need advice with eye injury claim

I'll make this part as brief as possible, I suffered an injury to my left eye while at work, one in a million freak accident. I was hit directly in that eye with water from an inground spray head at about 50 psi from about a foot away. For a more direct description, imagine pulling your eye completely open and aiming a pressure washer directly into it, basically my eye was shredded. I was taken by ambulance and in surgery within 3 hours, detached retina, ruptured cornea, lacerations from metal and debris, yada, yada. So after everything was put back together, after monthly tests and visits to specialists, it has now been determined that I have permanent nerve damage. While the eye is holding together and appears healthy on the outside, it is virtually useless due to having zero perifial vision and just a blur from the middle.

So now L&I wants to settle with me, however I really dont have any experience or idea how this is supposed to work, so far I have just been dependent upon L&I telling me whats going to happen and Im not sure if that's the smartest approach for me personally. Im not looking to take everyone for all they've got, that's not me, I just wanted to be treated fairly and honestly. So im afraid my ignorrance on what's fair and the fact that I dont have an attorney involved could be used against me.

As of right now what I know is my wage is being used to calculate my settlement. So if the same exact injury happend to a guy that makes more than me, his eye is worth more than mine? Also they are trying to use what my previous eye sight as a gauge, (I had 20/40) but that shouldnt matter because now im legally blind in the eye. So I should get less than a 20/20 guy with same injury?

So I guess im looking for some impartial advice/tips on what questions I should be asking, If I should involve an attorney, etc. Because right now Im leaving it up to people who likely are not looking out for my best interests.

In short, I would recommend that you consult an attorney immediately. Given that L&I have approached you in order to settle the case, it would appear that your employer is willing to accept liability for the accident, although this is not clear from your post.
The valuation of damages is a complicated procedure. The difficulty that you are going to encounter in valuing the damages is the affect that your disability may now have on your ability to work in the future. The reason that your salary is being considered is because it is highly likely that your future earnings are going to be adversely affected by your injury.
Basically, you are going to be looking at damages under a number of headings (e.g pain and suffering for the injury, your continuing disability, your potential future loss of earnings...). Given the complexity of your situation, the fact that the costs of legal counsel may be assisted as this is a workers compensation complaint and the potential high value of the claim, I think that it is definitely advisable for you to consult an attorney.

I have just been recooping after a similar accident. Actually I was being handed the gun of a pressure washer (with no spray tip on the end thank God), when it shot off about a litre or two of water anywhere from 1000-3000 psi directly into my left eye from about 3 or 4 feet away.

I am sorry to hear about your accident, as it seems to be quite severe.
Luckly the water that hit me was clean and came in a blob/blast and acted like more of a punch. The doctor said my contact lens might have saved my pupil, but my eye began to fill with blood immediately and I lost my vision completely for a good half of a day. Taken time to get better, but still somethings wrong...

Now I have an enlarged pupil with no more than 4 milimeters of iris showing in my left eye, trouble focusing and I'm now trying to figure out how long term or truely scaring the whole thing is... I just finished 18 months in school for animation, a job that is made for eyes.

Any advice/shared sympathy?

Where did that happen? Whose washer was it?