It is not some something that most of us won’t want to think about but accidents at work are an occurrence that takes place with worrying regularity and it is always important that you understand what you need to do should something like this take place.
Accidents at work can have a great deal of consequences for the person involved, aside from potential physical injuries, it has the potential to cause loss of work, legal issues as well as other emotional issues such as lack of confidence in the workplace. Should an accident happen when you are at work, and it is not your fault, make sure that you follow these steps.
Medical Care
It goes without saying that you should receive medical care right away if the injury is severe, however even if you don’t feel as though you are particularly hurt, you should still get the once over as soon as you can. There are many injuries which may not be apparent instantly after a workplace accident and the most common accidents are slips and trips which usually cause injuries that you won’t feel for a few days. Make sure that you get checked over by a medical professional for things like concussion and whiplash, and get a note from the doctor detailing any problems.
Accident Book
Under health and safety law, all workplaces are required to have an accident book for any incidents which take place. If you are up to it after your accident, you need to fill in the details of your accident in this book. If you are not in a position to fill it in straight away, try to do so at your earliest possible convenience. To support your story of events, you should try and speak to anyone who witnessed what happened and ask them to fill out a short statement.
Seek Legal Support
If you are convinced that the accident wasn’t your fault then you should look to get some legal counsel who can make a claim on your behalf against your employer. This is not solely about getting some compensation for what you have been through, it is also about ensuring that accidents like this do not happen to other people as a result of the same existing issues.
If you can find a no win no fee solicitor then this will be the best way for you to proceed as it removes any financial risk on your behalf when pursuing the case. Doing things this way means that you will only pay your lawyer, when you are victorious. In order for you to have the best possible chance of winning a case like this, it is important that you have as much detail as possible about what happened.
Let’s hope that an accident at work is not something that ever happens to you but if it does, simply follow these steps, keep all information possible and then push forward with a suit once you are fit enough to do so.