Accidents in the workplace occur all the time, half of the cases seen in a workplace injury lawsuit are from construction sites only. These accidents can leave a person with serious injuries and losses that are unfathomable, and recovering from the physical and mental scars is just the tip of an iceberg when it comes to accidents in the workplace. But fortunately, this is why some rules and regulations were set in place by the US government and as a result, can offer workers’ compensation to the casualty of an accident.
What even is workers’ compensation? Am I eligible?
Since the workers’ compensation claim is the most common legal remedy for victims of workplace accidents, it’s prevalence is second to none in the US. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Nearly 2.9 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses were reported in 2015 by the private industry. Their calculations suggest that 3 workers comp claims are filed for every 100 full-time workers.”
It’s a type of insurance carried by every tax-paying US citizen which they can file as a claim with the help of a good occupational injury lawyer. While the workers’ compensation claim can be the light you need in a dark tunnel, it has some limitations for the injured workers looking to get the benefits:
- Will need to get medically treated by approved practitioners;
- Can recover a reasonable percentage of the wages they’ve lost, not all of them;
- Can’t get compensated for any mental damage the accident has left them with.
What kind of accidents does a workplace injury case see?
There are almost a million workplace injury cases filed per year in the US, these cases consist of many different type of injuries and accidents like:
- Accidents: An individual filing a claim for workers’ compensation after going through an accident, like falling from a height or getting injured by lifting a heavy object are known as workplace accident cases and are seen most commonly.
- Disabilities: Injuries caused by accidents in the workplace, leaving the offended individual disabled, no matter how you use that term, is a significant example of a workplace injury case.
- Mental damage: Damage to the brain after an accident in the workplace can make up for a solid workers’ compensation claim. Getting injured psychologically is not easy to recover from, but getting compensated for such damages can make the recovery faster and easier. Even working in environments that drain a person mentally can be a good case against the employer as it causes a person to mentally shut down.
- Illnesses/Diseases: Many workplaces have people who clean the place and take care of the hygiene, this hygiene can be disturbed by chemicals that aren’t necessarily advertised to be harmful. Exposure to chemicals and substances like these can cause a toxic atmosphere and can cause serious diseases, like lung cancer and poisoning from radiation.
The offended individuals of a workplace accident can always file for workers’ compensation, but if they die because of the injury or illness caused by the incident, their family can file a survivors’ benefits claim.