Legal Question in Civil Litigation in North Carolina
I was at work and a coworker was plugging away a charger for a scrubber. Sparks started flying with loud popping sounds I jumped back looking at the sparks. He was getting hit with sparks so I went to try to grab him, he jumped back. We went to the bathroom his hand was in pain with a large burnt mark on his palm. We called the co-manger and we moved him to another room. They applied 1st aid on him. I stood with him for about 30-45 mins. After that I went back to work for 15 mins till I went to lunch. After the adrenaline rush and being off work I felt different I feel having deep headaches my vision a blurry. I has been in contact with someone who been electrocuted. The machines been used for over 10 years and were broken.
2 Answers from Attorneys
I'm sorry to hear about your injury. Your post doesn't indicate what you question is, but I will try to offer some general information. I will suggest contacting an attorney with experience representing injured workers about pursuing a worker's compensation claim. When an employee is injured do to an unexpected event while carrying our his job duties, the injured employee may be entitled to workers' compensation benefits These benefits may include medical treatment, lost wages, and permanent injury, if any, due to the workplace incident. There may be penalties against the employer when failure to follow safety rules cause the injury. I'm not able to offer specific advice, but I will suggest contacting an employee who represents injured workers in workers' compensation claims. Consultations on workers' comp claims should be free. I am glad to discuss offline if that would be helpful.
This isn't story time theater - do you have a legal question? I assume you want to know if you have some sort of case against the employer - probably not. I can get a headache and blurry vision from drinking a beer too fast. So to say you were injured in that manner due to contact with some one who was 'electrocuted' while maybe technically correct, if he got hit with more than just sparks, seems like a 'so what' situation. However, if you can prove injury due to a job related activity your claim would likely be for workers compensation. Your best bet is to see a doctor and if there is a connection - look into filing a workers comp claim. Even if you are legitimately injured be prepared for a lot of people to doubt anything serious happen to you from the incident as you describe it. Best of luck to you!