What You Should Do If Injured At Work

Hopefully, you never experience an injury at work. Most companies have strict safety policies in place which are designed to reduce the likelihood of their employees being injured or developing a condition due to their profession. However, no matter how good these policies are, accidents happen. And unfortunately, in many cases, companies are more concerned with the bottom line than actually enforcing safety policies. In either case, it’s important to proceed carefully if you are injured at work to ensure that your worker’s compensation claim is honored.

Report the injury

The first thing you should do any time you suffer an injury at work—no matter how minor—is report the incident. While this seems to go without saying, the truth of the matter is that many employees don’t report their injuries immediately if the injury doesn’t seem to require medical attention at the time. This may seem practical enough, but it’s a problem if you end up needing to file a worker’s compensation claim. Any delay can damage the validity of your claim in the eyes of the court. Always report any accidents which occur on the job, even if you don’t plan to seek medical attention repeatedly. This will create a record of the incident which can be used to validate your claim later on.

One of the more common reasons that worker’s compensation claims are not honored is the fact that the incident was not reported, and the worker only developed symptoms of a serious injury sometime later. When this is the case, the company can then claim that the worker must have injured themselves off the job, since there’s no record of an accident. For example, if a worker falls off of a ladder at work, but only falls a short distance, he may continue working and fail to report the fall. However, he may wake up the next day or the day after with severe back pain. If he didn’t report the initial accident, the company may claim that he injured himself at home and they are not liable for his medical bills, time off of work, or pain and suffering.

See a Worker’s Compensation Doctor

Once the accident has been reported, it’s important for the employee to get medical care. If they need emergency medical care, they should, of course, go to the emergency room. However, after receiving emergency care, it’s critical that the worker visit the practice of a physician that specializes in personal injury and worker’s compensation.

Below is a Colorado based website with lots of local resources on Workers Compensation:

Workers Compensation Doctor Colorado

That’s because a worker’s compensation doctor is aware of the records, paperwork, and procedures required by medical professionals in order for their patients to have a strong worker’s compensation case. While a general practitioner may do a great job of treating the injuries themselves, they are not nearly familiar enough with the legal requirements of a worker’s compensation case to provide their patient with the help they need. Also, workers compensation doctors will frequently allow the patient to cover their bill with medical liens prior to settlement.

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