The Three Most Common Injuries In Punta Gorda Workplaces
Bryan Greenberg
Workers’ Compensation
Plenty of people live and work in Sarasota, Fort Meyers, Port Charlotte, and other parts of Southwest Florida. And for those who do, there is always a risk of some kind of injury at work. However, some types of injuries are much more prominent than others.These are the three types of injuries that most employees can potentially be exposed to during a typical day at work.
Strain & Overexertion
This is by far the most common injury experienced across a huge variety of different occupations. Strains can be accumulated in a vast number of ways; someone at an office using a mouse for several hours of the workday can get repetitive muscle strain from the repeating activity.
Overexertion is similar, although typically, more demanding physical activity is involved. People who move heavy objects throughout the day can overexert the muscles in their back, knees, and other joints and muscles if they push themselves to the limit without taking a break.
Slip & Fall
The next most common type of injury is the slip and fall, or as others more commonly think of it, tripping with a subsequent fall. Again, this can happen in just about any workplace. Motor oil on a garage floor can lead to a slip and fall. Cooking oil spilled in a grocery store can result in the same thing. Even the layout of electrical cords in an office with insufficient outlets can create a hazard that unsuspecting office workers can trip over if they’re in a hurry.
The slip and fall injury is also more prone to being caused by the negligence of other parties than strain and overexertion. For example, if cooking oil is spilled in a grocery store and the person designated to clean it up fails to do so, then any worker—or customer—slipping on it due to the mess not being cleaned would be considered an act of negligence on the part of the business, and legal action may be possible.
Auto Accidents At Work
Many jobs today involve driving, and the more time spent on the road, the more exposure there is to the risk of a crash. This is especially true for those who drive as their job’s main component. Truckers, for example, spend hours on freeways and highways conveying freight to different parts of the state or other states entirely. Taxi drivers, food delivery drivers, and even “gig drivers” that take similar jobs with their own private vehicles also spend a lot of time on the road.
However, even when a driver obeys all Florida traffic laws, maintains situational awareness, and tries to drive defensively, this is still not an absolute guarantee of a safe experience on the road. Drivers can control their own actions and reactions but cannot account for hundreds or even thousands of others around them on the road at any given time. A drunk driver, a distracted driver, someone running across the street, or even a medical emergency in a vehicle can all contribute to a car losing control and dragging other vehicles into an accident as part of a domino effect.
Getting Legal Help
In instances where someone is injured while on the job, and it is not their fault but occurred at their place of work, workers compensation is typically offered to accident victims. However, if negligence is involved, such as a delivery driver injured by the drunk driving actions of another, then the negligent party in the situation is legally responsible for causing the injury, and a personal injury lawsuit may also be at play.
If you’ve been injured at work, talk to a workers comp attorney or a workplace injury attorney if negligence is a component of your injury.