3 Things You Should Not Do Following A Workplace Accident
Experiencing a sudden fall or other incident at the workplace that leads to injury can leave you feeling quite disoriented. But what you do and say in the first few minutes or hours after the incident could have legal repercussions for you later on. It's important to keep a clear head as much as possible and choose your words and actions carefully if you want to maintain your rights to a workers compensation payout. Here are a few things you should avoid doing following a workplace injury.
Don't Apologize Even If It's Partially Your Fault
If you sustained an injury that also caused a major mess or damaged company property, your first instinct might be to apologize to your boss, even as you sit there with an injury. But apologizing now could come back to haunt you later. An apology could be viewed as an admission of guilt and your company could use that as an excuse to deny your workers' compensation claim by saying the company is not at fault. Even if you feel partially responsible for the accident, there might have been other factors at play that you are not aware of yet, like a faulty safety mechanism. Keep that in mind when you begin speaking to people after the accident.
Don't Refuse Medical Help
When you are injured in the workplace, your employer will likely call for medical help. If you don't feel especially injured right away, you might try and refuse the help because you don't want to call attention to yourself. But what happens if you wake up the next day with soreness or pain at the site of the injury? The fact that you refused medical help could be used against you on a future workers compensation claim, because it shows that maybe the injury wasn't that serious. Go ahead and let a medical professional help you as much as possible.
Don't File a Claim Without Legal Help
Filling out the forms required for a workers' compensation claim can be complicated if you have never done this before. Even one small mistake on your forms could be enough for your claim to be denied. If you want to make sure you turn in all of your paperwork correctly on the first attempt, you should hire a workers compensation lawyer to double check your documents. Then, if there is a problem going forward, you'll already have a lawyer on your side to help you navigate through what comes next.
After suffering an injury in the workplace, choose your words carefully, be sure to seek medical treatment and don't ever file a workers compensation claim without having an attorney double check your work. Contact a local workers compensation lawyer today for more information.