Most people link ‘workplace accidents’ to heavy duty or construction site or industrial jobs. However, the reality is that accidents can take place in any working environment; including hospitals and clinics, education institutions and places of entertainment.
Understanding work-related accidents
By meaning, an accident is something unforeseen, that has taken place unintentionally. Fortunately, there are laws that protect workers from dangerous working conditions, as well as work-related injuries. Such laws put the employer in check and give them responsibility for any employee-related accident on company property.
It is important for players not to confuse job-related illnesses and job-related accidents. By definition, work-related illnesses happen when an employee suffers from a certain disease, due to exposure to hazardous chemicals or virus while on the job.
What to do after an accident at work.
As an employee, the first thing to do after a work accident is to make a formal report of work accident. to the supervisor. Please, remember for compensation, you have to provide a written notice to your employer, reporting the accident.
Just to be safe and to secure their legal rights, employees should report any injury to the supervisory personnel immediately the accident takes place. In case of unconsciousness, the employee’s close relations can write the report. All serious injuries should be made known to the Incident Contact Centre of the Health and Safety Executive.
Things to include in your formal letter to management are:
- The cause of your accident, as in what triggered the injury? Was it a slide on a slippery floor that had no sign? Was it a road accident during business hours on a business errand? Whether the injury was caused by an electric shock from a faulty socket at work or a machinery cut, you should include it in your report.
- What work you were doing at the time of the accident. It is always good to be specific.
Compensation
Once an accident happens and you have received the necessary medical attention, the next step is to get compensation and protect yourself from future accidents. One way to do an impactful follow up on your financial compensation settlement, using an accident at Work Compensation calculator. If you have been in an accident that was not your fault, the compensation calculator will help in paying for rehabilitation, ongoing medical care and any other bills incurred during that period.
In the unfortunate event that your work accidents has you too injured to report to work, the law entitles you to your statutory sick pay for up to 28 days, since the injury. Once you return to work, talk to your supervisor, just to make sure that necessary measures are taken to ensure that the accident does not happen again.
