I was at work yesterday when I stepped off a forklift into a gob of grease, that had apparently fallen off someones forktruck. I tried to hold on to the wheel as I fell, my feet flying up and one leg jammed under the lift. My head slammed into a board on the way down, I blacked out, and started bleeding, my back was injured also, as I called for help my employers came out and instead of calling an ambulance, rode me on an electric cart to my coworkers pickup, then for a ride to the e.r.
I was xrayed and everything looked o.k., but today I have blurred vision, migrane type headaches, and I am on a crutch for my back.
I went to my doctor today and was examined, I was given some pills for my pain, my back, which is a disc injury so they won't help, I just got over a back disc injury recently, and know what it fells like.
I was told I could go back to work next week, for light duty. There is no light duty in what I do, they will try to have me on the heavy stuff as I know them well.
All bills are being taken care of by work mans comp.
Has anyone have any advice for me, or has experienced this first hand.
This is my first and didn't want to be taken advantage of, since the little man often is.
After all, isn't the workplace supposed to be safe?

In the past 10 years I have been injured on the job several times. Only needed the ambulance once though. That trip had me with a split open scalp that required 50 or so stitches to close, a chipped tooth, a concussion and a sore arm.

After two weeks I was back to work. After three weeks I requested to go back to a doctor to have a second look at my arm. The specialist workers comp sent me to took about five minutes and one x-ray to tell me my arm had been broken. The original ER doctor failed to diagnose the break even after I drew his attention to the pain I was encountering with it.

To make a long story short, the arm needed an operation to put it as right as it could be put and another few weeks out of work.

The moral is; make sure you let your employer know if you are satisfied with your treatment for your injury. Don't let up until you are satisfied with your medical treatment.

LTC

Document, document, document. Even if you do nothing, get better, things sometimes come back later. Not at all telling you to go for the jugular, but write down every detail while its fresh in your mind, write down all about the hospital visit, who was there etc.
Anytime you go to any disability board, soc sec, workmens comp etc they are big on it. I should be on soc sec disability and so should my wife, but due to bad book keeping it hurt both of us. You probley could have both legs cut off and they will turn you down automaticly at least three times in the best of cases!

Do what the doctors allow or recommend or nothing until you can resume normal effort. IMHO.

The blurred vision and headaches are concerning. If you were actually unconcious its pretty lame that they didn't do a head Cat Scan or perhaps and MRI.
See your own primary care doctor, he may want to refer you to a neurologist for follow up.

I can't speak for a whole lot, but I know this. You suffered a traumatic injury in which you fell and struck your head that resulted in a loss of consciousness. That always, ALWAYS, is an alarm bell for an ambulance ride. The reason is, you would have been packaged properly on a spine board and fitted with a cervical collar and immobilized to prevent further injury. If you have had an injury to your spinal chord that was further aggravated by being moved around inappropriately you could have been paralyzed. To pick you up and carry you to the ER without calling EMS was a very ignorant move to me. I do hope you are able to heal quickly. And I am thankful for you that it was no worse than it is. Good luck.

Your employer is not making wise choices for you. And you say that you know them well and they’ll have you on the heavy stuff as there is no light duty. I really don’t like the sound of things. If I were you, I’d contact a Workers Comp attorney and get a 20 minute pro bono interview and seek legal advice. This shouldn’t be a big deal as the attorney will view you as a possible future client.


Very good advice. Document everything and get all the paperwork that is available concerning your treatments. And don’t be shy about a second medical opinion. Your current physician doesn’t sound like he / she is completely competent. As mentioned above, head and back injuries accompanied by loss of consciousness are nothing to take lightly. It’s actually pretty scary the way you have explained things. Good luck with this.

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CJ is right. Document everything you can remember. Time, Date & place. Witnesses are an asset. Doctors name & hospital is important. Don't ask me how I know this.

Been there, done that! As you surmise, it sounds like your employer
would like to avoid the attention from OSHA that could be coming
if an ambulance trip was involved.
If you go back to work before all aspects of your injuries are
investigated, it is possible that your employer may try to discard you
by saying that further problems are not related to the original
accident.
Have learned too late about the advice from other posters to help
me; you need to be 100% before something really bad happens.
Going back to work too soon can cripple you for life, trust me!
TACC1

I can only speak for Ohio but part of my job is investigating workplace accidents.

Not taking you in via ambulance was a poor choice on your companies part. It potentially increased your risk and tied up another productive worker. An ambulance ride does NOT trigger OSHA attention in my experience.

Light duty is legitimate but make sure your Doctor is specific about what tasks you can and cannot do. A large part of my frustration in dealing with workers comp is the direct result of poorly filled out documents from Doctors.

Ask your Doctor or WC Claims Rep about Work Hardening for Return to Work or Voc Rehab for Return to Work. Both of those programs involve working with a physical therapist to strengthen you and get you back to full duty as soon as possible. We use an onsite physical therapist as much as possible to reduce time away from work for the recovering worker.

If you don't accept light duty when offered that can be grounds for the employer requesting the claim be dismissed.

Good luck with your recovery. With an injury that involves a muscle strain like you describe some of the pain and stiffness may not show up for a day or two. Don't be surprised if you feel worse on Monday than you do today.

if you start having any stomach pain along with your blurred vision seek medical attention immediately, my wife cant diagnose you over the computer but blurred vision after a head injury is almost always a concussion. you DO need to write down every detail of your incident and definitely dont go back to work and do your regular job if it isnt "light duty" workers comp will drop your case and you will be stuck with your own bills.

Good doctor and good lawyer.Don't go to work!!!Been there!

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WALSTIB