You Don’t Have To Be In Construction To Get Injured

Some jobs have serious occupational hazards. Construction is one of these careers. Workers must put up a building without any building safety mechanisms because the building doesn’t exist yet. It’s their job to install those safety mechanisms.

It’s no wonder then that injuries that happen here can be severe. However, while construction, and some other jobs, such as the lumber industry, run a high risk of injury, this doesn’t mean other careers are immune. Even in so-called white-collar jobs such as working programming or advertising or working in cities in retail, there are risks associated, and injuries can still happen. Here are a few to keep an eye out for.

Retail Injuries

Working retail can be incredibly demanding and fast-paced, depending on the time of day or season of the year. When things are at their busiest, a lot of coordination has to occur to ensure customers are served in a timely fashion, while goods are sold.
Some of the more common injuries possible in this line of work include:

Cuts, Punctures, Scrapes

One significant activity in many retail outlets is receiving shipments and unpacking. This means handling tools such as box cutters, or in some cases, the merchandise itself, like kitchen knives or cleavers. Accidents can happen with these implements that can lead to cuts, blood loss, and even worse.

Sprains, Muscle Strain

Another systematic risk is muscle strain, especially from strenuous activity. Lifting shipments and moving them into storage rooms, or taking them out of storage rooms for stocking shelves, involve handling heavy loads regularly. Too much of this, or one careless moment, lifting heavy stock incorrectly can result in sprained or strained muscles in the lower back, arms, or other body parts.

Slipping & Falling

Mobility can be a crucial trait for some times of retail activity. Staff at the front of a store, for example, must assist customers in different areas, take questions, and sometimes retrieve items. People in the F&B industry, such as wait staff, must move from one diner to another. If the areas employees use to move isn’t clear, it’s possible to trip on something and fall.

Office Injuries

Even for people with so-called “cushy jobs,” such as commuting to an office and working at a desk, it’s still possible to get injured even here. In some respects, some of the injuries that retail workers are at risk to are shared by office workers, but there are unique dangers to look out for, such as:

Repetitive Muscle Strain

The most common expression of this is “carpal tunnel syndrome,” a numbness or tingling in the hand that occurs when the median nerve gets compressed due to over-usage. This can eventually result in a loss of muscle strength, a lack of hand coordination and even slower nerve impulse transmission. Constant repetitive motions for hours every day, such as typing or using a mouse, are primary examples of this injury.

Tripping

Slipping and falling are one of the most common office injuries. It happens primarily due to objects on the floor that people aren’t careful with. One of the most frequent causes of tripping in an office is trying to maximize electrical power access by stretching power cords across floors, creating inadvertent “trip lines” for employees.

There May Be Legal Repercussions

While an injury at work may be a risk, that doesn’t mean that the consequences are yours to bear alone if it happens. If negligent working conditions contributed to your injury, you might be due for compensation. Talk to our workplace injury attorneys to find out what you should do next.