By Tanya Phillips
If you are injured in an accident, you should seek medical attention and make sure that report the accident. Below are suggestions for reporting several different types of accidents.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
If you are involved in an automobile accident, you should call the police so an accident report is generated. Additionally, you should report the accident to your own automobile insurance carrier. They will set up a claim which will speed up them scheduling an appraisal to assess your vehicle’s property damage.
If you require medical attention as a result of the accident, your bills will most likely be adjusted and paid by your own automobile insurance carrier pursuant to your personal injury protection coverage. To secure these medical benefits, you need to timely report the accident. This will also ensure that your medical bills are processed quickly for payment.
Slip and Fall Claims
If you are injured in a slip and fall and the incident occurs at a business, you should immediately report the incident to an employee or manager. They should secure your information, and in most cases, an incident report will be generated.
If the fall occurs on private property you should report the incident to the property owner or another responsible person at the location. You should try to secure the information of the person to whom you are reporting the incident too, including their name and address.
You should also secure the names, addresses and phone numbers of all witnesses to the accident. In this Smartphone age, pictures of the accident scene would be helpful for the investigation. This is important to document the area where you fell as well as the condition that may have caused you to fall. Even delaying to report your fall by a few days could seriously harm your potential claim.
Workplace Accidents
If you are injured at work one of the most important things that you can do is report the accident to your employer. Reporting a workplace accident to your employer may seem obvious. However, in some instances when immediate medical attention is not needed many people will wait and see what happens with their health condition. Perhaps they think the injury will get better without medical treatment or that the injury is not serious enough to report.
If you do not report the accident, your employer may deny the claim later. If they deny the claim, they will refuse to provide you with the necessary medical treatment and temporary disability benefits you are entitled too if you are out of work as a result of your injury.
Many employers impose strict time limits on reporting accidents and injuries. Some requirements are as short as twenty four hours. After the time for reporting an incident has expired, employers may question whether the accident happened at all or argue that the accident happened outside of the workplace.
Even if you do not need immediate medical attention you should report the accident to a supervisor. This is necessary in case you wake up the next morning in more pain or if your condition gets worse over the next few days or weeks. If you report the accident right after it happens, this will prevent any questions about whether the accident happened at work by putting your employer on notice.
If you have sustained injuries as a result of an automobile accident, a slip and fall or are injured at work, you should consult with an attorney to discuss the facts surrounding your potential claim. We would be happy to answer your specific questions and investigate your potential claim.
