What to Do After an Accident at Work

If you have been injured in a work-related accident, after receiving treatment for your injuries you will need to consider many things: reporting accident and your injuries, perhaps even make a claim for personal injury compensation. Whatever your injury, the following Dos and Don’ts for work accidents should help you make the right choices whilst you heal.

DO: Make sure your injuries are treated immediately

If you have been injured in an accident at work, you need immediate treatment for your injuries. If you continue to work through the pain you could delay your recovery and even make matters worse in the long run. If there are costs of treatment, such as physiotherapy, you can retrieve it later. Make sure you retain any receipts.

DON’T: Return to work until you are ready.

Many people think they should return to work before they have recovered from their injuries. Usually for fear of losing their jobs or even because they are tired of being at home. Coming back too early can be a big mistake. Your doctor should be able to give you an idea of how long it will take to recover properly from your work accident and is a good idea to make use of that time. If you work while still in the early stages of recovery that can cause further damage to the rest of his body and delay your recovery.

DO: Inform your supervisor or manager

It is vital that you report you accident and injuries to your line-manager as soon as possible.

Employers have a legal obligation to report work-related incidents to the Health and Safety Executive within three days. They can not do this unless you are informed of an accident. After notifying the accident at work, the employer may need to make changes and practices, equipment, or introduce health and safety precautions to prevent similar accidents from happening again. Hence, by reporting your incident, you are ensuring one of your colleagues does not suffer the same type of accident at work.

DON’T: Don’t be afraid to claim compensation.

If you have been injured as a result of an accident at work, and you were not to blame, you may be entitled to compensation. It is your right. If your injury was caused in whole or in part by your employer because they failed fulfilled their duty of care to you, you are legally entitled to compensation. Some people are afraid to claim what is their right for fear of offending their employer or possibly losing their jobs. But it would be an unfair dismissal and should not be a problem.