The critical importance of reporting a work injury right away

On Behalf of | Apr 22, 2019 | Firm News |

Getting hurt at work can ruin your day and completely throw off your schedule. Many people who get hurt at work will immediately take whatever actions they deem necessary to get back into the flow of their jobs as quickly as possible.

That could mean that they avoid seeking medical treatment until after they leave work for the day. It could also result in someone failing to actually report the accident to their employer. Taking time out of your busy schedule to track down someone from human resources or the management team over what seems at first to be a minor incident can feel like a waste of your time.

However, reporting an accident at work when it happens is important in case you ever need workers’ compensation benefits in the future.

The symptoms of an injury may not be immediately obvious

All too often, workers assume that their accident wasn’t a big deal and try to move on with their day, only to later realize that doing so was a profound mistake. The accident that went unreported could actually have caused a serious injury, such as a soft tissue injury or even a brain injury.

The symptoms for these conditions do not always develop right away. Instead, it could take days or even weeks for an injured worker to truly understand the extent of the damage they suffered. Failing to report the accident right away could mean that your employer doesn’t believe you when you eventually do start to develop symptoms.

Complying with reporting rules makes it easier to file a claim

One of the many requirements you must fulfill in order to connect with workers’ compensation benefits in Missouri is timely reporting to your employer, as well as filing your workers’ compensation claim within a reasonable amount of time. If you don’t report the accident to your employer, it will be harder to directly correlate your injury with your accident at work in the future.

Your employer could also do something that hurts your case, such as failing to retain security footage from the day of the accident due to a lack of knowledge about what happened. Timely reporting means that the record of the accident will be as accurate as possible, as human memory tends to become less reliable over time. It also means that you can rely on your employer’s internal records to corroborate your claim of a workplace injury.

Connecting with workers’ compensation benefits, especially if you have an injury with delayed symptoms, can be complex. Sitting down with an attorney to talk about your options is a good first step for many people dealing with a workplace injury.

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Andrew Tarry