Workplace accidents can cause injuries that are life-threatening to people.
Employers are obligated to give you a safe working space and give you proper safety procedures to reduce risk for accidental injuries and other problems.
But they may even happen during the safest conditions. With someone getting injured on the job every 7 seconds according to the National Security Council, it’s important to make sure you know of the top workplace injuries, and how to avoid them.
The top three of course are usually the following:
- Falls
- Overexertion
- Contact with objects and equipment
We’ll go over each one here.
Overexertion
This accounts for a third of the injuries in the workplace that occurs from pulling, carrying, lifting, throwing or turning items, but also may happen due to repetitive activities. Usually, this happens as well when people push their body beyond the limits there especially when fatigued or sore muscles exists. It also happens with positions that are awkward and temperatures that are extreme.
You should limit the time you do repetitive motions, take breaks frequently, and change your positions every half hour.
Workers need to think before they move an item, and try to lift with the legs rather than the back, and when you lift items, not to round your back when doing so.
Contact with Objects and Equipment
This can occur when a worker is caught between a piece of equipment, the equipment falls on them, or they’re struck by this. The thing is, these injuries can be quite traumatic if you’re not careful, and sometimes people sustain permanent disabilities in a lot of instances.
To prevent this, you should pay attention on your job, since distraction is one of the key causes for these kinds of injuries. Heavy objects shouldn’t be on top, but instead near the floor to prevent falling, with employees following all of the safety procedures when they work with this, including wearing hard-hats and boots that are steel-toed.
Falls
Finally, we have falls, and slips and trips are also included in these.
These can cause injuries to the spinal cord, brain, broken bokes, and even death if you’re not careful. These can include falls from the same, or higher levels, with distraction being the main cause of this kind of accident.
The best way to avoid this is to make sure you’re paying attention to what’s going on in order to avoid this. Also wear the proper safety equipment including harnesses to prevent falls on higher levels, and keep all of the walkways clean to prevent falls during the same level too.
So what happens if you’re injured at work while still taking all of the precautions? Well, in this case, it can result in time away, lost wages, and huge medical expenses. While worker’s comp does pay for a reasonable amount of medical bills, it may not reflect on the total income lost, and other damages. So if that’s the case, especially in major injuries, then the other party may be held liable when it comes to damages.
What can you do? The best thing to do at this point is to contact a personal injury attorney. They can look at the case to determine whether or not you’re entitled to this. By talking to someone, they can review what happened, and if possible, have the them help you claim damages.
Accidents do happen, and while there’s only so much that one can do to pay attention and help, it’s important to also know what other outlets there are out there.