APPLICATION FOR BENEFITS
Application to reopen treated as accident report
An application to reopen a claim for a prior injury, filed within one year of a new injury, may properly be considered as a claim for that new injury where information concerning the new incident has been supplied to the Department. ....Stanley Lee, 09,425 (1959) [See also In re John Svicarovich, BIIA Dec., 08,205 (1957), APPLICATION TO REOPEN CLAIM]
Reasonable notification
A worker's letter to the Department explaining that he had injured his back the day before he suffered from an accepted injury described as "heat" coupled with a letter from a physician's assistant indicating that the worker was seen for heat exhaustion and back pain constitute an application for benefits within the meaning of RCW 51.28.020. ....Leroy Norris, 92 1471 (1993)
When an application for benefits identified two dates within a week of each other that injuries had occurred, the reference to the earlier injury in medical notes attached to the application for benefits in the second injury constituted a filing of a request for benefits because it reasonably put the Department on notice of the earlier alleged industrial injury. ....Charles Pierce, 91 4625 (1993)[Editor's Note: The Board's decision was appealed to superior court under Pierce County Cause No. 91-2-07862-4.]