When a person is hurt at work or suffers an illness that is caused or aggravated by workplace conditions, they are said to have a workplace injury. Work related injuries are those that occur while the person is performing duties in the scope of their employment. To be considered a workplace injury, the injury or illness must be the direct result of the person’s job duties.
The typical workplace injury is a physical one, but it may also be psychological. If a victim can prove that they were injured as a result of their scope of employment, they may be entitled to compensation, not only through worker’s comp, but from a personal injury lawsuit if necessary.
In order to have a successful workplace injury claim, there must be several elements present:
- Victim: there must have been a victim.
- Injury: there must have been a physical injury or illness, or a psychological one in some cases.
- Direct result: the injury must be directly related to the duty of the victim.
For example:
Dave is working on a machine at work as part of his assigned job. That machine malfunctions through no fault of the operator and traps Dave’s arm, causing severe injury. Dave would have a workplace injury case.
Jim is working in an area that he is not assigned to, helping a co-worker. Jim has not been trained for that job and ends up injured. Jim may not have a workplace injury case because he was not hurt in the performance of his assigned duties.
If you are hurt on the job in Atlanta, an experienced workplace injury attorney can assist you in determining if you have a case.