The Top 5 Things You Need to Know About Massachusetts Workers’ Comp Insurance

There are many different steps that need to be taken once you’ve became a victim of an injury that you’ve sustained within your place of employment.  While reaching out to the Boston personal injury lawyer that you’ve chosen to represent you in the process of receiving workers’ compensation benefits and scheduling a free initial consultation, you might still want to at least have a good grasp on the key points about everything that is entailed in Massachusetts workers’ comp. insurance. Read onwards to learn more about the top five things you need to know about Massachusetts workers’ compensation insurance.

1.) All places of employment are required by law to carry workers’ compensation insurance

This is something that has been mandated for some time now, but Is still a recent occurrence. The reason for this is so all employees and employers alike can feel safe while they’re at work with ther knowledge that in the event of a serious accident, they will be taken care of and reimbursed for their medical expenses, lost wages, and anything else that might be included with their specific workers’ compensation coverage plan. This also helps to establish an all-around aura of safety within the workplace and assures that your employer will go over all of the OSHA rules and regulations with you, as well as provide the proper training for any equipment that you may be using.

2.) You must go to the in-network medical offices and staff that your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance covers

                                If you find yourself harmed in a workplace incident, your first instinct might be to go to your regular doctor. However, if you intend to collect workers’ compensation benefits, you must ensure that you are seen by the in-network medical staff. If you do not see doctors that are within your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance network, you will not be eligible for the benefits that you most likely will need, especially if your injury leaves you in a disabled state.

3.) Under Massachusetts’ workers’ compensation insurance laws, you are eligible to receive up to 60% of your lost wages if you are unable to work for more than five days as a result of your workplace injury.

                                If you have sustained a very serious injury and find that you cannot work for more than five days or more, then you do have the opportunity to collect up to 60% of your regular weekly wages while receiving workers’ compensation benefits. It does not matter whether it is simply five days or more, just so long as it is a minimum of five days. Hopefully you do not find yourself with this awful of an injury, but in the event that you do and you do receive the workers’ compensation benefits, then this knowledge is something that can certainly take some stress off of you.

4.) If you find that you cannot work for 21 days or more, you are eligible to receive the back pay for the time you had to wait to receive your benefits

                                As with most things in life, receiving workers’ compensation benefits do not simply happen overnight. That’s just a known factor. After all, you were injured very quickly, so you might be feeling that you should be able to receive the workers’ compensation benefits that you need at the same type of speed. While this is an entirely understandable train of thought, the fact of the matter is –the system simply does not work like that. However, if you end up disabled as a result of being harmed at work for more than 21 days, you are able to receive lost wages from the time that you have had to wait. In addition, having a Boston personal injury lawyer at your side to represent you can also perhaps speed things along.

5.) Last but not least, the most important step is that you report your injury, verbally, and if writing if possible, to your employer as quickly as possible

                                This step is by far, the most crucial. If you do not report your injury to your employer as immediately as possible, then you will be ineligible for receiving workers’ compensation insurance benefits. You cannot wait even one day. You must report it as soon as it occurs.

MA Workers’ Comp: Stay Safe by Avoiding Common Work Accidents

Staying safe at work is something that many folks don’t really think about too often until they find themselves or a co-worker in a painful situation. In this guide, we’re going to talk about some of the active steps that you can take to ensure that you’re equipped to stay as safe as possible at work and not find yourself in a workplace related accident! 

                Workplace accidents aren’t always having a ladder fall on your head, crashing your hi-lo into something, or anything else that we might initially think of when we think of workplace related incidents. Oftentimes, it can be something smaller. Workplace injuries also consist of occurrences such as lack of or perhaps even the wrong kind of education on how to operate machinery in the correct way. Workplace accidents can also include miseducation about how to lift items or bend down in a repetitive motion in an ergonomic way to keep you from sustaining back, arm, or leg injuries such as sprains, fractures, slipped disks, and the like.Therefore, if a long period of time passes and you’re bending and lifting improperly, you can end up injuring yourself without an object even collapsing on you or hitting you. While sprains and twists and minor back pain do not sound too terrible initially, they can really add up over years of time and really can end up leaving someone disabled permanently if not taken care of properly. Therefore, it is much better to eliminate the risk of those occurrences altogether. 

                Here are a couple of things that you can do to ensure that you stay safe and avoid common work accidents:

1.) If upon beginning a job you find that you aren’t presented with an instructional guide on how to properly bend and lift, you should ask for one.

                This is also something that goes for even simply asking. That way, you can ensure that you’re entirely educated on what exactly to do physically for the specific job in which you are performing.

2.) Never forget your safety equipment

It’s obvious that safety glasses, certain types of protective head gear, gloves, or aprons might not be the most fashionable and might even make us feel downright silly, but they are imperative to your workplace safety. The most known type of protective safety equipment that workers wear are safety glasses. Even if you already wear eyeglasses, ask for the plastic siding pieces that can protect the rest of your eye area that your glasses cannot cover. Chain mail gloves are another important piece of safety equipment that many workers wear and while they might feel sort of heavy, they are also very important. Lastly in this bullet point, you want to be sure that any and all equipment that you wear fits properly. Just because you are wearing safety glasses does not ensure that you will stay safe if they are fitting too tight or loose. 

3.) Read all instructions and safety precautions on any piece of work machinery or tool very thoroughly

One of the most important things that any worker wants to do. Yes you must even read all of the fine print on each of the machines or pieces of equipment that you use to be able to perform your job. You might be surprised at what you find! This gives you precautions about certain temperatures, conditions, and even might inform you about how to safely get through the almost inevitable instance that your machine or piece of equipment breaks down or malfunctions. It may seem like a tedious task now, but your body will thank you after it is kept safe day after day at work. 

4.) Always take breaks as often as you are allowed to.

Our federal government mandates that at least one thirty minute break is taken in an eight hour shift. However, if you find that you are in quite a bit of pain, do not strain yourself. Strain can lead to more serious injuries down the road. Instead, ask your supervisor if you would be able to rest for a moment or two before proceeding with your work day. Chances are, he or she will be happy to oblige.

Contact us to know more about MA workers compensation.