What are 3 of the most common workplace injuries?

When asked to name dangerous professions to work in, it’s common for individuals to mention roles such as factory workers, tree cutters or underwater welders. While these jobs definitely carry with them significant danger, workers in more traditional occupations risk being injured as well.

Slips, trips, and falls

At least one-third of all accidents that happen in the workplace are slips, trips or falls.

Workers commonly slip while trying to navigate poorly maintained, oily or wet flooring. They most often trip on cords that haven’t been taped down or in cluttered or poorly lit spaces. Workers who fail to wear skid-resistant shoes or who attempt to maneuver around an unfamiliar workplace quickly or in the dark risk slipping or tripping and falling.

While most slips, trips, and falls result in minor injuries, they can cause serious injuries including sprains, broken bones, lacerations, and back, and head injuries.

Repetitive stress or overexertion injuries

Another common workplace injury is a repetitive stress injury. Workers miss more than 100 million days on the job each year when they overexert themselves. This costs employers as $7.4 million in lost revenue.

This type of musculoskeletal disorder isn’t just costly to treat. It also results in employers’ lost productivity. They can also be severely debilitating for workers in the long term.

Most repetitive stress or overexertion injuries stem from pulling, holding, throwing, lifting, and carrying. This type of wear and tear on a worker’s body accounts for as much as one-third of all workplace injuries.

Struck by injuries

Workers are also vulnerable to being struck by or caught in machinery. These types of incidents most often occur when equipment isn’t properly stowed away. They can also result from a worker not wearing proper protective clothing as well. Blindness and severed and crushed fingers, arms or legs are some of the more common injuries that result from these types of incidents. They can cause death as well though.

Many know that Pennsylvania workers’ compensation laws exist to give those hurt on the job in Uniontown an opportunity to get the medical care that they need. They can help with so much more than that though. A workers’ compensation attorney may advise you of your right to also recover lost wages and disability, disfigurement or death benefits as well.