Accidents are inevitable, regardless of your profession; however, if you hurt yourself while at work, you should get some medical and monetary compensation, depending on the dent’s severity. So, what do you do when this happens? Who do you inform, and at what point do you make this move?
Whether you’re a victim of workplace accidents or not, here are a few things to remember when dealing with such a situation.
What Is a Workplace Accident?
A workplace injury is a mishap that takes place and harms an individual while at work. This accident must be unintended for it to be classified under this category. Traffic accidents while using company transport, unexpected accidents at your workplace even when not performing work duties, and work-triggered medical conditions such as heart diseases are the main classifications of workplace accidents.
Dangerous occurrences and occupational diseases also fall under the umbrella of workplace accidents and accidents that take place as a result of unsafe acts or work conditions at your place of work.
What Should You Do in Case You Have One?
If you have an accident at work, you should immediately report the incident to your supervisor. Of course, you need to seek first aid services to ascertain the severity of the injuries. And if you don’t manage to treat the wound with first aid, you should seek medical attention.
Request the first aid attendant to give you a medical report of your condition before leaving for the hospital. For memory’s sake, write down an account of events that led to the accident immediately after you’re in a position to do this. This will come in handy when you’re filling out the worker’s injury report form.
Who And When Should You Inform About the Accident?
It would help if you informed several relevant individuals about this incident as soon as it happens. However, you must report this case to your employer and the supervisor in charge immediately after it happens. You should also mention this incident to the labour program within the first 24 hours if there were any fatalities. Scenarios the labour program considers to be fatalities include:
- Death
- Disability injuries on more than one employee
- Partial or total loss of use of a limb
- Loss or impairment of a body function
- When there’s an explosion
- Boiler and pressurized vessel-induced fires
- Damaged or unusable elevatable device resulting from free-falling
- Exposure to toxic material that results in an employee losing consciousness
- Loss of consciousness through an electric shock
What Will You Get Once You Inform Relevant Parties About It?
Once you report the incident to the necessary persons, you will await an investigation on the matter. The employer must appoint a qualified person to conduct this investigation in the presence of a workplace health and safety committee or health and safety representative.
The employer must also fulfill particular requirements to aid the completion of the investigation. You should receive compensation from your employer for the injuries, especially if you take time off. If an employee dies due to a workplace injury, their family members also receive compensation.
Cost, Validity, And Processing Time
Sending a workplace injury report costs no money. Affected individuals only have an account on the Canadian employment social development health website to access the application form. Depending on how complicated the incident was, it may take up to 12 months to complete the claim.
The compensation is valid until the injured persons can return to work, but in the case of death, affected members receive compensation in a lump sum.
