Under California state law, virtually every employer has to provide workers’ compensation insurance coverage to all their employees. This means they have to assume fault-free liability for certain financial losses caused by virtually any workplace accident or illness. However, employers also have a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent such accidents from occurring. They could be held legally accountable with the help of a workers’ comp attorney for a failure to do so that causes or unnecessarily worsens a preventable injury.
Workplace safety in Santa Ana is meant to be a proactive endeavor rather than a reactive one, and you have rights in this regard that could be significant in any workers’ compensation claim you have cause to pursue against your employer. Here is a basic overview of what your employer is supposed to do to protect you and what repercussions could come from your employer not fulfilling that duty.
It is worth emphasizing that employers are not expected to predict or prevent all possible hazardous conditions at work and that there is a degree to which work-related injuries are inevitable, especially in industries that involve working with heavy machinery or toxic chemicals. That said, employers must abide by relevant regulations and recommendations set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for work in their industry and also provide appropriate safety equipment to workers that works well and fits properly.
Perhaps most importantly, employers need to ensure that they only assign potentially dangerous tasks to employees with the appropriate level of training and hands-on experience necessary to perform that task safely. Failing to maintain a safe workplace in Santa Ana in this way could serve as grounds for legal action alongside or as an alternative to a workers’ compensation claim based on an ensuing workplace injury.
Being able to prove that your employer violated safety regulations or otherwise failed to maintain a safe working environment could significantly strengthen your ensuing workers’ compensation claim in multiple ways. First, while you typically are not required to prove that anyone was at fault for a work-related injury to receive workers’ compensation benefits, evidence that your employer’s organizational misconduct did cause you to get hurt could be used as grounds to seek increased benefits, specifically as a means of punishing your employer financially for their actions.
Likewise, being able to prove that your employer’s failure to maintain a safe workplace in Santa Ana was willful or otherwise negligent could lead to additional compensation through your ensuing workers’ compensation claim. In certain cases, it may even be possible to file suit against an extremely negligent or malicious employer over a workplace accident, even though workers’ compensation law usually makes employers immune from civil liability for workplace injuries.
Depending on how your work-related injury happened and what kinds of losses you have experienced because of it, you may have a few courses of action available to you for seeking financial recovery. However, what could be important in every case arising from deficient workplace safety in Santa Ana is having support from an experienced legal professional who has achieved good results from similar cases in the past.
A seasoned workers’ compensation lawyer could discuss your options with you and offer preliminary guidance about your next steps during a confidential consultation. Call today to schedule yours.
