What should I do if I have an accident at work?

Accidents happen. Sometimes they can be minor, such as accidentally knocking over a drink or scratching a newly painted wall when bringing in a heavy bag of food shopping. Yet there will be times when accidents will have more serious results and, if they took place at work, you may be entitled to receive compensation in certain circumstances.

If this is the case, then you’ll need to ensure you follow a particular process so you can submit a successful claim. Here’s what you should do if you find yourself in this situation:

Examine the injury

It’s crucial to immediately assess the injury that’s occurred, and what appropriate treatment is needed. The type and severity of the injury should be decided at this point. In ideal circumstances, someone who has had first-aid training could look at how serious the injury is and take appropriate action.

Get a workplace incident report form

You should receive these forms to take with you to your doctor. The purpose of these will be to allow your doctor to authorize your return to work, as well as highlight any temporary restrictions that you may have at this point. This will show that both your doctor and your manager have a plan for you during your recovery.

Visit your doctor

Trauma such as neck and back injuries or strains and sprains usually lead to the most time lost – and highest claim costs – so looking for appropriate medical care will prompt you to visit a clinic or a doctor that knows about evidence-based occupational healthcare delivery. Using an established clinic will mean you’ll get the correct and most timely treatment.

You may wish to make a personal injury claim and, if you do, then you should speak with teams such as Brown and Crouppen. Consulting experts in this area of law will help process a claim so you can receive a cash award.

Have a return-to-work program

It can be more difficult for you to return to work the longer you’re away from your role because of your injury. Your employer should put in place a return-to-work or transitional modified job program to give you support with going back to work as safely and swiftly as possible. Your employer may also ask you to give them a doctor’s note and instructions after the visit to your physician.

Prevent any further incidents

Your employer should make sure that accidents similar to yours don’t happen again and to do this they should look at the original cause of the incident. So, if, for example, a company forklift was involved in the incident because there was a blind spot in the warehouse, your employer may add warning signs to alert forklift drivers and may also attach mirrors.

These are just some of the steps that could be involved if you’ve been injured at your workplace. There are others that may be included, but these five points may help you in the future.