Taking Action: Reporting Your Workers' Comp Accident

Law Blog

For those injured at work, workers' comp can provide a solution for dealing with medical expenses. Your employer pays for this valuable coverage, but you must do your part to ensure that your claim is approved. While it can be difficult to do the right thing while injured, it's important that your actions be as timely and your responses are as accurate as possible. Read on to learn more about the reporting of your workers' comp injury.

What to understand about injuries at work

Before you can make a report about an injury, it may be helpful to understand how to recognize a work-related injury in the first place. You don't want to just show up at the doctor without taking the correct action because failing to use proper procedures is vital.

For example, you may be surprised at what is considered a workplace injury. It does not necessarily have to happen at work, as long as you are in the act of doing business for your employer. This opens up the possibilities to things like travel for work, work-related training in a nearby city, travel to and from work in a company vehicle and more.

Another frequent gray area concerns injuries that take longer to become apparent, like carpal tunnel syndrome or mental health issues. If the condition can be traced back to work, it is likely covered under workers' comp.

Seek medical treatment

Your first course of action should be to go to the emergency room or see a doctor as soon as possible. Don't put this off, because you could be far more injured than you think. Additionally, failure to seek care could be viewed by the workers' comp carrier as proof that you are not injured badly enough to get benefits. If you have put it off, thinking perhaps that the injury was too minor, don't hesitate to seek treatment if you later have second thoughts. Even a minor cut can become infected and cause serious problems.

Let your supervisor know about the injury or illness

As soon as you know about an issue, you should let your next-in-line supervisor know about it. The rules around reporting are somewhat flexible; in most cases, the reporting can be verbal, by mail, over the phone, by email, etc.

See that the accident report or claim form is filled out

State workers' compensation rules can vary when it comes to who is responsible for filing the reports, but in most cases, it is your supervisor who does it. If your supervisor is completing the form, follow up to ensure that it is filed as soon as possible. Usually, you will need to review the form and sign it before it is submitted. Be sure to look it over carefully; inaccuracies can lead to a claim denial or hold up your benefits.

If you are having problems with any area of getting your claim approved, speak to a workers compensation attorney right away.

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13 March 2018

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