What To Do When You’ve Been Injured In The Workplace

Every employer has a legal right to protect their employees as much as possible to keep them safe from harm. With proper health and safety measures, and adequate staff training, employers can drastically reduce the number of injuries that occur in their workplace.

Despite employers doing everything they can to keep their staff safe, thousands of workplace injuries occur due to preventable incidents. Negligence, laziness, and incompetence can lead to incidents that result in serious injuries to staff members.

Many workplace injuries are also caused by freak accidents that nobody could have predicted or avoided. Machinery can malfunction, staff can trip over, and workers can sustain repetitive muscle strain injuries. None of these situations are fully preventable and most of the time, they aren’t caused by a single person’s negligence.

What to Do if You’re Injured at Work

Whether you’re injured in an accident or because of somebody else’s actions, there are several steps that you need to take after a workplace injury.

The exact steps might differ based on the unique circumstances of your accident and injury. However, we’re going to cover some general steps below that you should take following an injury at work.

Call for Assistance

When you’ve been injured, the first step should always be to call for assistance. Depending on the severity of your injuries, you might need to call for professional medical help. If you’ve got major bleeding or lacerations, emergency medical services can transport you to the closest hospital for treatment.

Even for minor injuries, it’s important to call one of your colleagues or a manager to your aid. They can bring you a glass of water to prevent you from getting dehydrated and dizzy and grab the first aid kit to wrap up any wounds.

You should always take photos of your injuries and wounds before wrapping them up if you suspect that you’ll end up taking legal action in the future. Your photos will be vital pieces of evidence in court if you’re aiming to call a lawyer at Lamber Goodnow in Denver and sue for your injuries.

Similarly, you should take videos of your injuries and the scene of the accident. As with any photos that you take, videos become crucial pieces of evidence in a court of law when you’re trying to win a legal case and gain compensation for your injuries.

Report The Accident To Your Manager Or Employer

The next step is to report the accident to your manager or employer. This is necessary so that they can keep a record of the accident and follow the relevant procedures and protocols.

You’ll need to provide as many details as possible for your manager or employer about the incident. These details might include what happened leading up to the accident, where it happened, whether or not there were any witnesses, and what you did immediately after the incident.

After providing these details, you may be asked to sign a few documents to agree that these details are correct. Make sure you fully read through every document before you sign it to avoid any issues if you want to take legal action further down the line.

You can also take notes during your meeting with your manager or employer. Any notes that you write can be used as evidence in court and will help your personal injury attorney to build your case if you’re suing.

Note down what you and your employer said in the meeting and what agreement you both came to by the end of the meeting.

Make Sure Your Employer Writes The Incident In The Accident Book

It’s vital that your incident is reported in the accident book at work. Your employer might pressure you into letting your incident go unreported just so they can keep their numbers down. Even if your injuries are only minor, they should be reported.

If your employer refuses to write the incident down in the accident book, you should write a formal email or send a letter to your employer so that there is written evidence. We recommend the former, as email trails can always be traced and your employer can’t delete the email from the ‘sent’ box on your account.

If your employer still refuses to report the accident after you have written to them, you may be able to claim for what is known as constructive dismissal. For this, you’ll need the help of an employment lawyer.

Also, Check – How An Attorney Can Help After a Catastrophic Personal Injury

Get In Touch With A Personal Injury Lawyer

In some cases, you should take legal action after an accident and injury at work. Injuries at work due to somebody else’s negligence, inadequate health and safety training, or a lack of proper equipment could all warrant a legal claim.

To file a legal claim against a person or people, you’ll need to hire a personal injury lawyer. A personal injury attorney will guide you through the process of creating a case and suing those responsible for your injuries.

Your lawyer will work closely with you to gather all of the details of your case. This is where your note-taking skills will come in handy, as your lawyer will use all of the notes that you created during your meetings with your manager or employer.

Your personal injury attorney will also gather physical evidence, if there is any, such as CCTV footage, or photos that you have taken of your injuries or the scene of the accident. They will interview witnesses to strengthen your case as much as possible in the hopes of winning the court case.

Should you win your court case, you will be offered compensation for your injuries. The compensation may cover the costs of your medical bills or financial losses that you have incurred if you’ve not been able to work due to your injuries. The person or people responsible for the accident and injury will be liable for compensation payments.