If you are a general contractor, then it is probably pretty obvious how many occupational hazards you and your employees face. As a result, you will probably be required by law to purchase workers’ compensation insurance. It’s there to help you support your employees if they ever get hurt on the job.
But workers’ compensation is about more than just a legal requirement. It’s an important safety cushion for your contracting business during very sensitive situations involving employee injuries. With the propensity of injury risks present in all lines of construction, this is an essential benefit that you cannot go without. Consider why you need this essential benefit from day one.
The Injury Risks Associated With General Contracting
Contracting involves construction, which clearly gives rise to numerous injury risks for both the business owner and employees. Working conditions might create obvious risks of hazards like falls, head injuries, burns, machinery injuries or injuries resulting from a commercial vehicle accident. However, less obvious risks might be chronic illnesses caused by constant exposure to hazardous materials, or repetitive motion injuries caused by doing the same tasks over and over again.
In any of these cases, an injured employee might sustain an injury that causes them to face high medical bills, and they might be forced off the job during their recovery, which could lead to a lost paycheck. They might even die in a construction accident, and as a result their family could lose the income that this person used to provide.
In these circumstances, workers’ compensation insurance can provide the solutions available to help the injured party protect themselves. Plus, it also helps the business reduce its own liability for accidents.
How Workers’ Compensation Insurance Works
When your business has workers’ compensation insurance, an injured employee is able to file a claim against the party for support during their recovery from an on-the-job accident. The policy can provide them coverage for both medical costs and a supplementary income. Additionally, if the employee is deceased, then their survivors can file a claim for death benefits.
It is the injured employee, not the contracting business, that receives the payout from workers’ compensation insurance. However, the contractor stands to benefit by having this insurance because it lessens their liability for employee injuries. By claiming workers’ compensation, an injured party waives their right to sue the business over the injury, except in limited cases.
Therefore, you won’t have to face the prospect of someone suing you just because they got hurt at work. Instead, you’ll have a pathway created by your workers compensation policy, which will allow easy management of the employee’s injuries.
Also Read: How Much is General Contractors Insurance?
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