Work-related injuries are increasing at an alarming rate. According to the National Safety Council, in the U.S, a worker is injured on the job every seven seconds. While trying to process this fact, one can also conclude that women—who are more fragile than men—are often more prone to workplace injury.
Whether you slip, trip, and fall, suffer from muscle strain while lifting heavy objects at work, or are struck by a falling object, knowing what to do after a workplace injury can save you from many expenses, mistakes, and headaches.
If you are a woman and you sustained a workplace injury, consider taking these steps. But before we go into the steps, let’s look at the common workplace accidents.
Common Workplace Accidents
Workplace accidents are common. They can cause injuries, trauma, disabilities, and sometimes, death. As a woman, understanding the various types of workplace accidents will help in your effort to avoid them.
Let’s begin with the most common.
- Trip, slips, and falls:
Slips, trips, and falls are prevalent in the home and the workplace. Slips, trips, and falls accidents can be mild or severe, depending on the nature of the accident. While these accidents can be attributed to a wet floor, they can also be linked to:
- Tripping hazards left in walkways
- Uneven surfaces
- Icy sidewalks
Slips, trips, and falls can be prevented by being conscious of your surroundings. It is the duty of your employee to ensure that the workplace is safe . Hence, most of the blame falls on them when you sustain injuries due to their negligence.
- Being struck by equipment or falling object:
Women who work in the manufacturing industries are usually prone to accidents due to moving equipment or flying objects. Such accidents are dangerous as they can lead to severe head injuries, traumatic head injuries, severed limbs or fingers, blindness, etc.
- Crashes or collisions
Crashes or collisions are common workplace accidents resulting from driving or working around workplace machinery. For instance, if you are working on the ground in a warehouse, you could get run over or hit by a forklift, service cart, hand trucks, or pallet jacks. Ensure you adhere to protective signs, and wear women’s protective wear to safeguard yourself from crashes and collisions.
Things to do after a Workplace Injury
- Focus on your Injury
If you sustained an injury due to a slip and fall incident, for instance, we advise that you focus on your injury.
First, ensure that you get the necessary first aid treatment in your workplace. Although injuries may seem minor at first, in the worst case, even a minor injury can become full-blown without the right treatment. As such, ensure that the first aid team checks your injuries in your workplace. Later, you can consider visiting the hospital, especially if the injury is severe.
- Report the injury to your employer
Someone in authority has to know about your injury, and that person should be your employer. So after an accident, notify your manager or supervisor.
Of course, you may decide not to do this the day you sustained the injury. As stated earlier, your focus should be on getting appropriate treatment. However, ensure you notify your manager within 30 days of your accident. If you forget or decide to ignore this, you may not be eligible for benefits.
- File a claim
After gathering evidence, informing your boss about your accident and getting the appropriate treatment for your injuries, you can submit your claim for workers’ compensation benefits. Ensure you submit the claim in time to remain eligible.
As a woman, your employer may decide to play a fast one on you to avoid paying you the compensation you deserve. Ensure you call a personal injury lawyer today if you run into any trouble or need legal help. A personal injury lawyer can protect your legal rights while ensuring that you get the compensation you deserve.
- Evidence matters
Evidence is crucial in any case. It helps in reinforcing your claim that an accident happened. You’ll need to tender proof if you intend on making a compensation claim due to the injuries sustained at work. Plus, you’ll need evidence if your superiors decide not to believe you or feel you want to play a fast one on them.
So how do you get evidence? It isn’t hard. You have to put yourself in the shoes of detective Sherlock Holmes.
You can gather evidence with your phone by taking pictures and videos of the accident location, including your injuries. Ensure the pictures and videos are clear, detailed, and good quality.
- Seek medical care
After a workplace accident, it is essential you get your injuries checked and treated. While it makes sense to get first aid in the office, ensure you visit the hospital for proper treatment by a medical practitioner.
Visiting a hospital after a workplace accident can help you in two ways. First off, it can help you get the treatment you need to heal. Secondly, visiting a hospital will lead to creating medical records, which can come in handy should a dispute arise between your employer’s insurance company regarding where you sustained your injuries.
Conclusion
Many women don’t know what to do after a workplace injury. Some don’t even know their rights when it comes to workplace injury, while others jeopardize their chances of getting compensated after sustaining a workplace injury. All these boil down to ignorance. Ensure you follow the steps above if you get injured in your workplace. Contact an injury lawyer if you need legal help, or clarification.
This is a Sponsored Post – the author has requested this post be shared on WE Magazine for Women and WE were compensated for sharing.
The views expressed in this article are strictly those of the writer. We magazine does not make any guarantees about the results of taking any action recommended in this article. The goal of We Magazine is to provide educational and informational resources that are intended to help our readers succeed in their online business and otherwise. Any action you take as a result of the content contained in this post is at your own risk.
