may do so. Workers who are injured due to negligence of the company for which they work can sue using a corporate attorney. This is typically in order to gain a larger financial payout than that of a workers’ comp check.
Suing your company for damages requires time, energy, and crucially, money. Unfortunately, many employees who want to sue for damages refrain from doing so because the expense of hiring lawyers for this kind of case is just too great. Some attorneys work pro bono to represent workers who are suing large companies, but this kind of help is difficult to come by.
If you do go ahead with suing for damages, it is important that you are represented by a strong corporate attorney who can present your case in an impeccable way. Not only this, but you must keep all evidence that your company has engaged in negligent behavior. Without this evidence, your case will not stand.
Some examples of evidence are:
- Photographs of the workplace. If the company that employs you regularly leaves safety measures unchecked, you can take photographs of this in real time. This will prove that your injury was sustained not from a one-off, but from repetitive negligent behavior.
- Documents. This could be incomplete health and safety training certificates or other documents that prove the company has not done their part in keeping you safe.
- Pictures of your injuries. If you sustain visible injuries, photograph these. This will help strengthen your case.
This kind of evidence will all be invaluable when making a case against a large company with many tough corporate lawyers. It is unlikely that you will win a corporate injury case, but it is always worth fighting the fight if you believe you are in the right.
Conclusion
If you have been injured at work or want to know more about this issue, find out just how much workers’ compensation you could be paid today.