Start with the loading dock itself

If there was no safety barrier, that condition matters more than whatever the insurance company is already muttering about your anxiety, depression, or "pre-existing issues."

Get photos of the dock now.

Not next week.

Not after the manager says corporate has it handled.

Fast food back entrances get changed fast. A cheap chain gets nervous, somebody throws up a cone, a rail, fresh paint, a warning sign, and suddenly the scene looks "safe" in every photo taken after the fact. That screws you.

You want wide shots and close shots. The whole dock. The drop to the pavement. The edge where a barrier should have been. Any skid marks, grease, spilled soda syrup, ice, bent metal, busted pallets, poor lighting, and where the delivery truck normally parks. If there's a camera over the back door or dumpster area, photograph that too. Same for any signs that are missing.

In Charleston, especially behind busy spots near Corridor G, Kanawha City, or around the downtown delivery alleys, those back-of-house areas get cluttered and dangerous in a hurry. Show the clutter.

Save proof before people "forget"

Witnesses disappear fast in food service. People quit. Managers transfer. A teenager working fries one week is gone the next. Somebody who saw you fall may stop answering once corporate starts talking.

Get names and personal phone numbers, not just work numbers.

Get texts if they sent any.

Get a voice memo from yourself tonight while it's fresh. Say the date, time, weather, what shoes you had on, what you were carrying, whether a truck was backing in, who was there, what was said right after, and how you landed. Spring in Charleston means wet mornings, slick concrete, and surprise rain. If the dock was damp, say it.

Keep the shoes.

Keep the uniform.

Don't wash the blood, grease, or whatever was on them if it matters.

Dashcam footage is real, and it vanishes

Here's what most people don't realize: delivery drivers, neighboring businesses, and even random vehicles in the lot may have dashcam footage. In a place with constant truck traffic - same state roads seeing pipeline and Marcellus Shale traffic rumble through all day - cameras are everywhere.

You usually do not have some magic right to demand a stranger's dashcam file months later. But you can ask immediately, and that matters. If a bread truck, soda vendor, or third-party delivery van was there, identify the company and vehicle if you can. Write down license plates. Ask the business in writing to preserve any surveillance video from that date and time. Same for the restaurant and neighboring stores.

A lot of systems overwrite in days.

That's the ugly part.

Get the incident report and the police report, if there is one

A loading dock fall at work does not always bring Charleston Police, but sometimes EMS shows up and an officer gets called if there's confusion, severe injury, or a disturbance about fault. If police came, get the report number and request the report. If no police came, get the employer's incident report and every version of it.

Do not assume the report is accurate.

Read it. Managers love vague wording like "employee lost footing." That phrase hides the missing barrier. If the report leaves out the unsafe edge, the lighting, the wet surface, or the fact you were directed to use that area, that omission matters.

Preserve your phone records before the carrier dumps them

Your phone can back up your timeline better than your memory, especially if depression and panic have flattened everything into mush.

Save screenshots of:

• call logs, texts, photos, location history, rides, maps, and notes from the day before, day of, and days after the fall

Why? Because insurers love saying your emotional collapse was already there and had nothing to do with the fall. If your records show a sharp change - missed shifts, frantic calls, urgent care visits, pharmacy runs, messages about pain, panic, not sleeping, not being able to climb stairs or drive - that helps connect the crash in your functioning to the dock incident, not just your old chart.

Download and back up the original files, not just screenshots if possible. Phone carriers and apps do not keep everything forever.

About that health insurance lien

No, a health insurer claiming a lien on the whole settlement does not automatically mean it gets the whole damn settlement.

But if you don't save the evidence that proves how strong the case is, you lose leverage twice. First on the injury claim itself. Then again when the insurer argues its reimbursement demand should come off the top before you see a dime.

The missing barrier photos, the witness names, the surveillance request, the timeline in your phone, and records showing your mental health got worse after the fall - not just before it - all feed into the same fight over how much your case is worth and how hard that lien can be pushed back.