Workplace Accidents - Procedure for Reporting and Claiming Compensation

Workplace accidents need to be reported and documented as soon as possible, before people get a chance to fabricate the delicate details. The more evidences and witnesses gathered, the better your case will stand and more will be the compensation obtained.

Things to do when a workplace accident occurs

Employers need to follow the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) to report a workplace accident. This is a legally binding regulation and helps the health authorities to prevent that kind of accident in future.

You must report any death, injury due to accident at workplace; any work accident injury lasting for more than 3 days should be reported within 10 days, any disease contracted due to workplace environment, any accident involving escape of hazardous material or an averted accident, accident to a non-employee.

There is a time limit for reporting these incidents. The more severe the accident, the sooner it has to be reported. Employee's death or major injury needs to be reported immediately with submission of a written report within 10 days. same applies to in case of a non-employee visiting the premises. Any disease contracted during work cannot be reported immediately and hence usually a slack of 3 years in given.

Any dangerous occurrence demands immediate attention to the employer and a written report within 10 days.

These incidents must be reported to the local health department in case your workplace is a office, wholesale warehouse, retail store, school, vending thorough vehicle, sports, entertainments, hotel and residential job (cook or governess). Employees of these may also contact Incident Contact center. This is a helpline that will direct you to the concerned department without giving you further trouble amongst all the suffering you might be experiencing.

Health and safety executive should be reported of your accident if the accident occurred in a hospital or nursing home, heavy machinery industries, construction sites, etc. Thus, HSE handles reports from large scale production areas.

At the hospital, you must fill out the form relating all the details regarding the accident. Mention the date, time, circumstances as they were. Try not to exaggerate or understate any detail. It might give the defense lawyer to reduce your compensation.

So act wisely and fill out the correct details. In case you are not confident of filling it out all alone, hire a compensation lawyer as soon as possible to help you out. This medical record will act as a substantial evidence of your injuries and their extent of severity.

After you recover considerably from the accident, you can approach a work accident compensation claim lawyer to represent your case. He or she will assess all the reports and medical records to come up with a compensation amount that you should legally be getting from your employers.