Employers have a responsibility of ensuring a sound and safe working environment for their workers. If this does not happen, then your rights, as a worker will be violated and any harm that befalls you from this negligence will deserve compensation.
Workplace injuries are not uncommon because ambition takes the better part of the judgment for many business owners who push their workers a bit too hard. On other occasions, lack of adequate workplace safety is to be blamed.
Workers have their rights and when those legal rights are not respected, they can sue their employer. If you plan on seeking fair compensation for your losses, don’t delay calling a workers comp attorney and discussing your case (and the compensation law) with them before anything else.
If you think that workspace liability isn’t much of a big deal, then check out our list of 8 most common work-related injuries in Colorado:
The human body can take only too much before caving in. Being too much under pressure for getting things done fast and not having adequate rest can create not only serious mental anguish for the victims but also lead to physical injuries.
Injuries due to overexertion are a result of straining the muscles and tendons; this sort of damage is common for workers who exert themselves via lifting, pulling, and pushing, i.e warehouse workers. While the risk is always there, such injuries can be avoided by handling no more load than the optimal bearing capacity of the human body.
Wet or slippery surfaces are no jokes, unless there is a clear warning sign, keeping people off such surfaces, the risk of sustaining an injury is very high. The effects will be even worse if the employee was carrying something when the accident happened.
If the pathway was not made of limits with clear signage, the employer will be liable for the damages.
Falling from an elevated place can be potentially fatal, and sadly, you’ll find tons of instances where laborers (such as construction workers) have to work several feet above the ground with minimal protection from a fall.
If things go wrong, which they do a lot more than you think, a fall can even lead to wrongful death.
Another hazard in most workplaces is a lack of safety from loose objects.
Imagine a single brick falling from a height in a construction zone and hitting a laborer on the ground. Gruesome, horrific, unimaginable – while every case may not be so extreme, being injured by a falling object can be fatal, or can cause serious injuries at the very least.
Employees should be offered proper safety training to avoid such instances and adequate safety protocols should be set in place.
A worker may accidentally run into a wall, or a glass pane, or some heavy metallic machinery – poor visibility, or a slip, or lack of barriers can cause such events. In such cases, the injuries may be severe and the worker will be able to sue the employer for not ensuring adequate workplace safety.
If the work involves a transportation component then vehicle-related injuries can also be considered under this canopy. The employer will be liable if the vehicle was not properly maintained, or had some defects, and so on, leading to a car accident and thus injuring the worker.
While working with heavy machinery, the risk of entanglement is ever-present. In most cases, loose clothing gets stuck in the moving parts of the machinery, leading to severe injuries, even amputations, in some cases.
Proper safety training and installing all the necessary safety features can help minimize the risk, the employer must ensure that the workers are not exposed to dangerous conditions.
Repetitive exertion of the muscles without respite can introduce serious muscle strains and cause severe discomfort, perhaps even long-term. Private employers and managers must ensure that all of the workers are adequately rested and not exerted beyond human capacity.
How do you seek compensation benefits for job injury liability if you’ve sustained damages and are certain that this was because of negligence on part of the management?
Firstly, you’ll need evidence suggesting that the incident did indeed happen.
Photographs of your injuries, the incident scene, and perhaps a video will be appropriate here, be sure you cover everything through these. Also, you’ll need eyewitness testimonies, if possible, to support your compensation claim – your coworkers are very likely to be willing to cooperate.
Then, you’ll have to seek medical care as soon as possible.
You must establish that your injuries caused you serious bodily harm and the only way to do so is to get it on the record. When a medical provider diagnoses your condition, they’ll mention the details in their report – this is another piece of valuable evidence.
Most probably, by this time, you might get a call from either your company directly or from the compensation insurance company representing, or from their lawyer. They will try to settle matters with a nominal payout; be polite, but just don’t go on nodding to everything they say.
Instead, you should contact your own compensation lawyer and share the case details with them.
By now, you will already have lots of documented evidence such as your bills for medical costs, a record of lost wages, proof of extra expenses necessitated by the incident, and a journal describing your pain and suffering after the accident.
Also, keep your medical records at hand to prove that your injuries were not complicated by pre-existing conditions.
Your lawyer will take a good look at the details of your case, be completely truthful with them, and don’t hide any details – a workers compensation attorney must know everything.
As for the compensation part, you can either proceed with settlement negotiations as per the compensation coverage, which is how most work-related accident comp claims are resolved, or you can file a personal injury lawsuit.
Since Colorado is a fault state, personal injury victims can seek financial compensation for their economic and non-economic damages from the responsible party. The employer owes it to their workers to provide them with a safe and sound work environment.
If their negligence causes harm to their workers, then they must face the legal consequences.
Being a workplace injury victim is no easy thing – the enormous pressure from the employer (for not filing the claim) plus the financial and physical toll of the incident itself are all very hard to take. However, you should not hold back, because regardless of your financial conditions, you have rights.
Don’t let anything hold you back from calling the competent team of lawyers at Firouzbakht Law Firm because we are always eager to guide and assist our clients and to win the maximum compensation for their losses without any upfront payments.
PS, personal consultation for your case is free; call us today, and we’ll debrief you further!
