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South Carolina
We Can Help You With Your Workplace Injury
When you're used to working hard every day, it can be a shock to suddenly stop working due to a debilitating workplace injury. But such injuries happen every day across South Carolina. Whether you're a hospital worker who lifts a patient, a factory worker who falls from a ladder, a construction worker hurt by a bulldozer or an office worker with a repetitive stress injury, it can happen to you. If you've been injured at work, call an experienced workers compensation lawyer at our law firm today. We can help.
- Common Workplace Injuries
- Healthcare Worker Accidents
- Construction Accidents
- Factory Accidents
- Repetitive Stress Injuries
Serious Workplace Accidents Demand Tough Workers Comp Lawyers
The workers' compensation process is difficult, particularly when it comes to speaking with your boss, doctors or insurance adjusters. When you have an experienced attorney working hard on your behalf, you can focus on your recovery. You're also more likely to get a fair settlement.
Don't suffer needlessly or try to take on claims adjusters alone. They will likely pressure you to sign off on a "low-ball" offer that doesn't even come close to covering all your medical expenses, lost wages, vocational rehabilitation or emotional therapy you may need in order to return to work. If you lost a loved one, we can help you pursue wrongful death benefits. Call the Benjamin R. Matthews and Associates, LLC today at (803) 799-1700 or contact us online for a free initial consultation.
Wondering if the pain you're feeling could be a work injury? We've been helping injured workers for over 20 years and have seen a wide range of work accident injuries, many of them debilitating. Here are just a few, all of which are covered under South Carolina Workers Compensation coverage:
- Construction accident injuries
- Repetitive stress injuries
- Healthcare worker injuries
- Factory and warehouse injuries
- Exposure to toxic chemicals
- Restaurant injuries
The most common cause of occupational injuries and deaths, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, is falling, whether it's from a ladder during a house-painting project, off a crane at a construction site or from a roof while replacing shingles. Surprisingly, musculoskeletal disorders make up a third of all workplace injuries. These typically affect muscles, tendons, ligaments and spinal discs and occur in the transportation, manufacturing and nursing professions.
You may be suffering from heavy lifting back strain, defective machinery cuts, toxic poisoning from chemical spills, breathing in hazardous dust or carpal tunnel syndrome. No matter what type of work injury you have, once your boss is done filing Work Comp forms, you will have to go to the company doctor. If the doctor is skeptical, you may have a hard time proving your work injury. That's where we come in. We can stand up for you and make sure your workplace injury receives the attention it rightfully deserves.
You spend every work day helping others-moving injured or infirm patients from vans to wheelchairs and gurneys to beds, risking disease by being near airborne viruses, dangerous bacteria and contaminated needles, and handling sharp scalpels that may have germs and blood on them.
If you've been injured in a hospital, clinic, emergency room or doctor's office, your job-related injury could be as serious as a construction worker or factory employee injury. Don't be stoic simply because "it's part of the job." Common healthcare worker injuries that qualify for Workman's Compensation coverage include:
- Proximity to infectious diseases
- Dangerous needle-sticks
- Exposure to body fluids and toxins
- Needle-stick injuries
- Cuts from surgical instruments
- Risk of being harmed by psychiatric patients
- Slipping and falling on hospital floor spills
- Hazardous clinical lab work
- Repetitive stress injuries from lifting patients all day
Don't sacrifice your own well-being while taking care of patients. And don't assume you can care for yourself alone. Get the medical attention and financial assistance you need and deserve. Rely on the attorneys at Benjamin R. Matthews and Associates, LLC. We can help.
Adjusters are quite accustomed to reviewing Workers Compensation forms filled out by contractors and construction site foremen about injured construction workers. With so much heavy machinery, power tools, safety violation and lack of protective gear on building sites, it's not surprising. Construction site accidents can cause devastating injuries and may include:
- Falls from ladders, roofs and scaffolding
- Bulldozer, forklift and crane accidents
- Brain injuries from falling objects
- Broken bones from moving lumber or beams
- Exposure to toxic chemicals, spills and vapors
- Defective power tool injuries
- Hoisted loads that fall
- Loose rigging
- Bad machine maintenance
- Broken cables and ropes
- Poor quality hardware
- Welding burns
If you've lost a loved one in a construction site death, we can help you obtain wrongful death benefits to help your family after such a major loss. We know how the legal system works in South Carolina and we're eager to help you.
Industrial accidents in factories cause some of the worst job injuries in South Carolina. If proper safety training procedures and regular machine maintenance are not part of company policy, the risks are even higher. Many industrial factory plant workers are so used to hazards on the job, they may assume that nagging back pain, constant headache or recurring numbness in their hands may not be a workplace injury. Factory accidents may include any of the following:
- Unloading trucks
- Driving forklifts
- Moving crates and boxes
- Filling work orders
- Using assembly line power tools
- Managing inventory
- Fulfilling orders
- Operating heavy machinery
- Safety violations
- Falls from industrial ladders
- Falling boxes
- Precariously stored inventory
- Defective equipment
- Toxic chemical spills
- Delivery vehicle crashes
- Outdated manufacturing
We know how severe factory and warehouse accidents can be and are used to dealing with claims adjusters. That's why we're eager to work with you. If you've lost a loved one in a warehouse or factory accident fatality, we can help you obtain wrongful death benefits to help your family get through the hardship of such an immense loss. Your best interests truly come first here.
Repetitive stress injuries, also known as RSI or continuous motion injuries, occur in numerous industries. For years, many people thought only office workers or computer data entry employees got these injuries. But the medical and occupational therapy community now knows that anyone whose work demands repeated movements can sustain a repetitive stress injury.
RSI causes musculoskeletal strain in ligaments, tendons, nerves, spinal discs and muscles. Symptoms can include swollen and stiff joints, aching muscles, sore back, numbness, tingling, carpal tunnel syndrome, wrist tendonitis and "tennis elbow." There are many occupations that can cause repetitive motion pain, including:
- Computer keyboard typing and mousing
- Heavy lifting
- Restaurant line chef
- House cleaning and maid service
- Digging, landscaping and gardening
- Using power tools
- Driving a car, van, bus or train
- Operating heavy machinery
- Packing, moving or stacking boxes
- Moving patients in healthcare facilities
When you speak with your employer and their insurance company, make sure to list not only symptoms but details about your job as well. If a workstation is not ergonomically correct-be it a factory assembly line, office desk or construction site-the cumulative effect of doing the same motion over and over can be debilitating. It can limit movements so you can't do simple tasks, such as grip a pen, turn a doorknob or lift a bag of groceries.
Benjamin R. Matthews and Associates, LLC helps people just like you get the medical attention and ergonomic assessment they need so their repetitive stress motion injuries can finally heal. We're here for you when you need us most. Contact our law firm today.