Imagine a scenario where you are at your place of work. You are doing your job as you do every day when you unfortunately suffer an injury. It is significant enough of an injury that concerns about how to handle it flood your mind. It may keep you from performing your daily responsibilities at work. If you cannot work, how are you going to make money? How are you going to provide for your family?
This scenario happens to thousands of people every year. Fortunately, there is a way to make the best of a bad situation. Workers’ compensation benefits are available for people that suffer injuries on the job. These benefits can make the recovery process much smoother and allow you to stay financially stable while you are away from work. That said, you need to know how to properly approach a workplace injury to ensure that you receive these benefits.
Seek medical attention
Seeking medical attention is the very first thing you need to do after suffering an injury at work. This may sound obvious, but plenty of people ignore the injury out of fear of losing their job or they believe that it is not that big of an issue. Simply put, if you hurt yourself on the job, make sure you see a medical professional immediately.
This is important for a couple of reasons. Naturally, you want to understand how severe the injury is and how to proceed moving forward. You want to heal and begin the recovery process as soon as possible. Additionally, seeing a doctor creates a record of what happened. This documentation is extremely important because it shows a timeline of your injury and offers tangible evidence. Make sure to follow the instructions of your doctor to ensure that you will receive workers’ compensation benefits.
Report the injury to a supervisor
After you receive proper medical attention, your next move should be to report the injury to your supervisor. This part of the process is crucial. In Virginia, you only have 30 days from the date the accident occurred to notify your employer. Failing to do so will disqualify you from receiving benefits.
Even if you do not believe the injury is severe, make sure to make your supervisor aware of what happened. It is better to be safe than sorry.
Keep an organized record
It is very important that you do not allow anything to slip through the cracks. A small mistake or a missed deadline can disqualify you from receiving benefits. Keeping an organized record of everything you do from the moment the injury occurred will ensure that you receive the benefits you deserve. Anything from interviews from people who witnessed the accident to the documents you received from your doctor are important for providing proof of what occurred.