What You Should do After a Work-Related Injury
Workplace injuries are possible at any kind of a job. Many of today’s jobs involve environmental hazards that can result in loss of hearing, the creation of allergies, injuries from outdoor weather conditions, respiratory difficulties, and dozens of other medical and physical conditions that impact your lifestyle and ability to function fully and normally. According to one Philadelphia attorney, “One of the most common workplace injuries in offices, of course, is carpal tunnel syndrome, which affects tens of thousands of people each year, decreasing their efficiency and threatening their ability to continue to earn a living.”
Unsafe working conditions have been the bane of working men and women for centuries, and even though the United States leads the world in rules and regulations to protect life and limb when on the job, there are still far too many employees who suffer from work related health issues from injuries sustained on the job.
Safety training
Whether your workplace is an office, a warehouse, a factory, or various outdoor venues, your employer has a legal obligation to see that your are given safety training prior to beginning any work, in order to help you become familiar with potential hazards and how to avoid/prevent them. Never refuse or ignore an invitation from your employer to participate in these classes – and make doubly sure that after you have completed them you are officially certified as having completed them. This is a crucial key if you ever consider filing for workman’s compensation.
Where to go if you’re injured on the job
Another crucial element for employees to remember is that in most states employers are legally obligated to post a list of physicians that you, as an injured employee, must go to for an examination if you intend to file for workman’s compensation. That doesn’t mean you can’t see your regular doctor at all, it means you should also schedule an appointment with a physician listed by your employer – again, this make filing for workman’s compensation much easier and less time-consuming.
Don’t sign on the dotted line!
It’s important to carefully look over any document you are asked to sign when you do go see a doctor suggested by your employer in contemplation of filing for workman’s compensation. If you are at all unsure about what a document means, do not sign it. At this point in your contemplation of filing, you really need to find a competent workman’s compensation lawyer to take up the case for you. While workman’s comp was originally designed for nearly anyone to understand and file for without outside assistance, over the years it has grown in complexity, until today the smart person with a work-related injury will not hesitate to employ an experienced attorney to help make sense of the paperwork and to protect your right as an injured employee.
Never forget that your work-related injury can extend to your family’s well being, too. The stress and strain involved in suddenly losing a paycheck often brings on stress-reduced illness in a spouse and even in children. All this will be taken into account when your lawyer begins negotiating with the workman’s comp people and with your employer. By putting your future into the hands of a competent and experienced attorney you will guarantee much better results for yourself and your loved ones than if you try to ‘go it alone.’