Eye Injuries

An Experienced Workers’ Comp Lawyer for Eye Injuries

When it comes to work-related eye injuries, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that eye injuries are rarely fatal. The bad news is that they can cause significant disability, including loss of sight and blindness. The American Academy of Ophthalmology reports that there are nearly 20,000 eye injuries that occur in the workplace each year, and many of those require time away from work for recovery. If you have suffered an eye injury in a work-related accident, a Long Island workers’ compensation lawyer can help you obtain the workers’ compensation benefits to which you are entitled.

Common Types of Eye Injuries

Most work-related eye injuries fall into one or more of the following categories:

• Foreign object injuries: Occur when small particles — such as dust, wood chips, or metal fragments — enter the eye and cause irritation or abrasion.
• Puncture injuries: Occur when sharp objects, such as tools or glass shards, cut or penetrate the eye, which in some cases can result in permanent blindness.
• Chemical burns: Occur when hazardous chemicals, including fumes or vapors, enter the eye and cause serious burns.
• Blunt force trauma: Occurs when workers are struck in the face by foreign objects, such as falling tools or machinery parts, resulting in orbital fractures, internal bleeding, or retinal damage.
• Thermal burns: Occur when the eye is exposed to high temperatures, such as sparks, molten metal, or hot grease, and can cause scarring to the eye tissue.
• Welders’ flash: Also known as “arc eye,” it occurs when welders are exposed to ultraviolet or infrared radiation, which can result in corneal inflammation if incurred repeatedly.

How Eye Injuries Occur

While eye injuries are most common in industries in which workers are exposed to flying debris, chemicals, and high-intensity light, they can occur to any worker in any workplace. Some of the most common causes of eye injuries include:

• Flying debris: Exposure to dust, dirt, and concrete particles is a leading cause of eye injuries and is especially common on farms, construction sites, and manufacturing plants.
• Falling objects: On job sites, nails, screws, and other small objects can fall or be propelled into the eye. Without appropriate eyewear, these falling objects can result in some of the most serious eye injuries.
• Exposure to chemicals: Splashes, spills, and vapors commonly result in injuries for workers in sanitation services, laboratories, factories, and healthcare settings.
• Exposure to heat and sparks: Welders, foodservice workers, and metalworkers are often exposed to sparks, molten metal, and hot grease, which can result in scarring eye injuries.
• Lack of proper safety equipment: The most preventable cause of eye injuries is the lack of safety equipment or improper use thereof. While employers are legally obligated to provide such equipment, they often don’t.

Regardless of what industry you’re in or how you suffered your eye injury, if it was work-related, you should consider speaking to a Long Island workers’ compensation lawyer about pursuing a claim.

What to Do After Suffering a Work-Related Eye Injury

Step one in the workers’ compensation claim process is to report the accident to your employer. You have 30 days to report the accident to your employer but immediately following the accident is always best. Step two – once you have notified your employer, you should seek medical attention for your eye injury. Even if it doesn’t seem all that serious, medical evidence from your initial examination can be highly persuasive in workers’ compensation claims. Step three is to officially file your Employee Claim Form with the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board within two years of your accident. While you have 30 days to report your injury and two years to file a claim, you should act as quickly as possible to ensure that you can locate the evidence you need and that the memories of anyone who witnessed your accident are fresh.

Workers’ Compensation Benefits for Eye Injuries

Workers suffering from eye injuries are entitled to the following forms of workers’ compensation benefits:

• Medical benefits: Provide for all medically necessary care, including emergency treatment, follow-up doctors’ visits, medical procedures, and prescription medications, among others.
• Cash benefits: Provide a portion of your salary to compensate you for lost wages. The formula for calculating cash benefits is two-thirds of your average weekly wage multiplied by the percent you are disabled. So, for example, if your average weekly wage before your eye accident was $1,250 and you are 50% disabled, your weekly cash benefit would be roughly $417.
• Death benefits: In the (unlikely) event that your eye injury results in death, death benefits are payable to your surviving spouse and/or minor children. Death benefits are equal to two-thirds of your average weekly wage for the year prior to your accident, plus up to $12,500 in funeral expenses.

Eye injuries may also entitle their sufferers to a schedule loss of use award — a cash benefit that compensates injured workers for loss of wage-earning capacity due to a permanent functional impairment of a body part. A Long Island workers’ compensation lawyer can discuss with you whether you qualify for a schedule loss of use award.

Why It’s Important to Work With an Experienced Attorney

There is no legal requirement to hire an attorney to pursue a workers’ compensation claim. However, it’s still a good idea to do so because working with an attorney can maximize your chances of success. Workers’ compensation attorneys know the system forward, backward, and inside-out, including how to make the most effective arguments and present the best evidence to the Workers’ Compensation Board that your injury prevents you from working. The workers’ compensation claims process is also filled with procedural pitfalls for the unwary, but an experienced attorney can keep you from making a mistake that could doom your claim.

Ease Your Recovery With Help From a Long Island Workers’ Compensation Lawyer

If you’ve suffered an eye injury that has kept you out of work, you may be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. For more information, please contact a Long Island workers’ compensation lawyer at Turley, Redmond & Rosasco by using our online form or calling 516-745-5666 (Garden City), 631-582-3700 (Ronkonkoma).