Staying safe at work: Tips for being a safe employee
As an individual in the workforce, being safe is a priority. Not all jobs are safe by nature; construction jobs require you to work with major equipment, sharp and heavy objects and other dangerous items. Even office jobs have times when an employee may be working on a ladder and have a risk of falling or could be working with scissors or sharp objects capable of puncturing an individual who falls, trips or is otherwise allowed to come into contact with the blade.
To stay safe at work, it’s important to make sure you’re properly trained. If your employer isn’t willing to train you, then you may want to seek out advice from your attorney or your human resources department. It’s your employer’s job to manage the risks to his employees, and that means giving you proper training.
You should know that you’re doing the job right before you’re left to do it alone. Would you expect a new worker to use a chainsaw without learning proper technique? Probably not, and that means you shouldn’t either. A supervisor or trainer should be there to help new workers learn the proper safety steps for using dangerous equipment.
Another thing to know is how to seek help. Who do you contact if you get hurt? When there’s an emergency, you should call 911, but then what do you do? How does workers’ compensation come into play once you miss work? These are all important questions to have answered before you work a dangerous job.
Most importantly, make sure you have the right safety equipment. Failing to have the right equipment can put you in serious danger. This is one safety problem that could be avoided.
Source: Talking Safety With Young Workers, “Tips to stay safe at work,” accessed Jan. 27, 2016
Nonfatal work-related injuries and illnesses impact thousands of Americans every year. In 2012, 155 million workers were part of the U.S. civilian labor force. Each of these people could be at risk of work-related injuries or illnesses, depending on their jobs and activities.
If you’ve been hurt at work, you are already part of this statistic, but you shouldn’t be treated like one. You deserve to be compensated for your injuries and illnesses, because your job is what caused them. Whether you simply need a day of medical care and rest or you’re left with a disability, that’s what workers’ compensation is there for.
In 2011, it was recorded that around 3 million workers in the private industry suffered from nonfatal occupational illnesses or injuries, while another 821,000 working for state or local governments suffered the same kinds of illnesses and injuries.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have shown that around 16 percent of all private-sector workers are in high-risk occupations, which means that these workers are more likely to suffer an injury or illness due to the type of jobs they work. Additionally, around three out of every four people working in these dangerous conditions were male.
These illnesses and injuries are preventable on the whole. For instance, getting cut on machinery at work can likely be prevented with safety guards, and crashing a work vehicle can generally be avoided by paying attention or driving safely. Environments that take steps to prevent injuries save themselves and the economy money, since workers are able to work without missed days due to work-related injuries or illnesses.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Nonfatal Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses — United States, 2010,” Sherry L. Baron, MD Andrea L. Steege, PhD, accessed Jan. 21, 2016
Fighting fires is a very dangerous job, and the men and women who work in the field are courageous people who save lives and homes every day. Firefighting is not without risk, and many of these people are hurt every year in the line of duty. As of July 2013, an average of 31 firefighters had been killed on the job in each of the four previous years. Another 14,700 had suffered work-related injuries and illnesses.
In 2011, 28 firefighters were fatally injured on the job. This was a decrease in the number of firefighters killed per year when you see that there had been 29 percent more deaths in 2003, but the number is still too high. Safe equipment can help, but the unpredictability of a building on fire still makes the job dangerous.
What are the most common reasons for fatal injury or illness? Fires were the cause of 36 percent of all fatal injuries. Another 29 percent were related to transportation incidents. In 2011, half of the events were caused when a building, elements of a structure, or structure collapsed on the firefighters inside. On the roads, eight fatal transportation incidents took place that year. Five were due to roadway accidents, while one was aircraft based and another two involved pedestrians.
The most common reason for injuries or illnesses that weren’t fatal included overexertion, falls, slips, trips, and contact with objects or equipment. It was most common for firefighters to injure the lower extremities, but the trunk and upper extremities were often also injured in accidents.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Firefighter Factsheet | July 2013,” accessed Jan. 11, 2016
When you work in any industry, it’s possible to suffer from occupational illnesses. These illnesses may appear gradually or suddenly over the course of many years. For instance, logging workers may suffer wear and tear on the joints, leading to repetitive strain injuries.
Workers who come into contact with asbestos may suffer from mesothelioma or other lung-related disorders. In most cases, these illnesses can be prevented by either avoiding the harmful chemicals that workers were exposed to or by limiting the time a worker is operating machinery or actively working in the field.
Overexertion is a prerequisite to illness that many workers suffer from. Twenty-seven out of every 10,000 workers who suffer injuries or illnesses do so as a result of being overworked. Strain-related conditions are also much more common for those who don’t get adequate rest.
Take for instance factory workers. These workers often stand for multiple hours in a row; some may be repeating their arm or body motions dozens of times a minute. This can be good for business, but it hurts the body in the long run due to repetitive motion strains.
Heat burns and scalding injuries are also a risk to some employees. These injuries happen at a rate of 1.6 per every 10,000 workers. That is a large number when you consider that the numbers aren’t just limited to food service workers. For people who suffer these injuries, it takes an average of eight days before they can return to work, which means an expensive productivity loss for the employer and lost wages for the employee.
Our website has more information on what to do if you’re suffering a workplace illness. Contact us for a free consultation to discuss your case and find out if we can help you.
Is your illness a direct result of your work? How can you be sure? Does it matter as long as the illness presents itself while you’re on the job?
When you’re trying to determine if an injury or illness is related to your job, it’s important to look at all factors of your work. For example, if you’re exposed to chemicals in your 30s, it could take until your 50s before any side effects or illnesses result. You also need to link your work environment to that injury.
What is a work environment? Your work environment is a place where one or more employees work and are present as a condition of employment. That means that you have to be on site because of your job, and that makes the location your workplace and work environment. There are some cases when an injury or illness that happens at work won’t be considered work-related. For instance, if you were visiting your workplace off the clock when you’re injured, you may be considered a member of the public and not an employee at the time of the accident.
If your injury and symptoms show up at work but you were hurt elsewhere, that could also make your illness non-work-related, which could mean you’ll be unable to claim workers’ compensation. The same is true if you’re injured in a voluntary position, like if you’re in an exercise class or baseball game that is not required by your job. Your attorney can discuss your personal situation with you if you’re not clear on if you can file for workers’ compensation or if you’ve been denied and believe you’re entitled to compensation for your injuries.
Source: Occupational Safety and Health Administration, “Regulations,” accessed Dec. 31, 2015
What is traumatic incident stress?
When you’re at work, there are several kinds of injuries you can suffer from. You often hear about traumatic injuries that are physical in nature, but there are also psychological wounds that can make it difficult for you to work effectively. When you suffer from traumatic incident stress, you should be able to get the same kinds of workers’ compensation as when you’re physically hurt.
Often, it’s those who respond to emergencies who suffer from this kind of stress. People like first responders who encounter victims of terrible fires, earthquakes or explosions see first hand the terror and anguish of those situations. It’s enough to leave a mark on anyone, and for some, traumatic stress is a result.
Traumatic stress can be identified by physical symptoms as well and emotional. Severe pain, chest pain, or symptoms of shock can occur; severe emotional stress can cause real physical harm to a person’s body, triggering heart attacks or other conditions.
Those suffering from stress may also show cognitive symptoms like disorientation, nightmares, poor concentration or lowered alertness. Emotionally, they may be filled with guilty or anxiety; they could be grieving or in a severe panic. Sometimes no symptoms appear until later, which is then known as post-traumatic stress.
When others notice a person withdrawing from normal activities or picking up unusual habits, like drinking heavily, after a stressful event, it can be a sign that help is needed. The worker in question should receive a psychological evaluation as well as a physical one. Not doing this could put his or her life at risk or make it harder to get help later on. If an employer doesn’t want to make a workers’ compensation claim for this condition, an attorney may be able to help.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Traumatic Incident Stress,” accessed Dec. 24, 2015
Working with heavy machinery is very dangerous for construction teams, and new workers have to be fully informed of those dangers. If you work with machines that chop, blend or shred, then it’s important to know how to turn it off, reverse the blades and top jams safely. If you’re hurt because safety regulations aren’t followed, then your attorney may advise you to seek compensation from your workplace.
A story out of North Carolina draws attention to the dangers of working in construction. According to the news release from Dec. 9, a teenager had just started his first day of work when he was pulled into a wood chipper and killed.
The 19-year-old man was in charge of placing tree limbs into the wood chipper at a job site. Not long after he began working, other workers heard the machine sound different. Thinking it had jammed, they went to see what was wrong.
It was discovered that the teen had tried to kick a jammed branch into the machine when he was pulled into the machine himself. The business owner on site hit the kill switch and placed the machine in reverse, but he was too late. The teen was pulled into the machine.
As the emergency unfolded, other workers were allegedly in shock following the incident, and the owner was so panicked that he suffered a heart attack at the scene. He was rushed to the hospital.
As of the moment, the police on scene ruled that the incident was accidental and don’t suspect any wrongdoing. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will be investigating the accident to determine if any safety violations were the fault of the company.
Source: ABC 13, “N.C. Teen Falls Into Wood Chipper, Dies During First Day of Work,” Dec. 09, 2015
Types of chemicals that can cause workplace injuries
Chemicals are used often in manufacturing and other such industries, and exposure to them can be very dangerous to employees. Often, short-term exposure isn’t a big issue, but employees who are exposed to these chemicals five or more days a week for years on end could develop serious diseases. Some of the most dangerous substances and chemicals include the following:
— Mercury– Brass– Arsenic– Anthrax– Zinc– Manganese– Phosphorus– Lead– Chrome– Benzol– Carbon Bisulphide– Menthanol– Radium
The results of poisoning from these substances can be long-lasting, and it can even be deadly. While far more is now known about how these substances work than was known in the past—lead poisoning used to be much more common when it was used for pipes, for example—that does not mean that workers aren’t at risk.
It is important to point out that proving a workplace illness is related to these things can be tough, and strict guidelines must sometimes be followed. For lead, for example, an employee needs to have been exposed to it for an entire month—30 days—out of the previous 12 months. Additionally, it will have to be shown that any ailments are directly connected to that exposure, and that the costs of treatment—and other financial losses—are then connected to the poisoning.
As such, workers in North Carolina need to be very aware of how the legal process works when they have been harmed by chemicals in the workplace. Only by understanding and following all of the guidelines perfectly can they put themselves in the best position to get compensation.
Source: North Carolina Government, “Article I: Workers’ Compensation Act,” accessed Dec. 10, 2015
During November and December, the demand for turkeys gets much higher in the United States thanks to Thanksgiving and Christmas. As families get together for the season, they want to have larger dinner parties and get togethers, meaning more and more of the birds have to be prepared for sale.
Workers who have to handle these meats claim that while reform has been promised, working in a factory is still dangerous and doesn’t pay enough during the holidays to make it worth the hassle. This means that if you work in a factory processing turkeys and suffered and injury, you’re likely focusing on a new line of work and on how to get the compensation you need. Line speeds may be extremely fast in these environments, and workers are standing in the same place all day; repetitive motion injuries can be a common occurrence.
One worker, a 26-year-old man, stated that he couldn’t bend the fingers on his right hand, struggled to use the hand and right shoulder, and suffered from severe pain. He was expected to process around 55 turkeys every minute for at least an eight hour shift in many cases.
The truth is that there is around a 100 percent turnover rate in poultry plants because of the difficulty of the work and labor each year. The jobs aren’t really designed for workers who want to have a long-lasting career; instead, they’re short-lived and can end up causing significant impairments to those who suffer work-related injuries.
What are the most common injuries? A survey of 300 workers found that, of workers responsible for cutting the wings of the birds, 86 percent had suffered from or are suffering from numbness, wrist pain, swelling or other conditions. These injuries, while likely treatable in early stages, could lead to serious problems using the hands in the future.
Source: TakePart, “Workers Say Turkey Processing Jobs Are Thankless,” Shaya Tayefe Mohajer, Nov. 26, 2015
As an employee working in industry, you have rights in case that you get injured. For example, imagine that you are walking in your workplace when you trip and fall on carpet that has bunched up and not been repaired. You sprained your ankle in the fall, and you now need medical attention. It’s your employer’s responsibility to make sure you get the medical attention you need covered by workers’ compensation.
Most employers are required to have workers’ compensation insurance or a private employee insurance carrier. That way, if an employee suffers from an injury, illness, occupational disease or other condition, he or she can see a physician and have his or her care covered by the insurance provider.
When an employee is going to be off work for over a day or will cost over $2,000 in medical fees, the injury needs to be reported to the Industrial Commission, according to the North Carolina Industrial Commission’s website. If you miss over a week of work, that’s when you tend to start receiving workers’ compensation benefits. They usually amount to two-thirds of your average wage from before your injury and continue until the coverage is no longer needed.
When you need long-term care and coverage, that’s when you may be entitled to disability payments. Long-term disability payments for your injury will not amount to the same wages you would have made, but they should be around two-thirds of your yearly income as long as it’s required and you’re seen as being disabled. Our website has more information on workplace injuries and how you can apply for compensation.
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