When Should You Contact a Personal Injury Attorney After Being Hurt on the Job?

How Injury Lawyers Can Help After Work Accidents in Illinois or Indiana

Lots of people in our part of the country earn a living in some of our major industries, where industrial work demands expertise and talent, while providing a good living – along with well-recognized dangers inherent with their worksites. Workers in Illinois and Indiana are employed in some of the most dangerous jobs in the country. Consider the following:

Transportation and warehousing workers had the highest number of worker fatalities in the State of Illinois in the last reporting year of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (“BLS”), with many deaths involving transportation accidents. Almost half of Illinois worker deaths (42%) were the result of transportation-related events.

Likewise, most Indiana worker deaths involved transportation accidents (36.31%) with manufacturing work also being very hazardous in the Hoosier State, with a significant (22%) rise in deaths within the last reporting year.

For more, read Factory Worker Accidents in Indiana and Illinois and Workers in Indiana And Illinois Work in Some of The Most Dangerous Jobs in America.

Fortunately, more workers survive their work accident injuries than perish as a result of their bodily harm. These worker victims and their loved ones will face days, weeks, months, or even permanent life changes as a result of the on-the-job accident.

Any work accident is serious. Getting hurt while on the job is scary and sometimes confusing. It is important for all workers and their families to consider when, and if, they need to contact a personal injury attorney to help them after a workplace accident.

Accordingly, we offer the following:

1. Attorneys Offer Guidance, Shielding, and Support

When a worker victim hurt in a work accident in Illinois or Indiana decides to hire a personal injury attorney, a team is formed between that worker, the worker’s loved ones, the lawyer representing that victim, and the lawyer’s firm as well as experts hired to help decipher the event and determine causation.

Immediately upon forming an official attorney-client relationship, not only does the worker have expert help in seeking justice, but there are practical blessings that provide immediate help to that injured person and those who care for or depend upon that worker. Worker-victims not only have someone to answer their questions, they have someone who acts as a shield that gives them respite from intrusions while they recover and heal.

From simple things like gathering medical records (which can be voluminous) to more complicated things like handling communications with insurance companies, having a legal advocate after a work accident comes with immeasurable benefits just in emotional comfort and stress relief. Let the lawyer take the call, respond to the text, get the info.

For more, read: The Steel Industry is Dangerous: How Can Personal Injury Attorneys Help Steel Workers Hurt on the Job?

2. Serious Work Injuries Often Come With Legal Complexities

When someone suffers a severe injury on the job, like a traumatic amputation; blunt force trauma; brain or spinal cord injury; internal organ damage; or death, there are all sorts of special laws and regulations that come into play immediately. For instance, many serious work injuries have to be reported to state or federal agencies right away by the employer (deaths within 8 hours; hospitalizations within 24 hours). See, 29 CFR §1904.39. There may also be things like police reports if law enforcement was involved, as well as investigative reports filed by federal or state regulators (especially if there is a concern that monetary penalties or fines may be assessed for safety violations).

Having an experienced personal injury attorney representing the worker victim’s interest in making sure that proper reporting has been done, as well as getting copies of all pertinent documentation is helpful.

For more, read: Traumatic Amputations in Industrial Accidents; Blunt Trauma Injuries in Industrial Work Accidents; and Internal Injuries After an Accident Can Be Silent and Deadly.

3. Workers’ Compensation Benefits Can Bring Fast Financial Help

In both Illinois and Indiana, there are state systems that oversee the workers’ compensation benefits paid to injured workers as defined by law. Both Illinois and Indiana require employers to buy special insurance policies that cover employees who are hurt on their worksite.

Each state has very clear statutes that define the benefits available to the worker, as well as how they are to be paid and how they are to be requested. There are deadlines to be met here as set by state law. Fault does not have to be shown by the worker victim for workers’ compensation coverage of their accident. Specific forms and paperwork are required.

Personal injury lawyers licensed to practice in Illinois or Indiana can be very helpful for worker victims and their loved ones in obtaining proper and correct workers’ compensation benefits as fast as possible after the work accident. This is particularly valuable when there are challenges to the workers’ compensation claim based upon things like assertions the injury was not within the course and scope of employment.

For more on workers’ compensation benefits after an on-the-job injury, read 10 Types of Workers Compensation Benefits After a Work Accident in Illinois or Indiana.

4. Third Parties May Be Legally Responsible for the Work Accident

It is unwise for anyone to point the finger in any serious industrial accident and assume what caused the event. Experienced personal injury attorneys, as well as safety advocates like those at Illinois’ renowned National Safety Council, are too well aware that most industrial injuries involve more than one factor that contributed to the work accident and its aftermath. See, The Go-To Source for 100 Years of Safety Facts, published by the National Safety Council.

Having a legal team working with the worker victim allows for an independent, in-depth investigation into the work accident to find all the reasons for what happened. Once this has been completed, the lawyer will be able to apply law to those factual conclusions and confirm if one or more third parties are legally liable for it.

With third-party liability, civil injury claims may be filed on behalf of the worker-victim and their loved ones for damages that are different (and usually greater and more diverse) than the workers’ compensation benefits paid under the employer’s insurance policy.

For more, read: Semi Truck Crash Liability: Third Party Liability in Indiana Truck Accidents; List of Possible Warehouse Third-Party Injury Claims in Chicagoland Work Accidents; and Are There Civil Claims for Damages Against Third-Parties for Your Work Accident?

5. Protecting Legal Rights of the Worker Victim After a Serious Work Accident

The sad truth is that work accident scenes can change within minutes of the injury. And not for the better. Of course, it is vital to protect the site until the worker victim can be given immediate medical care and treatment, as well as making sure the area is safe from hurting anyone else.

However, all too often there is the temptation to change things to protect against liability with those representing the company or the insurance companies. There are also times when people simply disregard or dismiss things that may be evidence of causation.

Was there a missing guard after a machinery accident? Were machines not properly shut off during maintenance (lockout – tagout)? Was there improper housekeeping? Was the worker exposed to dangerous chemicals or hazardous materials? Were there warning labels or signs?

Having a personal injury attorney representing the worker-victim’s interests is critical in the preservation of evidence after a serious work accident in Illinois or Indiana. The lawyer will have experience and knowledge of identification and preservation of things that may support an injury claim, and with the help of an accident reconstruction expert, will know to find and get witness statements; track down machines that may have been repaired; get videos or photos of sites before and after clean up; confirm past similar incidents; determine lack of warning labels or signs; etc.

For more, read: Accident Reconstruction Experts and Injury Claims.

Hiring Personal Injury Lawyer After Work Accident in Illinois or Indiana

It’s a very important decision for anyone suffering after an on-the-job injury in Illinois or Indiana to interview and hire a lawyer to represent their interests. There are a number of able lawyers in both states that are dedicated to helping people hurt while at work, and making sure that justice is done.

We consider it a privilege and an honor to help those who have suffered life-altering injuries as well as their families, where they are all too often hurt in preventable accidents where one or more legal duties of care and safety have been violated or breached. People should not be hurt or killed in accidents that could have been easily prevented if safety duties had been followed.

It is never to early to protect your legal rights or to get the support and help that a legal advocate can offer in a very difficult time. Meeting with a potential legal representative should be a free consultation. There should be no problem with you looking at one or more lawyers to decide who is the best fit for you and your family.

For more, read:

Industrial jobs in Illinois and Indiana are some of the most dangerous workplaces in the country. Work accidents may mean death or permanent life changes to the worker and their loved ones. Please be careful out there!