What is workers’ compensation?
Workers’ compensation benefits
Workers’ compensation claims process
Do I need an attorney? Common situations
How is a WC settlement determined?
Other topics
Witnesses
When you are injured at work, first look to see if there are any witnesses to the accident. If you don’t know the witness personally, ask for their name so that you can list them on the employer’s accident report. If the witnesses do not want to provide their name, note where the witness was standing at the time of your injury. Even if you can’t provide the name of the witness, a description of what they saw from where they were positioned during your injury serves as helpful evidence and helps the hearing officer determine if your description of the injury is accurate. Make sure you know where you are located in the building, or on the worksite, as well as a the location and address of that site.
Treatment & Reporting
Following the injury, if you need to go to the ER, but are unable to take yourself, do not hesitate to request transportation. If you do not need immediate medical attention, then you should report your injury to the nearest supervisor. Make sure you note the supervisor's name, and request to complete and file an accident report with the supervisor. This will provide written evidence of you efforts to report the injury to your employer.
If the supervisor cannot provide an accident report, or form, to be completed, then request the one from the human resource department and contact HR directly to report your injury to the employer. Inform HR that you were hurt at work, that you need to complete an accident report, and that the supervisor could not provide you with the paperwork. Once again, it is important that you document the names of each individual that you report your work injury to. These types of details, when provided as evidence at a hearing, provide validity to your explanation of how you were injured at work. In other words, the efforts you make to report your injury also prove that you were injured at work as you describe. Hearing officers pay close attention to how injured workers remember not only the manner of the injury but what actions the injured worker took immediately following the injury, including efforts to report the injury.
