If you or a loved one has suffered a traumatic brain injury due to an accident at work, call James Koh at 213-232-2725. Our firm is experienced in TBI workers’ compensation cases and is ready to help you seek your California workers’ compensation benefits.
The yellow hard hat is an almost symbolic reminder of what can happen to workers who frequently work around traumatic brain injury risks. But unless you work as a laborer in construction, shipping, or manufacturing, it’s not likely you’ve ever had to wear a hard hat.
What happens when a nurse slips on a wet floor and lands on his head or a landscaper is on a mulch run when the company truck is hit by a semi-truck? Furthermore, what if someone who does work in manual labor isn’t supplied with a hard hat when disaster strikes?
The bottom line is that traumatic brain injuries, while more common in some industries, can show up when least expected in others. Employers may try to mitigate the risk of TBI, but even the most tedious safety training can’t prevent everything.
If you’ve been injured on the job, you’re likely still reeling from the shock of the initial accident, and unsure of what steps to take to ensure that your medical expenses and lost wages are taken care of. You may even be caring for or grieving a loved one who suffered a TBI on the job and is unable to file for workers’ comp for themselves. Regardless of the circumstances, our firm is here to help you navigate the stressful and often intimidating workers’ compensation filing process from start to finish in the sections below. If you have any questions along the way, we hope you’ll call James Koh for a free consultation at 213-232-2725.
What Is Traumatic Brain Injury?
Traumatic brain injury is any type of injury to the brain that is caused by an external force, such as a load of shingles falling on a roofer or a slip-and-fall injury where a worker lands on their head. Traumatic brain injuries can range drastically in seriousness from a mild concussion to a coma. Below are some common types of traumatic brain injuries that could be sustained at work:
- Concussion: A concussion is a mild TBI often caused by a blow to the head or violent shaking of the head and body. Symptoms may include headache, confusion, dizziness, nausea, and sensitivity to light or noise.
- Contusion: A contusion is a bruise on the brain caused by a direct impact to the head. It can result in bleeding and swelling in the brain tissue, leading to neurological symptoms.
- Penetrating injury: This occurs when an object penetrates the skull and enters the brain tissue. Penetrating injuries can cause significant damage to the brain and often require immediate medical attention.
- Diffuse axonal injury (DAI): DAI occurs when the brain rapidly shifts inside the skull, causing the tearing of nerve fibers (axons). It commonly results from high-speed accidents such as car crashes or severe shaking, leading to widespread brain damage.
- Coup-contrecoup injury: This type of injury involves two points of impact on opposite sides of the brain. The initial impact (coup) causes damage directly under the site of impact, while the brain rebounds and hits the opposite side of the skull (contrecoup), causing additional damage.
While some traumatic brain injuries are more serious than others, they all require medical attention. Regardless of whether you’re unsure if you have a traumatic brain injury, seek a medical professional right away if you’ve been hit in the head, even lightly
The Effects and Symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injuries
Symptoms of traumatic brain injury can range from a mild headache or dizziness to seizures or loss of consciousness. Take a look at the full range of symptoms our many clients have suffered from when sustaining a traumatic brain injury at work:
- Physical symptoms: Individuals may experience persistent headaches, nausea, dizziness, heightened sensitivity to light or noise, blurred vision, overwhelming fatigue, sporadic seizures, or instances of losing consciousness.
- Cognitive impairments: Common cognitive symptoms include persistent confusion, memory lapses encompassing both retrograde and anterograde amnesia, difficulty concentrating, slowed thought processes, and cognitive fatigue, where mental tasks become increasingly challenging over time.
- Emotional and behavioral changes: TBIs can lead to significant alterations in mood and behavior, characterized by mood swings, heightened irritability, anxiety, depressive episodes, agitation, impulsivity, and a tendency towards social withdrawal or isolation.
- Sensory disruptions: Sensory disturbances may include changes in taste or smell perception, persistent ringing in the ears (tinnitus), alterations in sensory sensitivity, and difficulties with balance or coordination. A blow to the face may result in the loss or diminishment of sight.
- Communication challenges: Affected individuals may struggle with articulating thoughts, experiencing slurred speech, or encountering comprehension difficulties when processing spoken or written language.
Keep in mind that not all individuals notice their TBI symptoms right away, and some may even notice that they have no symptoms at all. As a result, these can become some of the most common types of TBI cases of all days or even weeks later if no recovery time was given.
Common Causes of Workplace Concussion and Head Injury
Now that we understand how to recognize traumatic brain injuries, it’s important to identify how they can happen in the first place. Here are a few common ways that you or a loved one may sustain a TBI, but remember, TBIs can happen regardless of the force or object that comes in contact with the head, even with a seemingly light tap (under certain circumstances).
Falls
Falls are a leading cause of TBIs on construction sites and industrial workplaces. Laborers may fall from heights such as ladders, scaffolding, or rooftops, leading to severe head injuries upon impact, while food service industry workers may slip and fall due to a wet floor, hitting their heads on the way down.
Inadequate safety measures, lack of proper fall protection equipment, or failure to follow safety protocols significantly increase the risk of falls. Even seemingly minor falls can result in concussions or more severe TBIs, which means it’s critical to get checked out, even when you notice no symptoms.
Falling Objects
The risk of TBI from falling objects looms large on many job sites, particularly in construction, manufacturing, and warehouse environments. Tools, equipment, or materials may accidentally slip or be improperly secured, posing a significant hazard to workers below.
Other job sites (which are too numerous to mention here) that feature above-head shelving can easily pose a risk to employees standing underneath, regardless of the occupation or the items stored on the shelves.
Vehicle Accidents
As car accidents are one of the leading causes of TBI, any jobs that require driving as part of the job duties will come with their risk of TBI. This could include delivery drivers, truck drivers, EMTs, or landscapers.
Car accidents caused by collisions or crashes can easily cause severe brain injuries resulting in lifelong disability or even fatalities. To mitigate these risks, many driving professionals have extensive training, but even the most trained commercial drivers are not always prepared for the negligence of other drivers or adverse weather conditions.
An important detail to keep in mind regarding motor vehicle accidents and workplace injuries is that if a third party is involved with the accident, the injured worker may not only be eligible for a workers’ compensation claim but also a personal injury suit.
Workplace Violence
You may be surprised to learn that another common cause of work-related TBIs at work is violence. High-stress professions such as food service or even healthcare can lead to escalated interactions where physical alterations take place.
If these interactions result in punching, slapping, or the use of weapons such as a bludgeon or gunshot, the injured worker could easily sustain a serious traumatic brain injury among other types of injuries. Workers injured by a violent act while at work may be eligible to seek workers’ compensation in addition to personal injury damages for their injuries.
Machinery
Shifting and moving heavy metal parts can spell disaster for workers trying to avoid brain injuries. Any occupations that require working in close proximity to machinery or heavy equipment in general (such as warehouse workers, mechanical workers, or manufacturers) must be provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) and training to make sure that the worker is aware of the risk of injury when working with machinery.
What to Do if You’ve Been Hit in the Head at Work
The first and most important action to take if you’ve sustained a head injury at work is to seek immediate medical treatment. This includes minor bumps on the head and a blow that knocks you unconscious.
Many brain injury symptoms don’t show up until hours or days after the incident takes place, and by the time they do show up, your condition has likely gotten much worse. Stop work, and immediately go to the emergency room and tell the receptionist that you were injured at work.
This not only protects you from potentially life-threatening head injury complications but also cretes medical documentation of your injury. This can come in handy later in your pursuit of workers’ compensation benefits.
Eligibility for Brain Injury Workers’ Compensation
In almost every situation, any employee who has been injured on the job will be eligible for medical care under their employer’s workers’ compensation insurance, and likely many more benefits under the same policy.
However, there are some basic stipulations you’ll need to meet in order to qualify. To file a claim, you’ll need to be:
- An employee (not an independent contractor)
- Injured while on the clock
- Performing the typical duties of your employment
Important to note is that you don’t necessarily need to be on your employer’s business property to file a claim, or on a job site at all. If you’re on the clock and in a car or at another non-work location and you’re injured, you’ll still be able to file a claim as long as you are performing the typical duties of your employment.
Workers’ Compensation for Serious Brain Injuries
If you qualify for workers’ comp, you’ll at the very least be eligible for medical care and the treatments prescribed by your doctor. However, you’ll likely also be eligible to receive a portion of your wages during your recovery time as well, and an additional figure if your injury has resulted in a temporary or permanent disability.
It all comes down to the extent of your injuries, how much time you require for your recovery, and most importantly, the effectiveness of your lawyer.
Family members of an employee injured on the job will also be able to file for workers’ compensation benefits if the employee has lost their ability to care for themselves due to a brain injury, though they will also need a lawyer to make sure they qualify and to help assert their rights as a dependent and caretaker.
How to File for Workers’ Compensation After a Brain Injury at Work
Once you’ve seen a medical professional for your TBI, the next step is to notify your employer of your accident as soon as you’re able to do so (after discussing with your attorney). They should have all of the necessary information you need to file a claim, but if not, you can find the paperwork you’ll need on the California Department of Industrial Relations website.
After you’ve filed your claim, a representative of your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance will likely attempt to call you to investigate your claim. In many situations, this is where an injured worker’s (or their family’s) claim is most vulnerable.
The insurance representative tasked with contacting you may attempt to find a reason to dismiss or deny your claim. This is often done through unethical or shady practices in which they try to get you to say something incriminating.
Contact a Lawyer Who Handles TBI Workers’ Compensation Cases
Though communication with insurance companies is simply part of the workers’ compensation process and must be done within a certain time frame, your rights as a claimant allow you to have a California workers’ compensation lawyer communicate with all of the necessary parties on your behalf.
While this is one of the most beneficial aspects of hiring a workers’ comp lawyer, it’s far from being the only one. A workers’ compensation lawyer can help you meet your paperwork requirements, meet important deadlines, and provide legal support to you and your family during the entire filing process or even an appeal.
If you have any questions about the process, your rights as a claimant, or you’re ready to file a claim, call James Koh at 213-232-2725. Our firm is dedicated to supporting Californians and their families through some of the most difficult times in their lives by providing them with exemplary legal counsel in an often difficult and intimidating process.
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If you or a loved one has been injured on the job, please contact us to assist you with your workers’ compensation claims.
