When you are hurt at work, the first thing that comes to mind is whether you are entitled to compensation or not. You probably wonder whether your specific injury warrants a claim or not. Well, the good news is that you are not alone. Workplace injury claims always raise more questions than answers. The process of asking for compensation is complicated just to say the least. There’s a lot to know concerning it. In essence, the rule of law is that employees should be compensated for work injuries. The question is: which ones?
Slips, trips, and falls
You are eligible to make a claim if you slip, trip, or fall while working. Employers are held responsible for not ensuring health and safety of their staff. They are aware of this responsibility which means when they don’t pay attention to it, they must pay for subsequent injuries accordingly.
Poorly maintained equipment
Unless you fail to report poorly-maintained and defective equipment, you should get financial compensation when you get injured using them. This covers things like forklifts, lathe machines, photocopiers and so much more.
Coworker negligence
You can also claim for an injury that came about because of the negligence of your coworkers. For instance, you touched a livewire thinking it had been turned off by your colleague who forgot to actually power it off.
Unsafe working sites
There are laws that govern the safety of working sites in every country. If your employer ignores them and you get injured along the process, you can file a claim.
Assaults
You are also eligible for an injury claim if you unfairly got assaulted by a coworker as you went about your workplace business. This will hold provided you didn’t initiate the assault in any way.
Toxic substances
If you work in a toxic environment, your employer should provide all the required protective equipment. If he fails to do this and you ingest the toxic substance until you become sick, you are eligible for a claim.
Inadequate training
You can also ask for a claim if you get injured as a result of insufficient training or lack thereof. If say, you chop your toes off using the lathe machine because you weren’t properly trained, your employer should pay you for causing it.
Workplace injury claims go beyond these scenarios. A good accident and injury claim attorney should point you in the right direction and give you more details on what to expect, how to file a claim and all the pieces of evidence required.
