More accidents resulting in injury happen at work than anywhere else. In fact, almost half of accidents that result in injury happen in the workplace. However, it may be difficult for employees to bring a claim for compensation if a work injury has occurred.

Many work injury victims are afraid of the possible repercussions if they take their employer to court. Generally, these fears are unfounded because employers are required by law to have Employer's Liability Insurance and Workers' Compensation Insurance, which should cover the employer if an employee suffers a work injury, and action can be taken against employers who discriminate against employees for pursuing compensation for a work injury.

Your employer has certain responsibilities designed to ensure that you do not suffer a work injury.

First, your employer must attempt to ensure that you perform your job duties in the safest way possible. If there are known dangers which may lead to an injury at work, the employer has a responsibility to advise the employee of these dangers and properly train him/her in the tasks required in order to avoid them.

Your employer is also responsible for ensuring that you have a reasonably safe work environment which will help to prevent an injury at work. Safe and suitable equipment with which to perform your job duties and training for how to use such equipment are other ways your employer should work to prevent an injury at work.

Finally, your employer has the responsibility to ensure that your co-workers are competent and do not put others at risk for an injury at work by their negligent actions.

Take notes about your work injury, including the area, the circumstances leading to the injury, and the party(s) responsible.

Two important issues to keep in mind during your note taking are precisely what happened which caused the injury at work and what type of harm resulted from the occurrence.

Since these issues will be vital at many stages of a personal injury case for an injury at work, and such cases can last a long time having a clear record of the injury at work created at the time of injury, which you can refer back to, can be extremely helpful. The best way make sure that you preserve your memory of the important details of your work accident or injury at work is to take notes as soon as possible after the injury at work, including what happened and how the work injury will affect your daily life.

After an injury at work taking notes may be the last thing on your mind, but remember that it will help you later on if you need to file a legal claim to gain compensation for your work injury. In addition to taking notes, you should attempt to preserve evidence and take photographs of the injury at work.

For example, you should photograph any unsafe work conditions which led to your injury at work, as well as the injury itself. Additionally, if defective equipment led to your injury at work, you should keep that equipment as evidence if at all possible or at least take a photograph of the defect.

If you are involved in an injury at work which may have been caused by another party's carelessness, preserving any physical evidence of the work injury can support your case. It is most important to do this as soon as possible after the injury at work because circumstances can change quickly—accident scenes may be altered, memory may become unreliable and evidence may be overlooked or misplaced over time.

If you, or a loved one, have suffered an injury in the workplace in Kansas or Missouri, please do not hesitate to contact our office for a free consultation and case evaluation.