World Executives Digest | Even in the safest of the environments, workplace injuries are known to happen and if this moment ever arrives, you need to know the optimal course of action you should take in order to be properly compensated. Sometimes, you’ll lose an income and will, therefore, be prevented from working for a certain period of time. In other scenarios, an injury will cause a permanent disability that will affect your ability to keep your current job or prevent you from ever finding another one like it in the same industry. With that in mind and without further ado, it’s vital that you understand what is there to be done in these scenarios.
-
Your well-being is a priority
The first thing you need to understand is that, sometimes, acting immediately may make a huge difference when it comes to your health and wellbeing, potentially even save your life. If you believe that you won’t be able to file an injury report on your own, delegate this task onto someone else and head straight to the ER. Remember, your wellbeing is a priority and putting a procedure before it might become one of the worst decisions that you ever make.
-
Report the injury
The next thing you need to do is report an injury to the person in question. Depending on the state law, you might have to report an injury as soon as possible or as soon as practically possible. Sure, it doesn’t make sense to go and file a report while you’re bleeding to death or in a scenario where you can’t feel your legs, which is why most states give you a deadline of 10 to 90 days to file a report. The sooner you do it, the better, seeing as how, later on, it might be more difficult to prove that the injury indeed did happen in the line of duty.
-
Gather the evidence
The next thing you need to do is start gathering evidence. First, you have the above-listed report. Second, you have the hospital admittance form. Here, you’ll have the exact time and date of your admittance in writing. Third, what you need to do is talk to people in your workplace and check if there was anyone there at the moment of the accident. Their statement in the written form may be all the evidence that you need and combined with all the rest above-listed, will make your case ironclad.
-
Contact a lawyer
After you have all of this, what you need to do is contact a veteran compensation lawyer and ask about the ideal future course of action. While your employer might be conscientious and fair, there are a lot of entrepreneurs out there who would rather push all of this under the rug and pretend if it never happened. All that has transpired might have been their fault, which means that they should bear the responsibility. After all, you’re not asking for anything more than is your rightful due. A skilled legal expert can help you get it.
-
File a claim
Once you’ve gathered all the evidence, got acquainted with the case that you have at hand and gathered all the legal counsel you need, it’s time to file an official claim. For this, it’s incredibly important that you understand whether or not you’re eligible to file for a workplace injury claim. A slip, trip and fall are, by far, the most common problem in the workplace, yet, falling objects, dangerous practices and procedures or defective equipment can be just as dangerous. Lastly, there’s the issue of an assault at work, which is both possible and unpredictable.
-
Prevent further injuries
Finally, it’s your responsibility to protect others from suffering from the same injury you did, which is yet another reason why this problem absolutely has to be reported. Think about it, even if your injury wasn’t that great, there’s no guarantee that the outcome won’t be much worse the next time around. That being said, every subsequent injury is on your own conscience, which is why you shouldn’t rest until the problem is fixed. Of course, there are some injuries that can never be averted, yet, if there’s an obvious problem, you need to do all that’s in your power that your employer tends to it.
Conclusion
The biggest problem with sticking to this plan lies in the fact that, at the moment, you might be in too much of dismay to act according to plan. Still, the law usually considers these circumstances and gives you a chance to act properly at a later date. Keeping it together will not be easy but it is something that you must do.
—
The Author
Dan Radak is a marketing professional with eleven years of experience. He is a coauthor on several websites and regular contributor to BizzMark Blog. Currently, he is working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies.
