How to Protect Your Rights After a Workplace Injury

Suffering a serious injury in the workplace causes emotional anxiety as well as physical pain and temporary or permanent disability. Questions about your medical care and ability to provide for your family are unsettling and may leave you uncertain about your future. Fortunately, Georgia has robust protections in place for employees, not only to minimize the risk of injuries through safety regulations by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), but also through workers’ compensation benefits or a lawsuit against a responsible third party.

The first move toward protecting yourself after a workplace injury is knowing what steps to take and what options are available to you.

Common Types of Workplace Injuries

Some professions carry more inherent risks than others; for instance, the construction and agricultural industries are high-risk, but injuries can occur in any work environment. Even an office worker can be injured in a trip-and-fall accident caused by a dangling power cord. Hospital employees often injure their backs from lifting patients and equipment. Common types of workplace injuries include the following:

• Back and spinal cord injuries
• Neck injuries
• Repetitive motion injuries
• Chemical exposures
• Struck-by injuries (falling shelves and boxes, or struck by construction vehicles)
• Equipment injuries
• Fractures, spinal cord injuries, and traumatic brain injuries from falls from heights
• Soft-tissue injuries from slip-and-fall accidents
• Burn injuries
• Electrocutions
• Accidental amputations

When you’ve suffered an injury in the workplace, it’s critical to take immediate action to protect your rights.

What to Do After an Injury In the Workplace

Protecting your right to compensation requires immediate action after an injury. Unless your injury incapacitates you, you can take the following critical steps beginning at the accident scene:

• First, call 911 or arrange transportation to a hospital, and apply any necessary emergency first aid
• Then, use your cell phone (or ask an uninjured person to use it for you) and photograph any visible injury and the cause of the injury, such as broken equipment, a fallen shelf, or a construction vehicle that hit you
• Notify your immediate supervisor and ask them to fill out an accident report
• Go immediately to a hospital or urgent care facility
• Ask for a complete medical evaluation to document every injury, and then follow your doctor’s orders carefully
• After emergency treatment, be certain to see a doctor from your employer’s list of preferred providers for workers’ compensation for your injury-related medical care
• Notify your employer of the injury in writing as soon as possible

Then, hire a top-rated Atlanta workplace injury lawyer to examine your options for economic recovery while you focus on your physical recovery.

What Are My Legal Options After a Workplace Injury?

Most workplace injury victims file workers’ compensation claims through the state of Georgia. All employers in Georgia with three or more employees are required to have workers’ compensation insurance. A successful claim pays for your necessary medical care and a portion of your income. It also provides disability pay for catastrophic injuries or workplace fatality benefits to family members.

Workers’ compensation insurance protects employers from lawsuits, but if the injury resulted from a third party, such as a contractor, subcontractor, property owner, or driver, you can file a lawsuit. This can provide additional compensation for pain and suffering, which isn’t available through workers’ compensation.

An experienced Atlanta injury lawyer pursues all available options for your financial recovery after a workplace injury so you can focus on your physical recovery.