When you are injured at work, you may be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. In Pennsylvania, workers should be compensated when they are disabled by a work-related injury or disease. However, it will help to be informed to increase the chances of your claim being approved. And one of the things to keep in mind is reporting immediately.
Here is why you should do this:
Prove the injury is work-related
When you file a workers’ compensation claim, your employer’s insurance company may state that the injury is not work-related, and in turn, not eligible for compensation. They may have grounds to do this if you take too long to report the injury. For this reason, you should report an injury immediately- before you leave work.
This way, your employer can go to the accident scene and confirm it. Reporting later, after the accident scene has been cleaned or the factor that contributed to your accident has been solved, can pose challenges if the insurer questions if your injury is work-related.
Get witness statements
After reporting the injury, your employer will ask for witnesses to get their statements. When you report immediately, you will know who was around the scene. Besides, they will have fresh memories of what happened. If you wait to report, witnesses may have forgotten crucial details, or one may have left the company, and so on.
Get medical help
You should get immediate medical help when you are injured or when you first discover symptoms of an injury. When you report your injury sooner, you will get medical help, preventing the issue from worsening.
Reporting a work-related injury sooner protects your health and claim. It will also help to get legal help to make the right moves.