Tampa Machine Injury Lawyer
If you are working in a manual labor job or inside a manufacturing plant, you are no stranger to large equipment that helps you do your job. That same machinery can also cause severe injuries if the proper safety measures are not taken. According to Safety + Health Magazine, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ranked machine-guarding as the ninth most common violation they found at workplaces in 2018. This violation means workers are unnecessarily exposed to hazardous parts of machines that could catch a body part and cause injury. If you have been injured at your workplace due to a machine, you need to file a workers’ compensation claim. An experienced Tampa machine injury lawyer can assist you with the process so that you receive adequate medical benefits and indemnity benefits to ease your financial worry.
Common Machine Injuries
Each machine poses its own safety hazards depending on its size, speed of the moving parts, sharpness, and more. Moreover, each industry has its own machines to contend with. For instance, construction workers are exposed to plenty of earth-moving equipment such as backhoes and dump trucks while a plant worker will be more at risk of injury from machines like a conveyor belt. Industrial Safety and Hygiene News states that the hand is the second most common body part to be injured at work aside from the back. Considering we use our hands to do most of our work, this makes sense, although when a machine is moving quickly it can affect catch just about any body part and leave a person incapacitated. Common injuries include:
- Death;
- Amputation;
- Lacerations and cuts;
- Broken bones;
- Burns; and
- More.
Filing a Workers’ Compensation Claim for a Machine Injury
It is important you file a workers’ compensation claim within 30 days of your initial injury. If your injury is catastrophic you will likely be transported to a hospital immediately, in which case you simply need to notify your employers as soon as possible. If you are able to, notify your employer before seeking medical care so they can send you to a doctor that is approved by the workers’ compensation insurance company. After taking this step, it is critical that you seek the counsel of a knowledgeable workers’ compensation attorney. Your injuries may seem severe enough to you to warrant medical benefits and partial wage replacement or disability, but your employer and the insurance company will do everything they can to protect themselves. Your employer will not want to have an accident on record because it brings scrutiny to their safety procedures and the insurance company will try to pay out as little as possible.d
Contact Our Tampa Machine Injury Lawyers Today
Workers’ compensation claims can be overwhelming and frustrating, but the financial burden of a machine accident at work is not something you should be left responsible for. Let the Tampa attorneys at Barbas, Nuñez, Sanders, Butler & Hovsepian take the stress away by advocating on your behalf. Call us today at 813-279-2686 to schedule your free consultation.
