The Essential Steps to Take Immediately After an Incident at Work

When most individuals experience an injury at work, their first inclination is to “tough it out” so they don’t have to go through all the “hassle” of reporting it. Unfortunately, the decisions made in the first 60 minutes after an injury, and the actions taken in the days and weeks following that, will determine whether the injured worker gets the care and compensation needed to return to work and life or is left to fend for themselves.

Report It Before Anyone Tells You It “Looks Fine”

Notify your supervisor as soon as you can. Don’t wait until the end of the shift. Not until tomorrow morning. Right away.

Even a slight delay of 24 to 48 hours allows insurance adjusters to claim the injury occurred elsewhere – at home, in the car, at the gym. They don’t have to prove that. They just have to raise enough doubt to stall or dismiss your claim. Reporting the same day eliminates that window almost completely.

When you report, be ready to spell it out. What happened? Where were you? What were you doing? Which part of your body was hurt? Don’t tough it out and make it sound like a scratch. Don’t tell them you’re “probably” okay. The incident report is a legal record whether you like it or not. Tell Human Resources or your supervisor you want a copy of the report, and take a photo of the document with your phone if you can.

Document The Scene Before It Gets Cleaned Up

This is the most frequently missed step, the one that ends up harming workers the most.

Employers have a monetary incentive to solve problems fast. That spill is cleaned up, the broken step is fixed, the missing safety signage is replaced. Once that’s done, the physical evidence of negligence is gone. Your phone camera is the only device between your recollection of events and “we have no record of that condition.”

Photograph everything before you walk away: the floor surface, the equipment, the lighting, any missing guards or warning signs. If other people saw what happened, get their names. Write down what they saw or have them write it down. Do not assume that HR will do this and be on your side – they exist to minimize costs, and their paperwork shows it.

2.8 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses were reported by private industry workers in 2022, a 7.5% increase from the previous year (Bureau of Labor Statistics). That’s not a statistics problem. That’s a documentation problem, a reporting problem, and in many cases, a legal strategy problem.

Know What Type Of Claim You Actually Have

Workers’ compensation and personal injury are two different categories of law. The workers’ comp system, based on the exclusive remedy rule, prevents you in most cases from suing your employer. In exchange for that, you’re guaranteed benefits no matter who was at fault. Easy enough. Unless it’s not just your employer who’s at fault. Many workplace injuries involve a contractor on site, a vehicle, a tool or a piece of equipment that was manufactured by a third party, or some other driver. When a third party is at fault, you likely have a separate personal injury claim that can include money for pain and suffering, which is not recoverable in workers’ comp.

That distinction matters enormously, and it’s where most injured workers leave money on the table. The statonsilber.com team handles exactly these situations – cases where the workers’ comp system alone isn’t the full picture and where the statute of limitations is counting down while the injured worker doesn’t yet know what they’re entitled to.

Get Examined Even When You Feel Okay

Many injuries do not manifest for hours, sometimes days. Soft-tissue injuries, internal bruising, and concussions often will not show symptoms for 24 to 72 hours. A doctor will document a delay in presentation of symptoms. If you cannot document seeing a doctor in a timely manner, the insurance carrier will insist that your injury is not work-related.

If your employer requires that your medical care be with an approved provider, for workers’ compensation purposes for example, then go to that approved provider. If the injury is serious, go to the emergency room. You can sort out the approvals in subsequent visits. Be extremely specific with the doctor. The most important part of your treatment will be the first doctor’s visit. What you don’t mention there the doctor will probably not be aware of, and they won’t document something not said. Write down everything you hurt, even if it seems minor.

Start a symptom diary on the same day. A pain level of one to ten, what activities you cannot do, loss of sleeping hours. Many times an injury isn’t even documented in medical records; the only evidence is “You” saying “You hurt.” A diary will carry great weight in a dispute.

Retaliation Is Real, and It’s Illegal

Unfortunately, in some cases, when an employee files a claim, the employer may respond with very subtle, difficult-to-prove forms of retaliation. They may cut your hours, change your schedule, all of a sudden revoke telecommuting privileges or other accommodations, reassign you to an undesirable location, increase scrutiny of your work, or terminate you using an unrelated reason.

While it’s illegal in most places for an employer to make any adverse changes in an employee’s job status following a workplace injury, they sometimes play dirty in hopes that the employee doesn’t know their rights or won’t have the resources to prove it happened. It’s important to keep a record of everything that changes after you file. This includes your treatment from managers, your schedule, and your job duties.