Archived Work Injury Advice

[cldhrtdbtch]

I went to go lay a pallet down at work, it bounced off the floor and landed on my foot. Stung a little but I kept working. Flash forward at least 5 hours when I got home and take my shoe off. My foot was swollen twice the size of my non-injured foot and red. So I did the whole RICE thing (rest-ice-compress-elevate) for the first 48 hours. Finally made it to a doctor who could see me on the same day and they said they don’t think anything is broken but they’ve seen injuries like this before and it ends up having long term effects. Now I have a giant boot and they won’t do x-rays until I have a workman’s comp number. Incident happened on Friday. Went to the docs on Monday. I did not fill out an incident report because I didn’t think anything was wrong while still at work, but I was smart enough to text my ETL when I got home so there is a trail starting on the day.

I’ve heard so many horror stories with incident reports and Hewitt (I think they handle the injuries) I don’t even want to do any of this. Plus I pride myself on the fact that I have worked here XV years with no major injuries.

Has anybody had anything similar happen and can give me advice that would be great?

Sorry for the length and rambling.

 

[BoxCutter]

You should have called the store as soon as you saw how bad your foot looked. If the store was closed, then you should have called the store before it opened on Saturday as soon as you knew a Leader was in the building. Unfortunately, because of the delay in reporting it, I think Spot will fight it. Did you mention to any TM or Leader what happened on Friday? That could help corroborate that it happened at work. Good luck and I hope you don't have any long-term complications with your foot.

 

[cldhrtdbtch]

I did contact a lead from the store as soon as I saw how bad it was. I did tell others that I did drop a pallet on my foot when it happened. I think one was there and saw it. The lead didn’t mention that I needed to come in.

Honestly, I’m hoping is nothing wrong and I can just ignore everything, but the doctor won’t even do x-rays.

 

[Planosss]

Although your doctor has many years of education and experience. I assure you, you will be fine.
That being said, any injury, no matter how small should be reported.
You should still report this to your store. XV years, you should know better-rer.

 

[OldSchoolVet]

There are cameras everywhere. When I was injured, they checked the cameras to cooberate my story. I did tell my ETL immediately since I couldn't walk. I had no problem with work comp paying 100%. Also, if you have STD, I believe it kicks in after 6 days. Check with your HR or call corporate.

 

[Tessa120]

I had an injury and I left not sure if I would go to the doctor or not. I did end up going. There were no issues that I know of for Target's insurance paying my doctor.

 

[Fluttervale]

File for WC. Your ETL can fill out the forms. They will send you to the WC doctor. Your regular health insurance doesn't pay for this and WC won't pay your regular doctor.

Get it handled now. It is a PITA if you don't.

 

[NKG]

Let's say a tm gets hurt then waits a week to report and the incident was in an area where there is no cameras. The tm loses their right to their claim right?

 

[Tessa120]

Let's say a tm gets hurt then waits a week to report and the incident was in an area where there is no cameras. The tm loses their right to their claim right?

I guess it would depend on witnesses. Even if no witnesses to the injury, there could be witnesses that said so-and-so was just fine a few minutes before and other witnesses who saw limping or holding a hand or some other visible sign or even a statement of "Damn, I banged my [body part] something fierce!" shortly after.

 

[Black Sheep 214]

Any time you injure yourself at work you should report it and fill out paperwork as soon as possible. You never know when a seemingly minor injury will end up being serious. Protect yourself. Sad to say, if you don’t no one else will.