Know Your Rights If You Get Injured At Your Workplace

Whenever a resident of Ontario gets injured at his or her workplace, the injured worker can follow one of 2 courses of action. The worker’s claim can be handled by the Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB). The benefits delivered to injured worker, without assignment of fault and the workers receive a long list of benefits.

Types of benefits delivered by WSIB:

• Payments to cover the cost of health care, including physical therapy and occupational therapy
• Money that insures recovery of lost earnings
• Payment for medicines used in treatment of injury
• Reimbursement for clothing or equipment used during the victim’s recovery
• Payments to cover the cost of transportation to appointments and tests.

Possible additions to the benefits’ list:

If an injured worker like you, lost a physical or psychological function, you can seek a non-economic benefit. However, if the injured worker did not survive the effects of the injury, the spouse and children may be eligible for some benefit. The choice facing an injured employee is to make a claim with WSIB and hire the services of an injury lawyer in Waterloo to sue a 3rd party

Examples of a 3rd party that might be sued by an injured employee:

The driver of another vehicle, if accident took place while affected employee was driving a vehicle owned by the company, and was doing so in order to carry-out company business.

The designer or maker of a defective product, if some item purchased by the company had a defect, and caused the user of that same item to sustain an injury.

The owner of the building or property on which the employee got injured. Maybe it had not been properly maintained, or a dangerous section had not been marked out-of-bounds. It might also have had an automatic doorway, one that had malfunctioned, or a stairway that was not well-lighted.

A contractor might be sued, if he had allowed his workers to use a toxic material during the course of completing a project. In addition, a contractor could be sued if one of the contractor’s workers had acted in a careless and neglectful.

What would be the advantage to suing a 3rd party, instead of filing a claim with WSIB?

After filing a claim with WSIB, an injured employee cannot expect to win any compensation for pain and suffering. An employee that has suffered a serious injury would have good reason for seeking money for pain and suffering.

What would be the advantage to filing a claim with WSIB?

In that way, the injured employee would be assured of at least some benefits. If that same employee were to sue a 3rd party, there is always the chance that the defendant’s attorney might claim that the employee was partially responsible for his or her injury.