Machinery and Equipment Accidents in Anchorage, AK

Workplace Injuries and Third Party Injuries

Many people have been contacting Pentlarge Law Group, LLC about their workers’ compensation cases. We do not handle workers’ compensation cases but I thought I would post a bit of information to help those of you who are looking for an attorney. Machinery & Equipment Accidents happen and a lawyer can help you claim compensation.

You have a workers’ compensation case if you have a job related injury. Job related injuries occur not only when you are injured at work, but, whenever your injury arises out of or in the course and scope of your employment. If you think you have a job related injury and believe you are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits, you should see a workers’ compensation lawyer or call the Alaska Workers’ Compensation Board and ask to speak with a technician.

It is important to know that some work place injuries can lead to both a workers’ compensation claim and a personal injury claim against a negligent third party.

In some cases, a job related injury is caused by the negligence of someone other than your employer or a coworker. In such circumstances, you may have a claim against the negligent party who injured you in addition to your workers’ compensation case. This is called a third party claim. If you feel you have a job related injury caused by the negligence of some third party, feel free to call us so that we may determine if the circumstances are appropriate for us to set up a free in-office consultation

If your workplace injury does not involve the negligence of a third party, you may only have a workers’ compensation claim. Here is a link to the Alaska Workers’ Compensation Board website: http://labor.alaska.gov/wc/. The website provides valuable information and reading material which may help you with your claim. Specifically, posted on the website is a pamphlet entitled Workers’ Comp and You – Info for Injured Workers which may provide valuable insight for your reference. There are important time deadlines which you must follow, so be sure to get the information you need.

At Pentlarge Law Group, LLC we consider Workers’ Compensation Law to be a specialty area legal practice and we do not handle workers’ compensation cases. The majority of lawyers who do handle Workers’ Compensation Law cases are specialists in that field. You may contact the Alaska Workers’ Compensation Board to obtain a list of lawyers who handle workers’ compensation cases.

However, at Pentlarge Law Group, LLC, we do handle all types of 3rd party cases that arise out of workers’ compensation cases. We can help you get the compensation you deserve if you are hurt while working by a 3rd party or a defective machine.

When situations like this happen, the manager on duty is supposed to take photos and make an incident report of the situation. This is standard procedure in most corporate type jobs and even in factories. If the manager doesn’t do any of these things, it’s up to you to gather evidence. In fact, you shouldn’t rely on the manager’s assessment of events when making your case. So, while you can use information the manager gathers for the report, you’ll want to do your own fact digging to help your case.

Evidence

When you were hired by your company you probably had to undergo an orientation that showed you the proper way to perform your duties and other safety related information. Some companies make their employees watch movies that show people how to properly lift something heavy, how to climb ladders and even how to open and close filing cabinets. This is all designed to prevent accidents.

The company is supposed to do all it can to prevent accidents from happening but it’s up to you to determine if anything was done to prevent your accident from happening. If you were running down the stairs in the hopes that your manager wouldn’t see that you were late and you tripped on a nail sticking up out of the stairs, the company would be liable. That means you need to take photos of that nail and you need to get witness testimony that proves the boss knew the nail was there and failed to do anything about it.

Your attorney will more than likely gather this type of information for you, but you should try to gather as much evidence as you can before you even talk to your attorney. The more information you can gather that proves your company could have prevented your accident, the higher your chances will be of getting the compensation you need to get back on your feet after your unfortunate accident.

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