Injuries can happen in an instant while you're at work. If you've suffered an injury on the job, it's crucial to take action right away to protect not only your health but your rights. Following an injury at work, it's important to seek immediate medical attention and legal help. Here's more information about how a workplace injury can worsen if it's not taken care of immediately.

1. Not Consulting a Doctor

If you fail to promptly consult a doctor after getting injured at work, you risk aggravating the injury and prolonging your recovery time. Getting prompt medical care can identify injuries requiring immediate treatment and prevent minor injuries from turning major over time. Don't take a wait-and-see approach with any workplace injuries. Most personal injury law firms out there recommend you get checked out as soon as possible.

2. Ignoring Treatment Guidelines

After your initial exam, your doctor will recommend a treatment plan to promote healing. This may involve medication, therapy, assistive devices like crutches, or restrictions on using the injured body part. If you ignore medical advice and overexert yourself, you may impair the healing process. Closely follow your doctor's treatment instructions to recover as quickly as possible.

3. Not Reporting Injuries

In order to receive workers' compensation benefits for medical bills, lost wages, and permanent disability payments, you must formally report the injury to your employer. Failure to properly document an on-the-job injury could leave you footing huge medical bills yourself. Report even minor mishaps to protect your right to compensation. If you're unsure of how to do so, talk to your human resource department or talk to a law firm that specializes in workers comp or personal injury law.

4. Returning to Work Quickly

If your injury forces you to take time off work to recover, you may be eligible for temporary disability payments to offset lost wages. But you generally must be under a doctor's care and provide updates to your employer. If you try to tough it out at work against medical advice, a judge may later rule you failed to mitigate damages, limiting the lost income benefits you can claim.

5. Not Leaving a Paper Trail

Insurance carriers often deny liability for workplace accidents and fight paying claims. That's why having thorough medical records clearly connecting your injury to a work incident is vital. Gaps in treatment, along with gaps in communicating with your employer, weaken the link between the accident and injury. Stay on top of reporting and appointments.

6. Not Consulting an Attorney

While employers should report injuries themselves, they may fail to do so to keep workers' comp costs down. Don't assume HR has your back. Consult a personal injury law attorney immediately so you fully understand your legal options and have an advocate on your side.

7. Missing Claim Filing Deadlines

In most states, strict statutes of limitations dictate how long after an accident you have to file a workers' compensation claim. Most states require you to file in one to two years. If you miss that deadline, your claim could be tossed out completely. Because these laws vary greatly by state, talking to legal counsel early is key to ensuring you take action in time.

8. Waiting to Ask For Help

To receive full compensation for your losses, including serious medical problems resulting from initial injuries being ignored, you generally must show you sought immediate help. Failing to follow up promptly on warning signs of complications makes it harder to link those issues back to the original accident.

9. Doing it Alone

Navigating post-accident health care, insurance claims, disability payments, employer policies, and return-to-work logistics is complicated. An experienced personal injury law attorney knows the process inside and out, allowing you to focus on recovery, not paperwork. Legal advice is invaluable long before any lawsuit becomes necessary. Consult counsel ASAP after any workplace injury requiring treatment beyond first aid.

Taking swift action if injuries occur at work can seem overwhelming amid pain, insurance hassles, and lost income. However, safeguarding your health and legal rights requires diligently reporting hazards, seeking prompt medical attention, following treatment plans, maintaining detailed records, meeting all claim filing deadlines, and consulting a personal injury law professional at the first hint of trouble. Take workplace injuries seriously from moment one. With smart, early moves, you can protect your case and yourself. According to On The Map Marketing, in the United States, there are about 64,300 personal injury law firms. If you're looking to hire a personal injury law firm to help you, reach out to us at Putnam Lieb Potvin Dailey for a consultation today.