The Most Common Workplace Injuries In Southwest Florida
Brian O Sutter
Workers’ Compensation
Southwest Florida workers find themselves injured on the job each year, whether they work in an office or they drive all around the country. Getting injured at work is never something looked forward to by anyone, and this rings true whether the injury suffered is minor, moderate, or severe. Getting fair compensation through worker’s comp claims can sometimes be an uphill battle, but one that can be won with the help of your worker’s compensation attorney. What is considered common in Florida workplace injuries will vary by industry. A person working in an office may not need to worry about being injured by faulty machinery, while a person working construction may not consider developing carpal tunnel injuries a big concern. However, the 5 most common workplace injuries across all common industries in southwest Florida are:
• Repetitive stress injuries – When a job requires a person to repeat the same movements over and over again throughout each day, repetitive stress injuries can occur. These can take several years to develop and may be several small injuries worsening over the years to create a larger, more painful, and debilitating one. These repetitive stress injuries may even take away a person’s ability to do their job from that point forward.
At first, these stress injuries often go ignored. Since they begin small, they’re not considered anything major, and they stay that way until the pain beings to worsen. A few common types of stress injuries experienced by Florida workers are strains, sprains, tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and herniated discs.
• Overexertion injuries – Any act of tossing, lifting, pulling, or pulling can result in an overexertion injury. While these are more common in very hands-on industries like construction, they can be suffered anywhere. A person working in a grocery store lifting a heavy case of soda onto a shelf can find themselves with an overexertion injury in a matter of seconds. When motion is not executed properly, or overexertion is carried out too long, the results can be devastating.
• Slip and fall injuries – Slip and fall injuries can happen on the job anywhere, and every workplace owes a certain duty of care to provide a safe work environment for employees. Slip and fall injuries may lead to soft tissue injuries, broken bones, or traumatic head injuries most commonly. In instances where negligence caused the hazard which leads to the accident, a personal injury claim may be sought by an injured worker.
• Work-related car accidents – Work-related car accidents are on the rise since the advent of driving services like Lyft and Uber. Whether a person works for a ride-share company, or they drive trucks or other vehicles for another company as part of their day to day business, work related auto accidents can be devastating.
• Injured by equipment – Equipment injuries most commonly happen in manufacturing and construction workplaces, but they can happen anywhere. If a malfunctioning or piece of poorly maintained equipment injures a person through cutting, crushing, or striking, or catching on them, the result can be wrongful death or serious injury in a matter of seconds.
Workplace injuries can leave a person out of work for days, weeks, months, or even years depending on their injury and the industry they work in. When a workplace injury occurs at any workplace, it’s important to file a worker’s compensation claim as quickly as possible, and to arm yourself with the experience and expertise of a worker’s compensation attorney.