Workplace safety is a major concern for employers and employees. Across the country, Maryland included, employees get hurt while on the job on a daily basis. A work-related injury may occur for any number of reasons. However, it is believed that overexertion is currently the major cause of non-fatal workplace injuries in the United States.
An overexertion injury generally occurs when an employee is required to lift, pull, push or use force to move an object. The impairments suffered in such incidents are typically non-life threatening, but the damages sustained can be disabling. In the year 2013 alone, such injuries cost employers over $15 billion.
The other main sources of work-related injuries include falls — which is the second leading cause of work injuries, costing $10.2 billion — trips, struck by equipment, repetitive motions and roadway accidents. In all, employers lose roughly $62 billion annually due to non-fatal injuries. These losses come from having to pay compensation, hire temporary replacements, lost productivity and quality disruptions — among other things.
Employees in Maryland who have suffered overexertion or other work-related injuries are generally covered by workers’ compensation insurance. This is something that employers, for the most part, are legally required to provide. After a work-related injury, many individuals — including the surviving families of deceased victims –seek the assistance of a workers’ compensation attorney to pursue claims for all applicable benefits. While the law generally bars personal injury or wrongful death claims against an employer or co-worker, a third-party lawsuit in civil court may also be appropriate in some circumstances, depending on the specific facts and circumstances.
Source: businessinsurance.com, “Overexertion tops list of workplace injury causes“, Gloria Gonzalez, Jan. 14, 2016
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