August 15, 2011. Bill Szydlowski
credit: Senator Kate LundyIt’s standard that all workplaces have safety equipments in place. And since prevention is better than cure, all working conditions should be kept safe at all times to prevent any untoward accidents to the workers.
The thing is, even in the most non-threatening working environments, mishaps can still happen once in a while. These mishaps can vary according to the degree of damage they bring to the worker – the luckier ones get away with barely a scratch. But no matter how serious the injury, workers should know that they are entitled to work injury compensation claims whenever they suffer an accident while at work.
First and foremost, if you encounter an accident at work, inform your supervisor right away. This way, the company’s physician can take a look at your condition right away. He or she can also grant you a sick leave to give you time to recover. Alarming your superiors also serves one important purpose: it allows them to work on what caused your accident therefore ensuring that your co-workers will not fall for the same accident, preventing injuries to others.
Sometimes, injuries can be a bit severe that you will need hospitalization. This can be quite costly but the law provides that the company should cover these for you. That is why your supervisor should be made known of every detail of the accident as it is him or her that will work your on claims. Regularly communicating with your supervisor about your claim will surely help your cause. The common practice is that after being filed, your statements will be investigated. Your medical condition will also be looked into to make sure that your injuries are congruent to your statements.
You should expect the whole process of claiming compensation for personal injuries to take about a week or so for completion. If you feel that the decision is biased – disapproval has no grounds, or the compensation is not enough despite being approved – you should get a lawyer to defend you. Most claims are not approved for some reasons and you should always bear them in mind. For instance, insufficient or inappropriate details can make your case unapprovable. If the accident happened because of your own doing, don’t expect the company to approve your claims as well.
The law states that every worker should get compensation regardless of anyone’s fault as long as the injury happened in the workplace. A few things may affect the decisions sometimes but as long as you follow protocol in getting you compensation claims, you will surely be rewarded in the end.
Updated August 15, 2011. Published April 19, 2011. Bill Szydlowski
