For as long as I can remember, the legal field has always fascinated me. While my friends watched sitcoms and cartoons, I chose to watch courtroom dramas and real life trials unfold. There was never really any question as to what I wanted to be when I got older. The only profession for me was that of a trial lawyer. Unfortunately, a serious car accident several years ago changed all that. Now, my injuries prevent me from leaving my home most days. However, my love for the law has never went away. While I may not be able to realize my dreams of becoming a trail lawyer, I still wish to help people with their legal problems. That is why I decided to start this blog. It is my hope that the information contained in these pages will help other accident victims like me when filing their personal injury claims.
Workers' compensation is something that is supposed to help employees who were legitimately injured while on the job. If you are a business owner, you hopefully carry workers' compensation insurance to help you mitigate the financial damage that can be done to your business by a claim made by one of your employees. While you likely have no problem making a payment to someone who is a great employee that was injured while performing their job normally, you should still be careful about what you do and say in the immediate aftermath of an accident.
Respond Immediately
As soon as you hear of an injury in the workplace, drop whatever you are doing and get to the site. Offer immediate assistance to the employee and get them to a hospital or doctor if needed. If the employee can later prove in court that their employer was callous or didn't care about one of the employees getting injured, this could reflect badly on you and cost you financially.
Interview Witnesses
After the injured employee has left to see medical care, sit down everyone who was near the accident and get at least a verbal if not a written statement about what happened. If there are security cameras in the facility, inspect them as soon as possible. You want to be able to provide an accurate portrayal of what caused the accident to your insurance provider, and to the judge or jury if it gets that far.
Retrace the Accident Step by Step
After you respond to the scene and talk to the affected employee, interview coworkers who were around the area and review any relevant security footage, you need to sit down and come up with a play by play of what happened that led to the accident. Look for any cases where the employee violated company rules or engaged in an activity that was not safe. Even if you have nothing against this employee personally, you need to make sure that your business is protected from a legal standpoint.
When an injury happens in the workplace, the business owner or manager should respond quickly and render any aid needed, including calling for a medical professional. But after the scene of the accident has calmed down, the business owner should conduct their own investigation into what led to the accident, and make note of any unsafe practices the injured employee might have engaged in. If you feel like it's likely that the employee will file a claim or come after you legally, contact a workers' compensation attorney like Law Office of Leslie S. Shaw immediately.
Share20 February 2015
