How to Deal with a Workplace Injury

Everyone should feel safe at work, but even if you follow all the correct health and safety procedures when carrying out your daily tasks, sometimes accidents can happen. These might result in minor injuries that won’t do much more than cause mild discomfort, and that will heal within a day or two. However, other scenarios can be more severe, leaving you in a lot of pain, having to take time off work, and could even change your life forever. In these cases, you might feel as though you’re owed some compensation for what happened to you, especially if it was because your employer had failed to create a safe working environment for you. If you are ever injured at work but aren’t sure what to do about it, here are some tips you might find useful.

Treat the Wound

The first thing you must do if you ever get injured at work is, of course, treat the wound. Your employer should have at least one first aid kit on-site that is equipped with band-aids, burn gel, bandages, gauzes, antibacterial wipes, painkillers and anti-inflammatories, and eyewash at the very least. If the injury is too severe to treat with a first aid kit, an ambulance or paramedic must be called immediately to assist and take the injured party to the hospital. 

Record It

Another thing that needs to occur as soon as possible after the injury was sustained is recording it in the Workplace Injury book. Your employers need to keep a record of any accidents and injury that have happened on-site and state how it has been dealt with. If you are the one who is injured, speak to your manager about going through the paperwork with them if they don’t approach you about this themselves. It’s important to do this as if you want to take legal action later or there is a dispute of any kind, there is written evidence that the injury occurred at work, what time it happened, and the circumstances surrounding the event. You might want to make a personal record of this as well, such as taking photos or making a note of the date and time it happened.

Rest

You need to rest after an injury, and if you feel you need to go home because you’re struggling to work, request this from your manager. However, if you are still experiencing pain and discomfort even after a period of rest, the injury might be worse than originally thought, and you should see a doctor to get it checked out properly. 

Legal Action

Finally, if you’re injury has resulted in you having to take time off of work, distress, and high medical bills, and it wasn’t your fault but could have been avoided if your employer had followed health and safety procedures correctly, you should take legal action and try to get some compensation. Contact personal injury attorneys such as Romanucci and Blandin for expert advice and representation. This can help you cover the costs of your medical bills, or any loss of income and hopefully raise awareness to your employer about how they need to make the workplace safer. 

If you have recently been injured at work, you might want to look into whether or not you have a claim, but these are all things to keep in mind if this ever does happen to you so you can take care of yourself properly as well as get the right support you need.