George K.
We all do our best to protect ourselves, our colleagues, and our employees from workplace injuries. However, accidents still happen. A piece of equipment could malfunction and hurt a person or one could slip and fall and end up hurt. Employees are entitled to a safe work environment. Personal injury compensations exist to serve this purpose. What would you, therefore, do when your co-worker got hurt while doing their job? Commonly, when such happens, the first procedure would usually be rushing your colleague to the hospital. While it is the best humane action to take, there are several other things you should do sequentially to facilitate their compensation claims:
What Do You Think About Gathering Evidence For the Injury?
Personal injury claims are quite complex. Different companies also have different procedures that should be followed for a compensation claim to be placed by the hurt employee successfully. It is therefore important that you take photos and videos of the environment within which the accident occurred and or the equipment that caused the harm. Remember evidence determines the success or failure of compensation claims. While taking photographs of the defects is important, they are not enough. Ensure you take some photos of the body part of your co-worker that is hurt as this shall constitute basic medical evidence. Take not more than three minutes to take photos as a lot lies ahead of you.
Offer Basic Medical Attention
Whether your co-worker has got burns or cuts, it would help if you offer some first aid as you organize for an ambulance to take them to the hospital if it’s a medical emergency. Once you have offered the basic medical help, you can proceed to report the matter to your company’s management so that they can help you with facilitating medical attention as required. It would be of great importance to ensure the injury is documented by the management of the organization or company. As you do all these, please encourage your co-worker to be thinking about a personal injury claim whether the accident is major or minor. This claim could start as soon as you help your co-worker get to a healthcare provider.
Facilitate Your Co-Worker to Report a Claim
At this point you have no doubts your co-worker suffered injuries while doing their work. You also have helped him/her gather the proper data they need to file a personal injury claim. This process will require you to help your co-worker fill several forms including the illness and hospitalization forms, the medical records release, and the intake forms that shall be served to you by your injury attorney.
The best thing to do after your co-worker has received appropriate medical care is to reach out to their injury lawyer to help out with the legal process. According to one Manning personal injury lawyer, expertise is a determinant of whether or not you will be compensated after a workplace accident. It is, therefore, essential to hire one that has many years of legal experience and one that can handle a variety of personal injury claims. More experienced attorneys will help your co-worker get the greatest and most worthy compensation according to the harm they have suffered at work. The personal injury attorney will also help your co-worker file a lawsuit against the employer or target insurance company if necessary.
Encourage Your Co-Worker to Keep in Touch with the Attorney
Once your co-worker has filled out the required claim forms, then it is upon the claims administrators to ensure your colleague gets appropriate compensation. The administrator will determine whether your colleague will be awarded the compensation and the amount of compensation your co-worker is entitled to thereof. You should thus encourage your colleague to constantly communicate with their compensation attorney. This communication will ensure the attorney has all the information he/she may require to represent your co-worker in a court of law should the need arise. The communication will also ensure the attorney pursues the case to the end especially in scenarios where your colleague’s injury attorney is the no win, no fee attorney. The attorney will be encouraged to follow-up with the compensation administrator for your colleague to be compensated so that he/she also makes some money.
In case accidents occur at the workplace, the procedure of filing a successful personal injury claim becomes a must-know. Consistency is also vital as the procedure is at times tedious and lengthy. The process is better approached sequentially depending on the company claim rules. Of importance also is to ensure your co-worker accesses the most experienced personal injury attorney.
