Personal injury is not something that anybody wishes to ensure, so knowing how to avoid it and – if it does unfortunately occur – deal with it is key. The first and possibly most important part of personal injury to remember is that if there was another party at fault for your injury, you could be entitled to claim.
Claiming, if necessary, is central to gaining compensation for loss of earning and physical pain, but avoiding injury altogether is obviously preferred.
Personal Injury
Any type of injury that you have sustained in an accident such as road traffic collisions, slips, or as a result of defective items or products are all counted as personal injury. To take motor vehicle crashes as an example, over 33,000 people die in the United States as a result of such incidents. For those who survive, but who are affected by an injury, there is a chance that claiming could result in financial compensation.
Claiming
After reporting an accident and injury to a relevant body and to the person or group that you believe was responsible, contacting a law firm with years of expertise in personal injury claims is essential. Try Lasorsa & Beneventano Attorneys At Law for a free consultation, where their attorneys will be able to run through the events and evidence with you in order to begin forming a claim.
Having witnesses of the accident and photographs of the area will help when making a claim. Compensation, should you be successful, comes in the form of calculating how much of your earnings you have missed out on while being injured, and how much of your future earnings you could miss out on if you have sustained a long-term or permanent injury.
Being vigilant
Before personal injury occurs – and hopefully it never will – it pays to be vigilant and aware of how injuries in public and in the workplace generally happen.
In the US workplace, overexertion involving outside sources is the most common disabling injury in the workplace; falls and being struck by objects or equipment come in at second and third. While these accidents are usually just that – entirely accidental and, therefore, largely unavoidable – there are ways to help reduce the chances of being a victim.
Keep an eye out for risks and dangers on a daily basis and ensure you report anything untoward. Risk assessments are the best way to help avoid injury – if you or your company fails to identify risks, thoroughly checking relevant Risk Assessment Guidelines is essential.
Knowing your rights
A huge part of being able to deal with personal injury, especially in the workplace, is knowing your rights.
Generally speaking, you should have the right to a safe place of work, as well as a right to claim if you are injured, and it was not your fault. Bear in mind, however, that – depending on your state – the time you have in which you need to file your lawsuit varies. If you miss a statutory deadline, your case will be thrown out of court.