Bucks County Lawyer for Forklift Injuries at Work

When a forklift accident happens at work, you could be entitled to compensation for the medical bills and lost earnings you face.  Work accidents should be covered under Workers’ Compensation, which should be available for virtually every worker in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Whether you were driving the forklift or were hit by a forklift, and whether the accident was your fault or someone else’s, your Workers’ Comp claim should still pay you the benefits you need to focus on your recovery.  Our lawyers can fight insurance carriers and take your case before a judge to get your benefits granted or negotiate a settlement.

Call (267) 651-7945 for a free case evaluation with our lawyers for forklift injuries at work today at Cardamone Law.

Requirements for a Workers’ Compensation Claim Based on Forklift Injuries in Bucks County

For you to be able to file a Workers’ Compensation claim for your forklift accident, there are a few requirements you need to meet:

Employee Status

Workers’ Compensation only covers employees.  This might not seem like a difficult standard to meet, but many employers today try to hire workers as independent contractors instead of employees.  Often, workers are classified incorrectly, so even if your employer tells you that you are a contractor, they might be mistaken, and you might be entitled to Workers’ Comp anyway.

Most workers who might be involved in a forklift accident in a warehouse or store are squarely within the “employee” definition anyway, being salaried or hourly workers.  The question of whether you are a contractor or not might come up in cases of delivery workers, truck drivers, and vendors.  However, it is possible that even if you are a contractor working for some third-party company, the company that hired your company might be required to cover your Workers’ Comp anyway under complex rules for Workers’ Comp.

Work-Related Injuries

The injuries from your forklift accident need to be work-related in order to get Workers’ Comp coverage.  It is hard to think of a situation where you might have access to a forklift that is not, in fact, work-related.  Moreover, your accident will likely be well documented and have witnesses, making the fact that you were in a forklift accident an uncontested issue.

Instead, the issue will be linking the injuries you suffered to that accident.  Employers and Workers’ Comp carriers will often try to say that your injuries stemmed from a different accident or that you have insufficient proof that the injury came from the forklift.  They may even go so far as to claim that you caused the forklift to create a plausible claim for injuries that you suffered in a car accident or in another accident at home.

Our lawyers for forklift injuries at work can help link the accident to the injuries by showing that they coincided – e.g., that your injury to your shoulder is right where the forklift pinned you against a wall.  We can also get medical opinions from your doctors that the injuries are consistent with the forklift accident, helping to shore up that connection.

Inability to Work

If you can get medical care for your injury and get back to work the next day, you should get benefits for the medical coverage.  However, you would not need other Workers’ Compensation benefits for lost wages.  If your injury keeps you from getting back to work for more than 7 days, then you should be able to get replacement wages equal to 2/3 of your lost wages.  If you are able to work at a limited capacity, then benefits should be 2/3 of the difference in old and new wages instead.

Employers often deny the claim that you cannot work and refuse to pay these benefits.  However, strong medical evidence can be brought before a Workers’ Comp Judge to show that your injuries are truly disabling, and employers/insurance carriers can be ordered to pay your wage-loss benefits.

Causes of Forklift Accidents for Workers’ Comp Claims in Bucks County

Forklift accidents can happen in any workplace where a forklift is used, though the chance of an injury is higher in industries and workplaces where forklifts are used day in and day out.  This means some of the most common workplace accidents involving forklifts happen in warehouses, stockrooms, and loading docks.

Falling Cargo

When cargo and pallets are not properly secured on a forklift, they can fall off and hit other workers.  It is possible for cargo to fall on the operator, but the enclosed cabin around the driver often prevents that from happening.  In these cases, the victim who gets hit could suffer serious head injuries, back injuries, cuts, and more.

Tipping/Rolling Forklifts

Drivers who drive into a bump or incline at the wrong angle, who lift cargo too high, or whose forklifts become unbalanced could experience tipping or rolling over.  In these situations, the natural instinct is often to try to bail out of the forklift, potentially landing underneath it.  You could also be thrown out of the driver’s seat, even if you did try to stay in the cab – especially if you were not properly strapped in.

These accidents can be fatal, but even in nonfatal situations, these accidents often cause serious injuries, broken bones, and massive trauma.

Crashes

Many forklift accidents involve crashes.  Whether the forklift hits a person walking on foot, another forklift, a different vehicle, or an inanimate object, a forklift crash can cause quite severe injuries.  These accidents can injure drivers, other workers in the area, or occupants of another vehicle struck by the forklift.

Like with other Workers’ Comp claims, the question of who was at fault should not play into whether or not your claim is accepted as long as it was truly an accident.

Impalement and Striking by Forks

Although impalement injuries are quite rare, a forklift going fast enough can impale a person.  More common are injuries from being struck by a fork while the vehicle is turning or because you walked into the fork.  This can cause head injuries if it strikes you high or potentially trip you or knock you down if it strikes you low.

Call Our Workers’ Comp Lawyers for Forklift Accidents in Bucks County, PA

For help with your potential case, call our lawyers for forklift injuries at work at Cardamone Law at (267) 651-7945.