Personal injury in the workplace - what should I do?

Almost all means of gainful employment come with the inherent risk of either physical or mental personal injury. Even a position as the Head Hugger of Labrador puppies on a holiday resort at the end of a rainbow could be your literal downfall if your employer doesn’t uphold their duty of care in providing unobstructed walkways (uneven flooring, poor lighting, and lack of warning signage can bring about a trip or fall when you least expect it). So, there you are, in your puppy hugger uniform, about to enter the hugging room at hug o’clock, ready to start your day speaking in babyish-drivel to a batch of puppies who will obligingly look lovely and interested, when suddenly, you experience an electric shock from a poorly maintained light switch. This wasn’t in the plan. The puppies shall have to wait. Something has to be done. But what? Let’s take a look at the personal injury at work procedure.

Make your injury known

Nothing can happen in terms of establishing the details of your injury unless the relevant people are informed of what has occurred, which includes contacting a lawyer (as an example visit loncarassociates.com). Your immediate course of action should be to inform your line manager, who will likely log the details in the company’s official accident book. This will only be a brief note, including names, dates, times, locations, and a short description of events, but it is an important step in making sure that your injury claim is believed further down the line (where no record exists, and where CCTV or eye witness testimony are not forthcoming, a signed accident book may be all the evidence you have). 

Gather evidence if you can

Following a personal injury, you will likely require medical treatment, which will no doubt involve departing the premises in search of a hospital, clinic, etc. However, remembering to take even just one picture of the scene as it looked at the time of your injury can be vital. This is because unscrupulous employers may seek to ‘amend’ any evidence in their favour, before making their own records of things as they would prefer them to look, as opposed to how things actually looked. This could mean that improper safety procedures are corrected for the sake of falsifying evidence in a ‘your word against theirs’ battle for justice. A single photo could negate all doubt that you were to blame for your injury.