It doesn’t matter if you work in an office or on a construction site. No matter how safe your workplace appears to be, there’s always the chance of something going wrong and causing an injury.
Believe it or not, there were 3.2 million workplace injuries in 2020. With a number that high, you need to know what to expect if something ever happens to you.
Follow the steps below to get the help you need after an injury at work and not face issues with the insurance company.
See a Doctor if Necessary
After suffering from an accident at work, the number one priority is to get help as soon as possible. You don’t want to wait around when you have an injury. In the worst case, things will worsen, and you’ll suffer more damage.
Get to a doctor as soon as possible. In the case of a severe injury, go to the emergency room to get attention. You can likely handle more minor injuries at an immediate care center.
If you believe you aren’t fit to drive to a doctor, get a ride from someone else. If your injury is bad enough, call an ambulance to get help.
If your injury isn’t that bad, you can tell your supervisor what happened. Just don’t do this at the expense of treating a severe injury.
File an Accident Report
It’s time to file an accident report after taking care of any pressing injuries. There’s a process to do this in most organizations. Reach out to your supervisor to figure out what you need to do.
In most cases, this process means filling out a form and handing it to your human resources department.
One thing to be aware of is that there is a time limit to file an injury report in some locations. Ideally, you’ll do this within a day. But depending on your injury, you may not be able to make it back to the office to file the report.
Make sure you learn how long you have to file, so you don’t miss the deadline. Otherwise, you may not be able to get help handling damages.
Get Evidence
The next step to handling an injury claim at work is to gather whatever evidence you can. The insurance company wants as many details as possible when processing your claim. If you leave out a key detail, it can hurt your chances of getting a settlement.
Here are some essential details you need to know for your claim:
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- Time and date of the accident
- Location of accident
- Cause of accident
- Safety procedures that the employer didn’t follow
- Witnesses
There may be other details specific to your situation, so think of anything you believe is relevant and write it down. You’ll need to include all this information when you start the insurance claim process.
The more information you have on your side, the easier it is to get help.
File an Insurance Claim
It’s time to file a claim with the insurance company after collecting evidence. Luckily, this isn’t hard to do in most cases.
Employers are required by law to have workers’ compensation insurance in most locations. You can file a claim with your employer’s insurance provider to get your settlement.
You can get the forms you need from your boss. Reach out to them to get the insurance forms and anything else you need to file your claim. Spend time looking through every field and fill it out to the best of your ability. Be sure to include every piece of evidence you collected in the previous step.
Once you complete the form, hand it over to your employer. Your boss will submit your insurance claim to their provider to look at. Once your claim gets submitted, it becomes a waiting game.
Track Expenses Over Time
In many injury cases, your expenses don’t only occur right after your accident. Depending on how bad your injury is, you may need medical treatment for some time.
The problem is that the insurance company won’t know about those costs unless you tell them. You need to track all this information to get a settlement that meets your needs.
Keep track of your doctor visits, copays, medical expenses, mileage, and lost wages. You can recover all of this with an insurance claim.
Keep receipts for everything that comes out of pocket. Unless you have proof that these expenses occurred, it can be tough to get compensated for your costs.
Get Your Claim Result
It shouldn’t take long to get your claim result. The government requires insurance companies to give a quick result to your insurance claim. If it takes longer than a few weeks, you can win by default.
You won’t have an issue in most cases. However, there will be times when you don’t get a good settlement amount or get a denied claim.
In cases like this, hiring an injury lawyer is a great option. An injury attorney can look through your case, find things missed by your insurance company, and file an appeal for you.
If you aren’t sure when the best time to hire a lawyer is, make sure you get more info about when it’s time to get legal help.
Don’t Miss a Step When You Suffer From an Injury at Work
You have a lot on the line when you suffer from an injury at work and need medical help to get healthy again. Employers are required to buy workers’ compensation, but that doesn’t mean you’ll always get the help you need. Make sure you follow the steps above to handle the injury process correctly.
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