Key Things To Remember Legally When You Have A Personal Injury At Work

Posted on Feb 6 2018 - 4:59pm by Joanne Reed

When working for a company, there are are always possibilities for being injured. There are minor events that could cause injuries that may cause trouble for both the employee and the employer. A personal injury can be something that involves the employee’s body, morale and spirits. It could affect not only the injured party, but the business as well.

Various people get injured at the workplace and may get confused with the choice of continuing their work or eventually leaving it. Some of the employees are not capable of hiring an attorney to defend themselves. Most do not have the means of regaining what they spent for their hospital bills and their unearned salaries from being out of work.

Defining Personal Injury

Personal injury can be defined as an injury to the physical body, intellect or emotions, as opposed to an injury to property. It could be a wound to your body which could be a tiny scratch or a lesion due to lifting heavy pieces of equipment or even paper cut.

A personal injury may be in the form of:

  • a physical injury, sickness or disease
  • a psychological injury or sickness

A personal injury may result in death.

Some of which could be:

  • an injury at work. This includes illnesses that may be caused by cement, asbestos and other types of materials that may cause harm to the employee.
  • a psychological sickness caused by anxiety that could be aggravated by stress from work or from a traumatic experience or even childhood from harassment at work.
  • an injury that may have caused a car accident or a crime committed by another person
  • an injury created by mishandling of tools
  • a situation of mishandling by the hospital

In most countries, there are remuneration for people who injure themselves at the workplace. This was based from the 19th century labor reforms. During the Industrial Revolution, a lot of workers took on some hazardous jobs that would put their lives in danger. There are unfortunate events where they were injured during their shift and confused on how to handle it.

What does an injured party need to remember?

In resolving matters like this, every injured party needs to remember a few things. These could help them move forward with work and of course, with the injury they had. There are laws that protect the welfare of the employees and the members of the company. One of which is the workers’ compensation law and the personal injury law.

In case you have been suffering from a personal injury or acting on someone’s behalf, there are some actions that you may want to consider.

Here are some of the actions you may consider doing:

But before taking further steps, here are some of the things to remember when you have a personal injury at work.

Recalling how it transpired

Recounting the events in detail about how it happened, where and even who were there is very vital to the filing and calculating the benefits and how much the employee can collect. Some injured people may forget about it easily, but taking notes of the details is essential in the course of the action to be taken.

Consult the Human Resources Department

Filing a complaint about the accident you met or injury you had could be a challenge since it follows a certain process. Getting through the whole process of filing for remuneration or action about the recent injury may require some professional help. This would be from the Human Resources department of the company, local authority in the area or even a government agency that deals with events such as this.

Seek legal help

Another thing that you need to remember is that you can always seek legal help when it comes to personal injuries at the workplace. However, there are important things about seeking professional and legal help when it comes to personal injuries.

Prescription period

For every legal action, there is an equivalent prescription period wherein the complainant must file the action before it expires. Seek help as soon as you can if you want to claim remuneration.

Some cases have a prescription period of up to three years, which mean that for the person to be able to successfully file an action, it should be done within the three years after the injury occured. There are rare times wherein the court decides to prolong the prescription period depending on the case.

Payment for legal action

In filing for a legal action, it may cost a lot especially for the injured party. From paying the professional fees to the hospital expenses, the injured party may have to shoulder a lot in pursuing the action. Consider looking for help in settling the costs and expenses.

About the Author

Joanne Reed has been writing about law and business for almost a decade, and is currently writing her next big law project. She is an avid sports fan and loves watching games if she has free time.