Peoria Workers' Compensation Blog

Firefighters put their lives at risk day-in and day-out. Their bravery saves lives, but it can also cost them their health. For this reason, certain benefits are accorded to firefighters here who suffer cancer due to their work.

According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, firefighters are more likely than the general populace to receive a cancer diagnosis and to die from the disease. For this reason, many states have passed laws in which it is presumed that if a firefighter is diagnosed with cancer, either while employed or within a specific time frame once they retire, that the disease was caused due to their job duties. These laws are meant to make it easier for firefighters to obtain workers' compensation benefits or death benefits in the case of a fatality.

When a worker in Peoria is injured on-the-job, they may feel it is obvious that their claim for workers' compensation benefits should be approved. However, sometimes, workers in Illinois find that their initial claim for benefits is denied. But, this is not the end of the story. There are processes in which a worker can appeal a denied workers' compensation claim.

First, the worker will report the injury to their employer. Following that, the employer will report the injury to the Commission, if the injury results in more than three days of lost work. After that, the Commission will mail the injured worker a handbook letter. After that, the parties may resolve their case.

While fishing workers took the top spot for most dangerous occupations in the U.S. according to a 24/7 Wall St. review of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, people in Illinois may be surprised to hear of other occupations that ranked high in fatalities across the U.S. Many of these fatalities were related to working at dangerous heights, working with dangerous machinery or having to operate a motor vehicle for a substantial amount of time.

For example, refuse and recyclable material collectors ranked 5th in the most dangerous jobs in the U.S. with 34.9 fatalities per every 100,000 workers in 2017, and 1,340 nonfatal injuries that same year. Many of these workers use a motor vehicle every day as part of their job duties, which increases the risk of being involved in a traffic accident. In addition, these workers can be exposed to dangerous substances, resulting in illnesses.

No one in Illinois expects to be injured on-the-job, but such injuries happen to workers across the state every day. Of course, injured workers may be primarily concerned with regaining their health, but there are often many expenses they incur due to the injury they suffered. When this happens, they may want to seek workers' compensation benefits. There are several types of benefits that a worker might pursue through the workers' compensation system.

One benefit is compensation for medical care associated with the injury. If the employee cannot work due to the injury and needs time to recover, he or she might seek temporary total disability benefits. And, if the employee can return to the workplace on light duty but will not be paid as much as they were before the injury, that employee may be able to seek temporary partial disability benefits.