Industrial jobs tend to pay better than retail and office jobs. This is partially because they’re more physically demanding. However, it is also due to the fact that these jobs are much more dangerous than working as a salesperson in the mall. This is why most worker’s compensation claims are due to industrial accidents.
What Is Industrial Accident Compensation?
Industrial accident compensation is worker’s compensation tied to industrial accidents. This is in sharp contrast to more mundane cases like office workers filing claims based on repetitive stress injuries because they didn’t take enough breaks when working on the computer. The costs associated with the claim tend to be higher, too, because of the greater average severity of these cases.
What Are Some of the Most Common Types of Industrial Accidents?
A delivery truck driver may get into a car crash, but the vehicle’s crumple zone and their seat belt offer a fair degree of protection. This is mostly lacking when you get hit by a forklift or your forklift rolls over. Unfortunately, being hit by heavy equipment like this is depressingly common. It can happen in warehouses as well as in factories and on construction sites.
Defective machinery can cause all kinds of problems. For example, excessive pressure in a hydraulic or compressed air system can cause parts to be blown into the air. Now you’re at risk of being hit by something. Defective equipment can injure the operator, whether fingers are crushed in between rollers or hot liquids spill onto someone who lacks protection for that. Or you can get defective tools that simply jump and jerk, cutting the person holding them. In a worst case scenario, the protective guards aren’t in place or aren’t working properly, allowing someone to be injured by a known hazard that others thought were not going to happen.
What Should You Do If You’ve Been in an Industrial Accident?
The first thing you should do after any accident is seek medical attention. Don’t worry about the cost, because worker’s compensation should pay for it. An attorney can force them to pay for it, too. You cannot afford to wait for things to get better. You run the risk of things getting worse. Furthermore, the longer you wait before you seek medical attention, the greater the risk that the physical damage is blamed on something else. For example, you are less likely to win compensation for a back injury caused by lifting a heavy load at work if you tried to make it through a football game with your friends. The fact that you played sports suggests things weren’t bad, and the pain that got worse after the game could now be blamed on the game itself.
It is possible that the next step is hiring an attorney. Knowing when to hire is often crucial to a speedy resolution of your case. If you’re in the hospital due to the severity of the accident, know that you must have legal representation. If it is a moderate case, you may need legal advice. For example, you don’t want to accept a settlement that doesn’t include future medical costs like physical rehabilitation. If the insurance company is slow to make its payments or refuses to pay the bill in full, you need legal representation. If the employer is shifting some of the blame to you, you need legal help.
