Reducing Workplace Injuries
How to make a claim after injury at work? An injury at work is serious business to the person who gets injured but also for the company where it occurs. After any worker’s compensation claim, regulatory authorities may come in and inspect a business for safety concerns and issue fines if deemed necessary. Also, insurance rates for employers can rise given how many claims they may have. Many employers are proactive in reducing workplace injuries thereby lowering worker compensation claims by using education and their own investigation systems to assess work areas to make them safer for their employees. Some of the ways employers do this are:
Examining ergonomics of work areas and workstations.
The study places in which repetitive tasks are involved and consult ergonomic experts as to how to reduce bodily stresses in these workstations. In some cases repetitive tasks are not able to be avoided so reducing the stress is the only option and also requiring breaks or rotation of workers so they are at the task a minimal time as to not overstrain the employee.
‘Medical Ethics’ are becoming ever more prevalent in the national health service, and patient safety is now one of the most important issues hospital staff face in the 21st century. Both ethics and safety work in tandem in institutions such as hospitals, and doctors, nurses, surgeons and indeed specialists now have to deal with preventing accidents.
Modifications to fit the employee.
If a worktable is set at a standard height but the employee assigned to that worktable is much taller or much shorter than most others in that position, employers can work on adjusting that task specifically to that person. This may involve adding a platform to stand on or adding an adjustable table.
Safety training to reduce claims after injury at work.
Employers should hold regular meetings to make their employees aware of workplace dangers, how to avoid injuries and how to report unsafe working conditions or unsafe acts in order to reduce the occurrence of accidents. All employers should encourage this as not every unsafe situation is able to be thought of immediately and often comes about when someone is doing something out of the norm. If you do end up having a workplace injury it is important to report it immediately.
This is for yourself as much as it is for your employer. Your employer should have you fill out an incident report right after the occurrence or as soon after as possible.
What to do Following a Work Accident
If you are unfortunate to have an accident at work, the first thing to do is notify someone and seek medical help. Even if you think there is nothing wrong, it’s best to have a doctor check you out so it is on record that you attended a medical facility following your accident. Ensure you inform the doctor that it is was a work injury. After visiting the doctor, follow their instructions to the letter so as not to jeopardize any claim after injury at work you might need to make – and prevent the possibility of further injuring yourself. If you do happen to aggravate the injury, it will be part of your original claim so be sure to keep accurate records and visit the same doctor each time.
If possible, ensure the area where your accident occurred is safe so no further accidents can take place (or ask someone else to make the area safe). And then ask for the appropriate papers so that your accident and any related injuries are noted down. Be as specific as possible, and tell only the truth. If it results in a claim after injury at work, it may end up being denied simply because you told a little white lie.
Take photos of the area if you can, and note down all relevant details (such as time, date, weather, witnesses, what actually happened and your actions following the accident). Again, be accurate but truthful – don’t fabricate anything with the aim of making it sound more serious than it was. Remember, a work accident could result in a minor injury that could still see you taking time off work, or suffering from a psychological condition.
Above all, remain calm and polite and don’t accuse or threaten anyone in your workplace, even if your accident was a direct result of something someone did or did not do.
Make Sure You Don’t Lose claim after injury at work
If you have suffered some personal injury in the recent past, you must have gone to a doctor to get it treated. As the cost of healthcare rises, more and more people are asserting their rights by seeking compensation for injuries due to someone else’s fault. If you fall in this category, you should make sure that you too fight to get compensated for any hospital bills you might have had to pay, or any compensation you might have lost out on.
To start the proceedings, you will need to hire a lawyer. Most lawyers hired for these cases work on a ‘No Win No Fee’ policy basis, where no fee is charged if you don’t win. You can also get a lawyer who, in addition to ‘No Win No Fee’, will get their payment from the person you are filing the claim against, in the case you win. This means that the person whom you are filing the case against will pay for your medical treatment, lost salary, and your lawyer’s costs.
Once you have a lawyer, they will advise you about your next steps. You will first need to collect evidence and remember in detail all that happened that caused your injury. Talk to the doctor who treated you, and gets all your medical records from him/her so you can show them to the judge when needed. The lawyer will file the necessary paperwork for you and take care of all the legal proceedings. In most cases, the defendant agrees to settle the case out of court. In such cases, you should make sure that you discuss the amount you are being offered with your lawyer, and then decide whether the amount being offered is acceptable to you or not. Your lawyer will also advise you if he/she feels that you can receive more compensation by going through the courts.
Worker’s Compensation Claim – How long can you claim it
A “worker’s compensation claim” is made when you have suffered injuries and loss after an accident that occurred due to the fault of someone else. This claim is basically to help you against any unwanted financial expenses for health care and replacement of anything that was damaged as a result of an accident that occurred because of someone else’s fault.
You can claim for wcompensation up to three years after the accident. If you have not started your claim process within this time, you will not be able to claim any compensation later on. This is because three years is considered a reasonable amount of time to allow victims to recover from their medical injuries and be able enough to start with the proceedings.
There are, however, some exceptions to this rule. If you are under the age of 18 at the time of the accident, you have three years after you turn 21 to start proceedings. This is because you are not considered an adult till you are 18, and thus you will have to wait for your 21st birthday to make the claim. The three years’ time limit, however, does not apply if you suffer from some mental injury as a result of that accident. In fact, in such cases, you are given enough time to recover and then file a case for compensation.
Sometimes, it takes time for victims to realize what injuries they have suffered. For this reason, you are given a three years time in order to realize any injury that you suffered because of that accident. Of course, the time limit can also be overturned at the court’s discretion, which is why it is important to have a good lawyer with experience in this field.
It is a good idea to start proceedings as soon as possible so that you do not have to wait too long for compensation payments. But, in case you are not able to file a claim just after the accident due to any reason, you need not to worry as you have enough time to file it and get your claim after injury at work fulfilled.
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