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Work Injury in California

Workers Compensation Center Sacramento

Work Injury in California

Using statistics is a great tool for employers and workers to make their work conditions safer and healthier and to prevent a Work Injury in California. But this isn’t always the case because employers might cut corners and inevitably violate safety laws. In fact, workplace OSHA violations such as fall protection and ladder injuries rose to a top five spot in 2019. Employers should use this information in order to protect their employees, especially since certain industries require a lot of intensive labor, operating heavy machinery, and carrying around bulky objects.

 

The top ten most common OSHA violations in 2020 were:

 

  • Fall Protection – General Requirements: 5,424 violations

  • Hazard Communication: 3,199 violations

  • Respiratory Protection: 2,649 violations

  • Scaffolding: 2,538 violations

  • Ladders: 2,129 violations

  • Lockout/Tagout: 2,065 violations

  • Powered Industrial Trucks: 1,932 violations

  • Fall Protection – Training Requirements: 1,621 violations

  • Personal Protective and Life Saving Equipment – Eye and Face Protection: 1,369 violations

  • Machine Guarding: 1,313 violations

 

One might not realize, but injuries and fatalities related to driving are on the rise as well. There are a variety of different jobs that involve being on the road, and if you are involved in an accident while driving for work it is considered a work-related injury. These jobs include a taxi service, school bus driver, shuttle driver, chauffeur, delivery, tow truck driver, etc.

 

Accidents typically occur due to falls, being struck by an object, electrocutions, and getting caught in or between objects and machinery, and these often occur in construction workplaces. The manufacturing industry accounted for 15% of all 2019 private industry, nonfatal work injury in California. And other industries with very high rates of injury include transportation and warehousing, agriculture, fishing, and hunting, government, retail trade, leisure and hospitality, educational and health services, wholesale trade, mining, and quarrying.

 

While employers can use this information to make their workplace as safe as possible, they might not always have your best interest in mind if you suffered a Work Injury in California. You have a right to seek compensation, but an employer and their insurance company want to save as much money as possible. Once you receive the necessary medical treatment, you should call an Attorney so they can guide you.

Gold Country Workers’ Comp Center, P.C. is law firm handling Work Injury cases in the Sacramento area that will fight to provide you with the money and benefits you deserve from your work injury. Fees are a fixed percentage and contingent on a successful resolution of your case. Getting an attorney early in the process can not only save you time, but money as well. So call (530) 362-7188 today for a free consultation.

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Work Related Injury Case

Workers Compensation Roseville

Work Related Injury Case

Across many jobs, whether labor or administrative, people have the risk of being involved in a work related injury. This is why it’s very important for an employee to know their rights and for an employer to make sure they follow OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) guidelines to make the workplace safe. When employers take the necessary precautions, the risk of a Work Related Injury occurring is much lower. But that doesn’t mean they don’t still happen year after year.

There are many injuries that one can suffer from the job. Some of the most common OSHA violations in 2021 include fall protection violations, where a worker was found to be at four feet of height or more without protection, hazard communication standard violations, where chemical hazards may not have been evaluated properly or prepared appropriate labels or safety data, scaffolding violations, where an employee has fallen from a support giving way, respiratory protection violations, where a worker was exposed to harmful dust, smoke, mist, an gases, and ladder violations, where a worker might have fallen from a ladder. And that’s just a few.

If you were involved in a Work Related Injury, especially if there were OSHA violations and your employer could have otherwise provided a safe work environment to prevent the accident you were involved in, you have the right to file for Workers’ Compensation benefits.

Having an Attorney on your side if you want to file a claim is very important. There’s always a possibility your employer or insurance carrier denies your injury even happened at work, especially if it goes unreported. And even when an injury is aggravated further at work and becomes serious, you may still have a right to compensation. An example of this is when the long-term effects of exposure to something such as toxic substances at work result in a disease.

If you suffer a Work Related Injury, you should immediately notify your employer and start the reporting process. The company must provide you with the proper paperwork and file your reported claim with its insurance carrier. Reporting regulations and deadlines vary from state to state, but it should typically take no longer than 30 days to complete this process. If your employer takes too long in doing this, having an Attorney may make them take it more seriously.

Gold Country Workers’ Comp Center, P.C. is a law firm handling work injury cases in the Sacramento area that fights to provide you with the money and benefits you deserve for your workplace injury. Fees are a fixed percentage and contingent on a successful resolution of your case. So getting an attorney early in the process can not only save you time, but money as well. So call (530) 362-7188 today for a free consultation.

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California Workers Compensation

Have you been Injured on the job?

California Workers Compensation with GCWC

Learning and understanding what makes a viable claim is the first step before filing for California Workers’ Compensation. Surprisingly, a lot of claims are payable under the most remarkable circumstances, and a good Workers Comp Lawyer will look out for such cases. For example, you might be covered if you suffer an injury while in your own car, waiting outside your place of employment or worksite, on a work-related trip, working as an “independent contractor”, working while being an undocumented worker, or working without a permit, to name but a few scenarios.

These surprising circumstances may all potentially be proven to be an employment “work related”, and even if you think it might not be likely you’ll get benefits, it pays to contact a professional that will guide you into knowing more about  activity which means if you are injured, you or your dependants can be entitled to some kind of compensation.

A California Workers Comp Lawyer understands that the rules and laws of compensation are complex and are not subject to the same rules and procedures that apply in regular civil court. However, there are often other types of claims that can be brought when there is a work related injury. Many work related injury cases involve establishing liability against third parties responsible for providing an important extra source of recovery for the injured worker.

Additionally, the law and regulations are always changing. Starting in 2013, the claims process changed significantly, and certain previously important benefits became very difficult to get.  This was after the State adopted a new approach to evaluating Permanent Disability (PD) levels in 2005 that significantly reduced the amount of benefits payable to the injured. Starting with a few recent WCAB opinions (February, 2009) the WCAB is reconsidering their evaluation approach, and while still subject to ongoing litigation, this review may provide ways to significantly increase PD benefits.

What you will often see is the insurance company’s attorneys will want to take your sworn deposition before a court reporter to provide your statement to investigators, the employer, or to health care providers. You should never submit to questioning without an attorney’s assistance, and therefore the guidance of a California Workers Comp Lawyer at this stage is crucial.

Gold Country Workers’ Comp Center is a California Workers Comp Lawyer that can provide you with the money and benefits you deserve. Fees are a fixed percentage and contingent on a successful resolution of your case, so getting an attorney early in the process can not only save you time but money as well. So call (530) 362-7188 today for a consultation.

Gold Country is a Workers’ Comp and Disability Attorney prepared to get you the compensation you deserve if you are injured at work. Call us today for a free consultation at (530) 362-7188.

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Sacramento Workmans’ Compensation

Workers Comp Lawyer California

Sacramento Workmans’ Compensation

After suffering a work-related injury, one of the first things you want to do is look into Sacramento workmans’ compensation. You should immediately report your injury to your employer and request a DWC-1 form. There is a time limit to filing, and your employer has to formally accept the claim within that time frame. Once you do that, contacting an attorney so they can guide you through the process is crucial to the process. Filing a Sacramento workmans’ compensation claim might sound simple, but a trustworthy law firm can help you follow up with doctors, and gathering the appropriate evidence.

Keep in mind that before you even suffer an injury, you should immediately designate your choice of a personal treating physician, chiropractor, or acupuncturist to your employer in writing if they provide medical insurance. If you don’t pre-designate your treating physician, and if injured on the job, the treating physician could be chosen by your employer or its insurance company which is not ideal.

That being said, in order for your Sacramento workmans’ compensation claim to go smoothly, being able to treat with the physician of your choice is important so that it’s more likely they will keep your best interest in mind. There are restrictions to your right to pre-designate a treating physician. To qualify, your employer must offer group health coverage, and the doctor must be your regular physician. They need to be a general practice physician who is a board-certified or internist, pediatrician, obstetrician-gynecologist, or family practitioner, has previously treated you, and retains your medical records. It can be a medical group if it is a single corporation or partnership composed of licensed doctors which provide medical services predominantly for non-occupational illnesses and injuries. Prior to the injury, your doctor needs to agree to treat you for work injuries or illnesses, and you need to provide your employer notice in writing that you want your personal doctor to treat you for a work-related injury or illness, and your personal doctor’s name and business address.

An experienced attorney can help you decipher where your case fits into Sacramento workmans’ compensation as well as help guide you from a case that more often than not can lead to headaches, stress, and more loss of energy than someone going through a traumatic injury doesn’t need. After all, it’s not easy proving your injury occurred because of and during work. Contacting a trustworthy Sacramento Workers Compensation Attorney like Gold Country Worker’s Comp Center will be the support you need while applying for benefits. To schedule a free consultation, call (530) 362-7188.

Gold Country is a Workers’ Comp and Disability Attorney prepared to get you the compensation you deserve if you are injured at work. Call us today for a free consultation at (530) 362-7188.

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Workers Compensation in California

Sue for Damages as a result of your injury

Workers Compensation in California with GCWC

If you or a loved one suffered from any of these common workers’ compensation injuries, you may be entitled to Workers Compensation in California. After reporting the accident to your employer and getting any necessary emergency treatment, you should contact a law firm to help you file for benefits. Many people think they may not qualify, but more often than not that is not the case.

To put it simply, in order for you to qualify for Workers Compensation in California, you must prove that the injury or illness was connected to work. The terms are often called “AOE/COE” (arising out of employment and occurring during the course of employment), and these tend to be occupational illnesses as a result of being exposed to toxic substances, repetitive motion injuries, pre-existing conditions that have been made worse, hearing and vision loss, and even stress-related injuries.

In fact, from 2016 to 2017, the most common injuries were overexertion, which includes big lifts, pulls, pushes, or throws that force a joint or muscle beyond its usual range of motion, slips and falls which can happen from wet floors or snowy walkways, electrocution which can result in severe burns, cardiac arrest, nerve damage, or even brain injury, being stuck by an object such as a bookshelf, a barricade, or other stationary objects, transportation incidents such as in the case of truck drivers, machinery accidents which are most commonly seen in factories or construction sites, unintentional overdoses, workplace violence such as in the case of nurses, psychiatric evaluators, and probation officers who are at high risk of violence in the workplace, exposure to harmful substances such as chemical exposure like asbestos, lead, and acids, and fires or explosions which can also result in inhalation issues, loss of hearing or sight, lung damage, brain injuries, etc.

A Workers Compensation in California claim must be filed within 30 days and an Attorney should be contacted immediately to help you through the process. Gold Country Workers’ Comp Center is a law firm that will only be paid after the resolution of your case. An Attorney can help your chances of not only winning your claim but getting you as much owed to you as possible, and once you’ve contacted them, Workers Compensation in California will be a straightforward process. The likelihood of receiving benefits is much higher, since they have the knowledge to get the job done right. Your initial consultation is free, and they will be dedicated to serving you every step of the way. Call today at (530) 362-7188.

Related Media: California Disability Law Firm
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