What To Do If You Are Injured At Work

1. Report the injury immediately or as soon as possible to a supervisor or some other person in charge.  Reporting the injury to a co-worker is not sufficient under Florida case law.
2. Request a Notice of Injury form (DWC-1) as soon as possible.  Keep a copy for yourself. 
3. If the employer refuses to provide a claim form, send the employer a letter by certified mail return receipt or hand deliver the letter to the employer and write down a note of the date, time, and the name of the person to whom you delivered the letter.  The letter should indicate the date of your injury, and the parts of the body injured.
4. Get the names and telephone numbers of any witnesses if possible.  Many times, witnesses will be co-workers and may not be willing to cooperate for fear of losing their job.
5. Get medical treatment as soon as possible after the injury occurs.  If your employer refuses to provide treatment, go to an emergency room as soon as possible.  Be sure to tell the doctor that your injury occurred at work.  It is important that you give a correct and complete injury of the injury.  Also, it is important to tell the first doctor(s) you treat with all of your symptoms.  It is difficult to add other body parts to a claim if there are no complaints of pain close in time to the injury in many cases.
6. If your injury is likely to result in either permanent impairment or an inability to do the job you had when you were injured, you should my office at 1-800-429-4529.