OUR BLOG

I’m Ron Wittmeyer, and today we’re going to talk about the five things you must do to protect yourself if you are injured while working on a construction site.

Get medical attention

Number one, seek immediate medical attention, whether it’s first aid, going to the ER or going to the company clinic as you may be required to do. Many times, it’s very obvious there’s no choice. But there are times when a worker is injured and he or she thinks, “Well, I can get through this. I can finish my shift.” If you do that and you’re home and you’re still hurting, get yourself to the emergency room.

Document the scene of the accident

Number two, at the time you’re injured, if there’s anything you can do to document the scene or the equipment involved, do it. That could be very crucial to your case later on. Take some photos or have a friend take some photos, and identify who was there at the construction site. Maybe they saw what happened or they saw the setup at the time your injury occurred.

Report the incident

Number three, report the incident to your employer right away. You’re required to do that under the worker’s compensation laws anyway.

Contact a construction accident attorney

Number four, contact a construction accident attorney. Not all personal injury lawyers focus on construction accidents as our firm does. So, contact a lawyer who has the expertise that can help you.

Follow up with your medical treatment

Number five, follow up with your medical treatment. Sometimes, people will get initial evaluations and treatments. Let’s say you have a shoulder problem. You go to a doctor or the company clinic. A clinic doctor says, “Well, you’ve got shoulder pain.” And he’ll send you back to work.

And you know that something is wrong with your shoulder. You have a little physical therapy. It doesn’t help. But you don’t want to take off work. You don’t want to be faced with surgery. Well, nobody does. But if you’re injured on a construction site, it could be serious.

You need to get to the bottom of that injury, get a proper diagnosis, and get the proper treatment. If that means having an MRI, let’s say for your shoulder, only then can you tell what’s going on. Only then can an orthopedic surgeon tell what’s going on inside your shoulder and be able to tell you what the appropriate treatment might be.

So get to the bottom of it, get your injury resolved and properly treated, and get yourself back to work. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.