If you suffer an injury at work, you have the right to claim worker’s compensation so that the costs do not come out of your pocket. Yet, if you were in some way to blame for the accident, people might come out with statements such as “Why should the company pay when it was your own fault that you got injured?”
First, your employer does not pay. Not directly, at least. They pay premiums to an insurer, much like you pay premiums to an insurer for your car or house. If you need to make a claim, it is the insurer that will pay. They may, of course, raise your employer’s premiums in the future if they need to make too many payments to injured workers.
The insurance is not dependent on showing fault
Workers’ compensation is no-fault insurance. You do not need to show your employer lacked adequate safety precautions or anything else.
If, however, the insurer is unhappy about paying (which they often are), they may claim they do not need to pay because the accident was your fault. They are most likely to succeed when someone clearly breaches their employer’s safety regulations. For example, an employee was drunk when they crashed the forklift truck into the shelving stack that fell on them. Or they had broken into a room that was padlocked and had a sign saying “Danger. Do not enter.” on the door.
Yet even those cases are not clear cut. However much you feel an accident may have been your fault, getting legal help ensures you the best chance of compensation.