Articles Posted in Work Injury

In hazard-prone work environments, such as manufacturing plants, it’s not uncommon for minor safety protocols to get overlooked in favor of more serious concerns. For example, while wearing a hard hat to protect against head injuries may be a non-negotiable, employees often  forego wearing cut-resistant gloves; it’s not like hand lacerations are life threatening. But even minor injuries, such as hand lacerations, can lead to bigger problems.

For starters, a worker is likely to become immediately distracted when a hand injury occurs. If she is working with complex machinery at the time, the distraction could be deadly. In some cases, the distraction can snowball into an incident involving multiple workers. A MA work injury lawyer can help you determine how to proceed if you’ve been injured in a work-related accident.

The Real Cost of Minor Injuries

The hand laceration itself, although not life threatening, can still be devastating to a worker’s ability to perform necessary job duties. More than one million U.S. workers seek emergency medical treatment for lacerations annually. Just about every job requires the use of the worker’s hands. As such, hand lacerations can lead to time off work and lost wages for the worker, as well as insurance claims, increased premiums and employee-replacement costs for the employer. The average cost to a company for an employee who suffers a single laceration is $41,000.

Follow the steps below to dramatically reduce your risk of injury or death in the workplace.

• Don’t overlook the “less serious” safety precautions; non-slip soles and cut-resistant gloves are just as important as personal fall protection equipment, for example.
• Don’t engage in a hazardous work task when you are fatigued, distracted or stressed.
• Take breaks at regular intervals throughout the day to prevent fatigue. In addition to resting during these breaks, drink some water and consider doing jumping jacks or some other energizing activity.
• Your employer should perform regular inspections and maintenance of all equipment. If you are concerned that this isn’t being done properly, speak to a supervisor. If your concerns are not adequately addressed, you can always contact the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the agency tasked with establishing – and enforcing – workplace safety guidelines.
• Your employer should also provide regular employee training, and established safety policies should be clearly stated, up to date and easy to locate. Posters, safety drills and the distribution of regular emails are effective ways of reminding employees of safety policies and the importance of following them.

Employees who don’t follow established safety policies should face tough consequences. When a worker’s noncompliance is allowed to continue, other workers will soon follow suit. Companies with zero-tolerance policies for safety violations have lower rates of worker injury and death. A Boston work injury lawyer can help you recover damages if you’ve been injured on the job. Continue reading

Workers’ compensation exists to protect employees if they are unable to work due to a work-related injury, and employers from being sued for those injuries. Most work-related injuries and illnesses are covered by workers’ comp, but there are some exceptions. Further, even claims for covered injuries and illnesses may be denied due to application errors, untimely filing, or other issues. You may find the following information helpful if your workers’ compensation claim has been denied.

When a workers’ comp claim is denied, the claimant receives a letter informing him of the decision. One of the most common reasons for denial is untimely reporting or filling. When an injury or illness occurs, the law holds that the worker must report the claim right away, often within days. It is then the employer’s duty to immediately notify its workers’ comp carrier and the state. Failure to follow these steps precisely may result in a denial.

My Employer Disputed My Claim

This is another common reason for a denial. Let’s say you claim that your back injury is work-related, but your employer thinks you actually sustained your injury playing basketball. She might dispute the validity of your claim, which could result in a denial. If this occurs, you may need to gather additional evidence to substantiate your claim.

My Condition is Not Covered

Although most on-the-job injuries are covered by workers’ comp, there are some exceptions. If your injury is not serious enough to qualify, or the condition itself isn’t covered, your claim may be denied.

In MA, an injury that occurs outside of the scope of your job duties may not be covered. For example, if you and a co-worker decide to hit some golf balls in the field outside your office building, you aren’t likely to have a workers’ comp claim if you accidentally get hit in the head with a golf club. You may have been at work, during work hours, but hitting golf balls isn’t a work-related activity. The same would be true if you were inside the building at the time of your injury. On the other hand, if the same injury occurred at a golf course, during a work outing at which you were entertaining clients, you would likely be covered by workers’ comp.

Even if your injury or illness occurred on work property and in the scope of your job duties, the medical condition itself may not be covered. Some mental health conditions, such as stress, may not qualify you for benefits. A MA workers’ comp attorney can help you determine your eligibility for benefits. Continue reading

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a painful condition affecting the hand, fingers, and wrist. It occurs when the median nerve, which runs from the hand to the arm, becomes compressed where the hand and wrist meet. The condition is given its name due to the protective sheath covering the median nerve – the carpal tunnel. A person suffering from CTS may experience burning, tingling, numbness, and extreme pain in the palm of the hand.

Although CTS is often caused by work-related repetitive motions such as typing, proving that you have CTS – for the purpose of obtaining workers’ compensation benefits – is not always an easy task. If you are suffering from symptoms of CTS, the first step is to visit your doctor for an exam. CTS rarely gets better on its own. In fact, in most cases, symptoms will progress if left untreated. In addition to getting treatment for your CTS, a visit to the doctor will also establish a medical record of your condition, which can be immensely beneficial if you decide to file a workers’ comp claim. A Boston workers’ comp attorney can help you determine how to proceed if you are suffering from a work-related injury.

The Problem with Repetitive Stress Injuries

CTS injuries are often more difficult to prove than other work-related injuries. For starters, all repetitive motion injuries occur over time, rather than due to an isolated accident. Consider the following scenarios:

• Bob falls from scaffolding and is knocked unconscious, prompting his co-workers to call an ambulance. At the hospital, doctors discover that Bob has a broken leg. As a result, Bob is unable to work for two months, incurring thousands of dollars in medical bills.
• John works on an assembly line. After two years of assembling the same car parts over and over again, day in and day out, he develops extreme pain in his right hand. The debilitating pain makes it impossible for John to perform his job. John reports the pain to his supervisor who tells him to go to Rite-Aid and get a wrist brace if it’s bothering him.

Which of the above scenarios is more likely to end with a successful workers’ comp claim? The reality is, both Bob and John should be eligible for workers’ comp benefits. But Bob’s scaffolding accident and casted leg are easier to evaluate than John’s sudden complaint of pain in his hand. His employer might also argue that the wrist pain – even with an official carpal tunnel diagnosis – is a pre-existing condition. In either case, the help of a skilled MA workers’ comp attorney will help ensure that you get the benefits you deserve in a timely manner.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome – Facts and Statistics

If you are suffering from CTS, you are not alone. It is the most common nerve disorder of the upper extremities.

• Approximately five percent of the working population suffers from CTS.
• CTS surgery is the most commonly-performed surgery of the hand and wrist, with more than 460,000 surgeries annually in the US.
• According to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics, almost two-thirds of work-related injuries to the upper body are due to repetitive trauma.
• Women have twice the risk of developing CTS as men.

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