When you are hurt at work, you may not be thinking clearly because of the pain you are experiencing as well as the overall shock of the situation. However, even if you are having problems thinking, you need to take steps that will help your case if you need to file for workers compensation. As part of these steps, there are two forms of documentation that you need to collect that are essential.
1. Injury or Incident Report Your File with Your Place of Employment
One of the most critical pieces of documentation that you will need to prove that you were hurt at work is your place of employment's injury or incident report. This report not only records your first-hand account of the accident that led to your injuries, but it also lists any witnesses to the incident. And, since you need a supervisor or manager to sign off and file the report, the report becomes an official notification to your company about the accident and the injuries sustained.
However, to be truly effective and useful for your future claim, the report should be filed as soon as possible after the accident, preferably within the first few minutes. If you wait until the next day to fill out an incident report, the company for which you work could come back and say that you were not hurt at work, but rather, the evening of or the morning after the accident.
2. Medical Report and Test Results from the Emergency Room the Day of Your Injury
Another important set of documents that you will need in order to establish a solid foundation on which to lay your compensation claim is the paperwork that comes from the emergency room, which includes medical reports, test results, and doctors' notes. These medical documents will provide you with an unbiased third-party overview of your injuries.
However, for the medical reports to be the most effective, you need to go straight from work to the emergency room, either by ambulance or by a coworker's car. If you wait until after working hours or later that evening to go to the emergency room, your workplace may try to say that your injuries could not have been that serious because you did not get immediate medical attention.
Taking the necessary action to ensure that you have the above documentation can help you lay a firm foundation when you file a claim for compensation. For more information on what other types of documentation you will need, call and schedule a consultation with a workers compensation attorney.
Share
