Work Comp!
 

I've been slightly injured a dozen or more times in my 32 years as a pipefighter. I always lied and said I did it at home, just because of the horror stories I'd heard. Well, about 3 months or so ago, I hurt my knee but good. I stepped into a floor drain in a boiler room that the maintenance man had left the cover off of. It wouldn't have been so bad, but the boiler relief pipe came straight down to the drain and I got my boot caught under it and fell with my foot planted. I heard a pop, and and saw red it hurt so bad. Three months after the fact and I'm finally getting an MRI in a week. I've been putting all my weight on the other leg, and now it's jacked up, mostly the ankle. I had to hire a lawyer and the whole nine yards, so my advice is just say it happened in your garden at home. At least then you get a real Doctor, not a quack, and timely medical care. I was scheduled to retire in March, so I think for all intents I'm done. Maybe I'll get a settlement and buy a motorcycle or something cool. 32 years in the trade, and first one, except for a wreck one time which was only a broken hand where I braced up on the steering wheel.

Ouch. I had the meniscus in my knee roto rootered out this past summer. Sounds painful, Jay. I know a lawyer hereabouts. ;)

Sorry for the pain and problems you've encounted, Dogs.

Let us know if you have any other ideas for improving the program for compensating workers for on-the-job injuries. Frankly, your advice to not use the system just recognizes that the system sucks so bad it might as well not exist. So, can you think of ways to fix it? Or should we junk it and not have a compensation system?

Or should we just keep on pretending we have a system?

Sorry but anyone who injures a knee at their workplace and does not report as a work related injury is just hurting themselves, plus not letting management keep track of hazards so they can reduce incidents in the future. If you reported it right away you should have had an immediate x-ray done to r/o fracture. In most cases if a meniscus or acl was torn waiting a few months for the MRI and surgery is not uncommon However having your insurance pay for it rather than your employer is just not good advice to give to anyone. By the way if you had gone right away to your own doctor on your own insurance dime you would still be waiting a few months for an mri and surgery if you had soft tissue damage. You do not have a case might as well save the money on the lawyer.

I x-ray Marines all the time that have knee problems resulting from injuries. Unless it is a traumatic accident most wait some months before knee surgery for meniscus tears, etc.

That sucks, Jay. Hope you heal up quick, my good man.

Where I work, everyone lies about their injuries........Because getting hurt can get you fired. I watched a man nearly cut his thumb completely off. He wrapped it in a rag, stuck it in his pocket and went home "sick". Two hours later, he called in and said he had cut his thumb at home..............

Another incident;

A woman was lifting a case off a conveyor when it grabbed her glove and pulled her hand into a pinch point. I had to cut the belt to pull her hand out. All four fingers were obviously broken. They were all bent backwards. She stuck her hand in her pocket and managed to work to the end of her shift working with one hand. Called in the next morning and told them she had caught it in a car door.

It's a damn shame people have to resort to this sort of thing, but we do. Companies stopped cutting people slack for getting hurt about 20 years ago. At least that's what I've seen from my experience.

I had no idea things had gotten that bad.

This sounds like something out of the 19th century.:(

That it is tolerated illustrates how 'bad becomes normal.' Gradual frog-boiling principle.

This is yet another insurance company scam that is rotten to the core. If the employee does not notify a work place accident, the employer gets a pass. And usually the medical treatment they get is a farce (read scam) and the regular medical insurance will not touch it. Too many workplace accidents regardless of the severity, insurance goes sky high and/or the regular insurance drops you. A company is then forced to get the so called 'high risk insurance' at ridiculous premiums. So it becomes a cat and mouse game between the employer, employee and the insurance company.

The worst part is that an employee can run a scam and nothing can be done by the employer and the insurance company would rather pay and settle than fight.

A least this part incentivizes some desire in the employer to promote safety. Which counters, perhaps, to some degree, the always-present incentives to ignore it.

I don't know about other states but in California it is very risky to ignore safety rules and not carry the state mandated insurance. State, county/city and the insurance company are all monitoring and auditing the workplace regularly. Here in the city of Santa Clara, it's like 'don't even think about it or we will shut you down'. They have and they do if not the company parts of the operation deemed unsafe. And all visits are impromptu.