Anyone who has been to a few of South Carolina’s major cities knows that Spartanburg and Greenville are a hub of manufacturing activity that boosts the local and statewide economy. Greenville is home to the Michelin Tire Corporation and BMW Manufacturing while Spartanburg boasts major corporations such as FujiFilm. These companies employ tens of thousands of people and bring big business to the cities they are located in. However, with so many employees it also means that these cities, and other major cities like them, see more workplace accidents.
This was made most obvious just recently in April 2018 when an auto worker in the BMW plant died after becoming trapped in a vehicle lift. The fact is that manufacturing plants are very dangerous places to work. And while workers often wear protective gear to ensure they are not injured, there are no guarantees of safety in these areas of work. The equipment in manufacturing plants is massive. When workers are not careful or have not received the proper training for their job, they can easily become crushed by equipment, pulled into equipment, or struck forcibly against it.
When these and other workplace accidents occur, they can cause serious injuries to the worker and in too many cases, even be fatal. When that is the case, workers or their families may be able to apply for workers’ compensation. Standard workers’ compensation benefits paid to injured workers will include benefits for things such as loss of income due to being unable to work, and medical bills. When a workplace accident has been fatal for the worker, their family can receive the same benefits the employee would have been eligible for. These are known as death benefits under South Carolina’s workers’ compensation system.
While these benefits are available for most workplace accidents, it is not always easy to get them. The benefits are paid out by insurance companies and, like most insurance companies, they want to keep settlements small to increase their own profit. To do this they often deny claims or offer small settlements that do not begin to fully cover the costs an injured individual is forced to pay.
However, an attorney with the necessary experience in workers’ compensation claims can help. An attorney will know the rights injured workers have and will fight hard to ensure that they are upheld. They also know all the tactics insurance companies use to deny claims or limit settlements and can combat those and hold the insurance company responsible for paying out any benefits an injured worker is entitled to. Anyone injured in a workplace accident in Spartanburg or Greenville should always speak to a workers’ compensation lawyer immediately to get the help they need, and the full amount of benefits they may be entitled to.
