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Ohio BWC: I just got injured what do I do now?

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Essentially in the most Simplest Form the Process is as Follows:

You Get Injured at Work

Let your supervisor or manager know you’ve got injured

You seek medical treatment, either ER, urgent care, or primary care physician. Hopefully you have sought treatment right away. Sooner you seek treatment and document the injury, the better.

That provider has you fill out a First Report of Injury Form, FROI-1, they fill out their section.

The FROI-I is submitted to the BWC, this starts the claim

The BWC does an initial investigation, gathers medical, either allows or denies the claim

BWC issues an order allowing or denying the claim, if allowed, employer appeals, if denied, you appeal

You must appeal the order within 14 days

Issue of the claim allowance is scheduled for a district level hearing before the Ohio Industrial Commission

You receive a hearing notice indicating date, time, address of the hearing

You and your attorney argue for the allowance of the claim, and request compensation if substantiated

Hearing Officer issues a DHO Order. If it goes your way, employer appeals, and vice versa.

DHO Order must be appealed within 14 days.

Then get second level hearing before a different hearing officer, called a Staff Hearing Officer, issues an SHO Order

That’s the basics of the beginning of the claim process. Once the claim is allowed, opens the door for treatment for the ALLOWED conditions only, and compensation substantiated by the ALLOWED conditions only.

As always I recommend you seek out an attorney. The Ohio BWC Process can be cumbersome and confusing, and it is far too easy to make a mistake if you have never dealt with the system before.

I’ve Made a Youtube Video Explaining the Process in Significantly more Detail: