Workplace Injuries: When to File Virginia Worker’s Comp | Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp

Like the lyrics, “Workin’ for The Man ev’ry night and day …” from the song “Proud Mary.”  Many American workers put in long hours and hard work in an effort to provide for their family.  But what happens when a workplace is not safe?  Recently a large manufacturing plant was fined for 25 safety violations said to have exposed workers to a variety of health and safety hazards.  The investigation found that employees faced dangers from fire, laceration, amputation, crushing, electric shock, falling and hearing loss due to absent or deficient safeguards, reported OSHA.

As Virginia (VA) personal injury lawyers we know that if you are injured at work on accident you are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits.  The Commission will look at your claim and decide whether it is a covered injury.

 

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To be covered as an accident, the accident must, occur at work or during a work-related function, be caused by a work activity and happen suddenly at one specific time. Injuries caused gradually are generally not covered.  However workers’ compensation laws may or may not shield a company that is careless from being sued if that company is not your own employer or company working closely with your employer. This situation often exists when the primary employer is a construction company and the person who gets injured works for a contractor.

Separate lawsuits allowed for on the job injuries are often caused by faulty or defective products at work.  This would occur when a worker is hurt while on the job, but the culprit of the injury is a defective product like a ladder, saw, vehicle, and so forth. A lawsuit could be brought against the seller or manufacturer of the product if the failure was due a defect. In any situation where a manufactured or leased product has a defect that leads to an on the job injury, the injured employee may have grounds to bring a separate negligence lawsuit against the manufacturer, seller or lessor of the faulty product.

 

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