Work Zone Accidents: What to do if you're Injured in a Work Zone

As we have moved into spring, you may have noticed a lot of road work around the area. This is prime time for road work repairs to occur because the weather is warm and the roads that were damaged during the winter need repair.

Recently, Maryland's Transportation Authority held a work zone safety week to bring awareness to the dangers of driving in and around work zones on highways and area roads. Many drivers ignore signs for reduced speed or caution when driving through work zones, and as a result, serious accidents involving road work crews occur. Workers have very little, if any, protection when they are doing their job in the work area. Cars can pass through at high speeds, and if they make one mistake, they can crash into one of these workers, causing serious, and sometimes fatal, injuries.

If you are injured by a motor vehicle while working in a construction zone, you have two potential claims: a workers' compensation claim and a personal injury claim against the at-fault driver. In order to bring a workers' compensation claim, a person must have been on the job, performing an activity within the scope of their job, and the worker must have reported the accident to their supervisor. A workers' compensation claim is handled much differently than a personal injury claim. There are different benefits that an injured worker that was hurt on the job can receive in a workers' compensation case compared to a personal injury case.

Hiring an attorney that is experienced in both workers' compensation claims and personal injury claims for auto accidents is very important to ensure you obtain favorable outcomes in both types of cases. If you've been injured while working in a construction zone, call the attorneys at Portner & Shure today for a free consultation: (301) 854-9000, (410) 995-1515.

When Notifying your Employer About an Accident, What Type of Information Should you Include?

We have written several blogs previously about the importance of filing an accident report with your supervisor when you have been injured at work. One of the most common reasons why a workers' compensation claim is denied is because an employee failed to notify their supervisor that they were hurt while on the job. Without that documentation, it is impossible to show that you actually suffered injuries on the job as opposed to being hurt at somewhere other than work.

When filing an accident report with your supervisor, there are certain details you should make sure to include in that report. The necessary information that should be in your accident report filed with your supervisor includes:

• your name
• your address
• the location of the accident and injury 
• the time of the accident and injury
• the nature of the accident and injury 
• the cause of the accident and injury

If you have been injured while on the job, it is important to hire an experienced workers' compensation attorney to represent your interests. Your employer may tell you that they will "take care of you," but in reality, they are only worried about limiting the amount of damages they will pay.

If you've been hurt on the job, call the workers' compensation attorneys at Portner & Shure today for a free consultation: (301) 854-9000, (410) 995-1515.

How Long Will my Workers' Compensation Case take to Complete?

With any legal matter, one of the most common questions that clients will ask is how long their case will take to conclude. Unfortunately, in the legal world, there is never a definitive answer, especially when it comes to time. In a workers' compensation case, it is impossible to predict how long the claims process will take to finish.

Generally, a workers' compensation case involving general injuries that are easily treatable and do not require extensive surgeries can finish in about 6 months. However, workers' compensation cases involving significant injuries where surgery is required can take much longer--upwards of 2 years.

There are numerous factors that play role in determining how long a case will take for workers' compensation. Some of these factors include:

• Effectiveness of treatment and how long it takes until the injured worker is recovered
• If treatment is not effective and surgery is recommended, all other non-invasive forms of treatment must be exhausted before approval for surgery is given
• Surgical complications can lengthen the process
• Waiting a certain period of time after release from treatment in order to get a permanency rating

There are many more factors that can play a role in making a workers' compensation case drag out longer. 

If you have been injured on the job, call the experienced attorneys at Portner & Shure for a free consultation today: (301) 854-9000, (410) 995-1515.