Exposure to damaging environments and harmful substances is the leading cause of work-related injuries and illnesses. The most common causes of work injuries involve slips, trips, and falls. The following article will show you the top most common non-fatal or fatal injuries that account more than 75% of workers.
But first, what harmful environments should you avoid?
- Exposure to noise, radiation
- Exposure to other harmful substances
- Exposure to temperature extremes
- Exposure to electricity
- Exposure to traumatic and stressful events
Data from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics show that almost 3.5 million workers worldwide are injured on the job, and annually, around 5,147 workers die during the working program. When someone gets injured at the workplace, it doesn’t only impact their life, but their coworkers’, employer, society, and family’s lives. So, businesses must consider the necessary prevention programs to help address these issues/ The goal of any business should be to prevent injuries and illnesses.
Most people believe that workplace injuries happen because of workers’ fault and negligence. But when looking closer to an individuals’ incident, it becomes clearer that many factors contribute to these accidents in the workplace.
So, business owners should ask themselves:
- Under what circumstances did the employee get injured?
- If safety procedures were followed, why weren’t they observed?
- Is there something that needs changing? Systems, policies, conditions in the workplace?
The top of the incident may be clear, but too many times, the underlying causes aren’t considered. It’s essential to ask yourself why it happened, not only what happened, so you can identify the hidden cause of the workplace injury. It plays a significant role in preventing accidents from occurring again in the future.
Let’s see some of the combination and underlying factors of work incidents:
- Poor quality work environment, too high/too low temperature.
- Inexperienced workers (improper training, stress, fatigue, miscommunication).
- Inadequate safety program, no system for reporting issues, etc.
- Lack of resources and equipment
When analyzing these tasks and finding the hidden danger, it’s essential to consider if the work equipment is designed correctly, there are genuine work rules, and adequate training. It’s not about not making mistakes; it’s about why these mistakes appear. The best way to prevent these is through adequate procedures, safety policies, and other conditions.
If you’ve suffered multiple injuries at work, it’s important to understand the importance of claiming compensation. For more information, please use the free personal injury claims calculator UK. It’s a tool specially designed by professionals to give the correct answers to people in need. You’ll receive help in individual injury compensation cases, like:
- Road traffic accidents
- Accidents at work
- Accidents in public places
In the workplace, all types of injuries can occur, costing the employer and employees money and valuable time. Let’s see some of the most common workplace injuries and how to prevent them from occurring:
Being Stuck in a Heavy Moving Machinery
Accidents at the workplace can involve being stuck in moving machinery. These types of accidents usually happen in the construction and farm industries. Machinery that’s not properly guarded can be hazardous. Some unfortunate situation involves people’s body parts getting caught or stuck in the moving parts of the machines, and the results were disastrous. The horrifying list of heavy machinery injuries includes cut off fingers, crushed arms, blindness, and so much worse.
The best way to prevent this is to remember that each piece of heavy machinery must be safeguarded, and employees must always wear protective clothing and be well-trained.
Trips, Slips, and Falls
These workplace accidents account for one of the most common and personal injuries – a top cause of workers’ compensation claims. Trips, slips, and falls include neck, head, and back injuries, as well as broken bones, sprains, cuts, and hauled muscles. Why do people fall in the workplace?
- Employees occasionally slip on wet, spilt, and icy steps, as well as loose carpets.
- Tripping is often caused due to poor lighting, crumpled carpeting or bathmats, clutter, uncovered cables, and rough walking surfaces.
So, how to prevent these types of workplace accidents?
- Good housekeeping
- Proper footwear
- Quality walking surfaces
Besides, employees must be motivated and encouraged to report any hazardous areas, like spillage, obstruction, clutter, and where the damage occurred.
Repetitive Stress
Musculoskeletal disorders are the costliest injuries. Back pain alone cost a business more than 7 billion dollars/year, leading to 100 million lost workdays annually. These numbers are enormous, and these types of injuries contribute to lost productivity and millions of annual health benefit costs.
However, it’s about the financial impact on the business, but the long-term effects on workers, which can be highly severe, leading them to the inability of going to work and enjoy live events. Repetitive stress is quickly growing when referring to workplace injuries, which can compromise dozens, if not hundreds, of different types of jobs. They’re serious enough to constrain regular tasks with devastating pain. Stress injuries could even impair an employer’s ability to perform everyday duties at the workplace.
Other causes of workplace injuries include improper lifting. You’ve definitely heard this one billion times, manually lifting heavy objects with your back, not maintaining your weight on your knees. Things that weigh over 50lbs require the assistance of a coworker, or even better, a lifting device. Repeating the same wrong movement might tear your body. Short breaks are necessary to prevent damaging your bones, muscles, tendons, etc.
Adjusting the job to your body’s needs will help prevent injuries in the workplace. Take a proper approach to workplace safety; this includes wearing the right equipment, ensuring that the facility is following the Federal and Environmental Regulations, and receiving adequate training to perform your job well.
Workplace injuries can happen to anyone at any time. If you get injured at the workplace, make sure you call a workplace personal injury lawyer to help you take the necessary steps and obtain compensation.
