Work Injuries: Types of Work Injuries

On paper, work injuries seem to be a pretty straightforward thing, but is it? Here’s everything you need to know about work injuries.

If you have been working for years now, you are probably aware of the term work injuries.

While technically, the term seems straightforward, it isn’t. Numerous complicated factors come into play with work injuries. Any kind of injuries can occur in the workplace, costing both the employer and employee valuable time.

Some questions will cross your mind when you experience work injuries. Read on to get your questions answered.

Most common work injuries

Trips, slips, and falls

Trips, slips, and falls account for more than one-third of all work injuries, and trips, slips, and falls are a top cause of all worker's compensation claims. These types of injuries include injuries in the head, back, and neck. Broken bones, pulled muscles, sprains, and cuts result from trips, slips, and falls. Click here to know more about types of injuries on injuredcare.com.

The most common reasons for such types of injuries are:

Slips: Wet or oily surfaces, occasional spills, loose rugs, and weather hazards like an icy walkway

Trips: Uneven walking surfaces, uncovered cables, poor lighting, and wrinkled carpeting or mats.

Trips, slips, and falls, three keys can prevent work injuries.

Quality walking surfaces

Proper footwear

Good housekeeping

Beyond having the above three preventive keys in place, employees should be encouraged by the employer to report areas where clutter, spillage, obstruction, or damage have occurred that might lead to work injuries on a future date.

Fire and explosions

Faulty gas lines, open flames, or stored combustible materials are the primary reasons that contribute to explosions and fires in the workplace resulting in work injuries. The work injuries resulting from fire and explosions include damage to the respiratory system, potential disfigurement, and varying degrees of burn.

Fires and explosions account for a total of 3 percent of work injuries in the United States. These injuries also have the highest casualty rate of all potential work injuries.

The four types of work injuries commonly associated with fire and explosion accidents are:

Primary blast – Primary blasts occur due to the effects of pressure on body tissues, lungs, and the GI tract.

Secondary blast – Secondary blasts occur when flying objects strike the workers working nearby, resulting in injuries.

Tertiary blast – Tertiary blasts result in high-energy explosions that can lift someone off the ground.

Quaternary blast – Quaternary blasts consist of everything else apart from the other three types of accidents that happen due to an explosion, such as burns, inhalation of toxic substances, and crush injuries.

OSHA recommends to follow its hazard communication standards to help workers avoid fire and explosion injuries. Additionally, material safety data sheets for all chemicals should be kept on hand. The employees are required to wear personal protective equipment to protect them from such accidents at all times.

Caught in or being struck by moving machinery

Anyone working with machinery can experience accidents, although machinery injuries are more common in construction and farm equipment factories. Machinery not properly guarded is a safety hazard.

The injuries are often disastrous and caused by exposed moving parts of flying objects from machines without protective guards. The horrifying list of machinery-related injuries includes severed fingers, crushed arms and hands, blindness, and injuries that lead to death.

Safeguarding any machine part, function, or process that may cause serious injuries is the best way to prevent mechanical hazards. Additionally, workers should get proper operator training and protective clothing to avoid any work injuries resulting from the use of machinery.

Overexertion and repetitive stress injuries

The most costly work injuries are musculoskeletal. Back pain alone costs employers more than 7 billion dollars annually in the United States. The complaint of back pain also leads to more than 100 million lost workdays annually.

Overexertion and repetitive stress injuries contribute to loss of productivity and millions of dollars as annual health benefit payout costs.

The financial impact and lost workdays can be one thing, but the long-term effects on workers can be severe, and these injuries account for nearly 33 percent of occupational injuries.

Repetitive stress injuries are the fastest-growing category of work injuries, and it comprises more than 100 different types of work injuries.

Repetitive stress injuries are severe enough to inhibit simple activities with debilitating pain and crippling. These injuries have the potential to impair a worker’s ability to perform their job permanently.

Causes for Overexertion and repetitive stress injuries

Improper or manual lifting of heavy objects - We have heard to lift with our knees and not back a million times, especially when lifting objects over 50lbs.

Working without breaks – With repetitive work, short breaks are essential; if not taken, the work will eventually wear and tear the body.

Intensive keying – Constant typing and clicking strain muscles.

The key to preventing overexertion and repetitive stress injuries is ergonomics. The science of adjusting the job to fit the body’s needs while providing injury prevention solutions that are inexpensive and simple is called ergonomics. Workers assigned to repetitive tasks should be allowed to take a break to rest or stretch.

The holistic approach to workplace safety is the best way to protect workers and help prevent injuries in the workplace. It means that the workers have the proper protective equipment, adequate training to operate machinery, and the facility where they work should comply with federal and environmental regulations.

Vehicle-related accidents

There’s a potential for accidents when there are vehicles involved. Vehicle-related accidents include being struck or run over by a moving vehicle, getting crushed by a vehicle, stuck under an overturned vehicle, being struck by objects falling from a car, or falling from a vehicle.

Avoiding vehicle-related accidents begin with assessing who is at risk and depending on where and when these kinds of accidents usually occur. Only after determining this, the preventive measures get established easily.

Focusing on workplace design, ensuring all layout routes segregates pedestrians and vehicles and makes any obstruction visible. Other things such as directions, priority signs, and speed limits are also helpful. Click here to know more about work injuries on injuredcare.com.

Steps to take if you got injured on the job

Work injuries can occur at any moment. It is in your best interest to be prepared to proceed with filing a worker’s compensation claim after experiencing on-the-job injuries. It is of utmost importance that the employees, especially with the help of a worker’s compensation attorney, seek compensation for lost wages and medical bills incurred.

The following steps guide what to do if you or your loved one got injured on the job.

Report the accident and injury

Employees or workers need to report an injury to an employer without causing any delays. In many work injury cases, employers and workers' compensation insurance companies will deny the compensation claim if not reported the injury promptly.

Inform your doctor that the injury is work-related

It is essential to notify your doctor that the injury suffered is work-related in your very first consultation. You should also make sure that the doctor records the accidents and injuries in your medical notes from the first visit.

In many work injury cases, the employers and workers' compensation insurance companies will deny the compensation claim if the first medical note does not include a notation that the injuries suffered were work injuries. Click here to know more about seeing a doctor who can help you recover from your work injuries on injuredcare.com.

Present a written notice to your employer

Provide written notice to your employer without making any delays. Make sure to keep a copy of the notice for your records.

Hire a workers compensation attorney to represent you in your claim

Navigating through the worker's compensation law would be confusing and stressful, especially when suffering injuries. Having an attorney in your corner will be your best bet to recover the compensation you deserve for the work injuries suffered.

Advantages of hiring a workers compensation attorney

Suppose you have been in an accident resulting from someone else’s negligence and have suffered injuries on the job. You might think about filing a worker's compensation claim and hiring an injury attorney to represent you in the same.

Hiring an injury attorney is necessary if you want to get the most out of your settlement or trial reward. Usually, the accident cases end up in a settlement as only 3% of such cases move to trial (Bureau of Justice Statistics).

Suppose you are one of those people who is confused between self-representation and hiring a workers compensation attorney to fight your injury claim. Let’s discuss the primary motivating factor that will help you see why hiring an attorney to represent you in your injury case is in your best interest.

It gives you Mental Peace.

Self-representation could indeed forgo an attorney’s expenses. But, it can cost you significantly in the future. Very few citizens who are not attorneys have the legal knowledge to fight their cases on their own.

When you suffer injuries in an accident, dealing with legalities can add stress when you only focus on recovering and becoming whole again.

After going through an on-the-job accident, it becomes difficult to think straight, and making wrong decisions at such times can put you in mental trauma. An attorney ensures that you only focus on recovering while he is out there fighting for your rights.

They Know the Legal Terrain

Attorneys spend four years of undergraduate work and typically three years of law school before passing their state's bar examinations. In short, they know the language of the legal system.

It is the specialized training they have, and you don’t. The attorneys go through this training and years of study to ensure that when clients seek their professional help, they can help them in the best possible way by fighting for their rights and getting the compensation their clients deserve for the injuries suffered.

They have the experience.

It might be your first time dealing with a personal injury case but, a workers compensation attorney works on such issues day in and day out. They have the experience to work that ensures the maximum compensation for the injuries you have suffered.

Hiring an attorney that has previously handled cases similar to yours and who have an excellent winning ratio for their previous clients improves the odds of securing the compensation you deserve.

3 Big Benefits of Hiring a Workers Comp Lawyer

You have plenty of things to worry about after the on-the-job injury that left you in pain and out of a job. There will be creditors calling asking for the payment of all sorts of bills. You may never be able to work again because of your injury.

Sadly, many workers find themselves in the same situation after suffering an on-the-job injury. But, there is a way to get the money you need to pay the bills, compensating your loss. Hiring a worker's compensation lawyer can help you get everything you deserve after suffering an on-the-job injury.

Let’s look at three significant benefits of hiring a Texas Workers Comp Lawyer or lawyer of any other region.

Reignite your Injury Claim after Denial

Many people make the mistake of self-representing themselves to save the expenses of hiring a lawyer. They are not able to put up a strong case, and thus their claim is denied.

Hiring a work comp lawyer can reignite your denied claim and build a much better case for your compensation.

Improves Negotiation with Insurance Companies

Workers comp lawyers work day in and day out on cases similar to yours. They know the tactics used by insurance companies to settle an injury case for the least possible amount.

A good lawyer knows the insurance company’s tactics and has negotiating skills to ensure you get what you deserve.

They can represent you in Workers Comp Hearings.

A lawyer can put up your case firmly in workers comp hearings and ensure that your side of the matter gets heard too.

To conclude –

If you have suffered work injuries, the first thing you should do is seek medical help. The injuries that might seem small to you might harm you significantly in the future.

Even if the injuries are negligible, it is good to see your doctor to ensure that the accident has not harmed you. Seeing a doctor also documents your injuries, which helps you get the compensation you deserve.

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