Apr 23, 2023 | Accident prevention, Work Injuries
A repetitive strain injury is an injury that occurs from doing the same motion over and over again. Examples of these include carpal tunnel, bursitis, and tennis elbow. This type of injury can occur from tasks at work. However, there are ways you can prevent or minimize the chance for this type of injury.
Repetitive Strain Injuries: What Are They
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel is a condition that causes numbness, tingling, or weakness in your hand. This repetitive strain injury is caused by repetitive motions. These include motions like typing, or any wrist movements that you do over and over again. For example, people who work in dentistry have a high risk of carpal tunnel due to repetitive wrist movements while working. Also, you increase your risk when your hands are lower than your wrists while doing the movement.
The typical symptoms of carpal tunnel are not pleasant. For example, burning, tingling, or itching numbness in your palm and thumb or your index and middle fingers are symptoms. Other symptoms are weakness in your hand and trouble holding things, shock-like feelings that move into your fingers, and tingling that moves up into your arm. Proper ergonomics can help reduce the risk of this injury, but wrist braces are a good early treatment.
Bursitis
Bursitis is inflammation or irritation of a bursa sac. These are fluid filled sacs that are all over your body. Bursitis is common around major joints like your shoulder, elbow, hip, or knee. This repetitive strain injury can be caused from workplace activities including carpentry, painting, and scrubbing.
Common places for bursitis to happen are your elbow, shoulder, hip, thigh, buttocks, knee, achilles tendon or heel. This injury can cause pain, and you may notice your joint is red, stiff or swollen. Take breaks often when you’re making the same motions over and over again, and use good posture. If you start to have pain, stop, and see your doctor.
Tennis Elbow
Another repetitive strain injury is tennis elbow. This is a painful condition that usually comes from repetitive use of the muscles and tendons of the forearm and the elbow joint. Surprisingly, only 5% of tennis elbow injuries come from tennis.
Some workplace activities that could lead to tennis elbow include painting, working on cars or on an assembly line or playing a musical instrument. Other examples include kitchen work, such as cutting with a knife, or cutting trees with a chainsaw. This may cause your elbow to be sore. Treatment usually includes rest, ice, and over-the-counter pain medications. However, if the problem gets really bad, surgery may be needed.
Apr 15, 2023 | Personal Injury, Work Injuries
When it comes to worker’s comp cases— there are plenty of cases that come through our offices. From slips and falls, broken bones, construction injuries… It seems that hurt workers emerge from every field— no matter the assumed danger. However, what happens when you’re faced with workplace violence?
Workplace violence can come in different forms. From verbal and physical abuse, sexual violence, robbery… This type of violence comes in many different forms, which means that there are many ways to address it…
Workplace Violence: Addressing Unexpected Trauma
Prevention
Quite obviously, the best way to handle this type of trauma— is to prevent it. While accidents will always happen— there are certain steps you can take to prevent violence…
- Review your hiring and vetting process. Consider more in-depth background checks, reference checks— and even annual or semi-annual reviews of all staff.
- Review security and update. Install cameras, metal detectors, or whatever security settings you see fit to prevent danger in your workplace.
- Encourage staff to report threats, incidents, or fears of workplace violence in a way that makes them comfortable. Anonymous tips, emails to HR, and other means of reporting can prevent many issues.
- Take time every now and then to encourage team building exercises
- Provide workplace counselors for those in need, or those who face tragedy in their work or personal life.
Understand common stressors, causes, and red flags
There are some issues that can be outside of your control— such as sexual abuse, or armed robbery. However, much workplace violence occurs when there are angry employees, faulty protocol, improperly vetted employees, or general stress.
If you find yourself suspicious of potential workplace violence, or the victim of such, it’s important that you seek out assistance…
…Whether that comes in form of calling the police, reporting to your boss, or an attorney after the fact— there are options for prevention and also dealing with the problem.
If you have been the victim of workplace violence, we offer our condolences. The events you have endured can lead to injuries, physical and emotional trauma, as well as resulting medical costs— depending on the event. Therefore, you might need an attorney to defend your right to damages.
Apr 8, 2023 | Trucking/Tractor-Trailer Accidents, Work Injuries
There are plenty of different fields you can enter within the workforce. Form physical labor, to desk jobs, and even hitting the road. The thing to remember with any job, is that they come with their own set of risks. Even desk jobs come with a heightened risk of back and neck injuries. Another field that often leads to back injuries, is truck driving. Truck driving-related work injuries are extremely common due to the nature of the job. While many injuries are obvious in nature, there are also a few which you might not have considered…
Truck Driving-Related Work Injuries
Back and Neck
Quite obviously, when it comes to truck driving-related work injuries, your back is at a high risk of facing issue. If you consider what a truck driver is doing— driving long hours, sleeping in close quarters, and also occasionally lifting and unloading heavy materials… It’s easy to see how these injuries would occur. Therefore, it’s important to practice good posture in driving and lifting.
Consider purchasing additional support for your driver’s seat, and also pulling over for a stretch every now and then. While stiffness is pesky, it’s also not low-impact. You want to stretch your muscles, maybe take a short walk, and engage your back before sitting back down in that seat to avoid truck driving-related work injuries.
Slips and Falls
While you might not think that there’s much action which can lead to injury— there are actually a few different ways to face slip and fall truck driving-related work injuries. From getting in and out of the truck, to lifting the back door, lowering the lift gate… Even these seemingly small actions put you at risk for taking a tumble and hurting yourself.
Repetitive Stress Injuries, and Ignored Issues
You’re sitting in the truck for long periods of time. Your back might hurt a little bit, but you’re not too concerned. However, ignoring those little pains can lead to a bigger issue, and serious truck driving-related work injuries. In fact, ignoring that injury can lead to further injury down the line. Due to the fact that your back is under stress, and ignored— the issue can amplify.
There isn’t the same opportunity to heal while continuing your job when you’re a truck driver. Instead, you’re sitting down. Therefore, it’s important to take a day or tow when you need it. That way, you can avoid a prolong time spent off the road to trying to recover from truck driving-related work injuries.
Feb 26, 2023 | Work Injuries, Workers' Compensation
Lifeguards play an important role of keeping people safe at beaches, pools, swimming holes, and other bodies of water. However, when it comes to guarding lives… lifeguard safety is also part of the equation. To protect the people around you, you must first protect yourself. So, we’re here to help you do just that. Following, we will provide you with a few tactics to keep yourself safe, and in turn, the people around you.
Lifeguard Safety: Protecting Yourself
Use sun protection
Lifeguards have to stay out in the sun for long periods of time. However, this constant exposure can cause more than just a tan. Sunburn and skin cancer are some risks that lifeguards have to be aware of. Generally, good lifeguard safety means taking steps to be protected from the sun. For example, it’s a good idea to wear a good sunscreen of at least SPF 30 or higher. The sunscreen should be reapplied every few hours, especially if you’ve been in the water. Good hats and sunglasses also help offer added shade and protection from the sun.
Stay hydrated
Lifeguards have a pretty physical job. They must quickly reach people who may be struggling in the water and get them to safety. This can quickly wear a person out, which is why it’s an important part of lifeguard safety to remain energized. That’s why lifeguards should make sure to stay hydrated when on the job. Generally, it’s recommended to have at least 2-4 glasses of water for every hour out in the sun. It’s a good idea to bring extra water bottles in a cooler to keep the chilled throughout the hot day.
Injuries Resulting From Injuries
Lifeguards have to account for any number of things at one time, aside from lifeguard safety. From slippery pavement, to people who can’t swim, rip currents, or other unexpected circumstances. No matter where you are working, there are unique injuries that you might encounter as a result. In turn, when issues begin to happen, others might begin to panic— making it difficult for you to work properly, and avoid lifeguard injuries. Take, for example, someone drowning. When they are panicking and you go to help, they might unintentionally pull you down and put you at risk of a similar injury.
Injured lifeguards should seek out first aid ASAP. After all, their well being is just as important as those they are watching over. They can also take steps to help reduce this injury risk. This can involve keeping the pool area clean, and keeping panicking people calm when rescuing them. Lifeguards have a tough but necessary job. The importance of their jobs means they must make sure to keep themselves healthy when on job. Everyone swimming is safer when the lifeguards are safe as well. Therefore, lifeguard safety should be a concern both to the lifeguard and to everyday people.
Feb 10, 2023 | Work Injuries, Workers' Compensation
Restaurants can have many hazards for employees. From waiters and busboys and kitchen staff and chefs, there are many ways to get hurt. If you work in a restaurant, you have to be careful so that you do not get into an accident at work. Restaurant staff safety is something that all restaurants should ensure.
How-to Ensure Restaurant Staff Safety: Safe at Work
Waitstaff
Being a waitress or waiter has its risks. Restaurant floors can be slick, so make sure to wear appropriate shoes. Comfortable, non-slip shoes are a good option. This could keep you from falling. A way to help ensure restaurant staff safety is to make sure floors are not wet or slippery. Non-skid floor mats can help prevent someone from slipping and falling. Placing mirrors on blind corners can lower the risk of employees running into each other in a busy kitchen and work environment. Another risk that waitstaff face is walking with heavy trays full of food or drinks. These trays could actually block the view while the person carrying it is walking, not to mention strain put on your body. The heavy tray could actually fall and hit the employee or someone else on the head.
Kitchen Staff
The kitchen staff is around many dangerous things while working. For example, they work with very sharp knives. There will also be very hot objects like stoves, deep fryers, and ovens. This increases the risk for burns. Knives and sharp tools should be in good condition and also sharp. An important part of ensuring restaurant staff safety is to make sure that employees are all trained on the equipment. They should also know how to properly handle and store sharp objects.
Since restaurants are usually very fast-paced work environments, they are at higher risk for accidents to occur. As an owner or manager, do not over-expect and push workers to go faster than they should. If someone feels rushed, they are more likely to make a mistake. This is when an accident is more likely to occur.
As you can see, there are many hazards that can come along with working in a restaurant. By wearing the appropriate attire, not rushing, and being properly trained, there is a lower chance of an employee injury and a higher chance of restaurant staff safety.
Apr 1, 2022 | Accident prevention, Work Injuries
There are workplace hazards that come with operating heavy machinery. Some examples of this type of equipment are cranes, front-end loaders, skid loaders, bulldozers, forklifts and tractors. Due to the size and weight of these pieces of equipment, they can be very dangerous. In fact, according to OSHA, about 404 people in America die each year in heavy equipment accidents. They also say the failure or misuse of heavy equipment is one of the top 10 causes of workplace fatalities. If you operate heavy machinery, it is important to know what to do and not do to best keep you safe.
Operating Heavy Machinery: Things to Know
Training
The first step to safely operating heavy machinery is to be properly trained. This may be a long, involved process, but it is essential for safety. Each person using this equipment should be trained and certified on using the equipment. Even if it is just on how to do a simple task, training is so important due to the nature of the machines. Regular refresher training is good to do every few weeks.
Take it Slow
Another thing to consider when operating heavy machinery is to take it slow and safe. If you are on a tight deadline to finish a project, you may feel the need to go fast. Do not fall into a trap where you skip safety steps and rush. This could lead to you making mistakes. Employers should not try and rush workers while they are using these heavy machines. Errors when using big, heavy equipment could turn into life threatening mistakes. Rushing is not worth the risk of hurting yourself or someone else.
Communication
When operating heavy machinery, it is so important to communicate on the job site. For example, make sure that all workers in the area know when a vehicle is occupied and in use. Have others keep an eye out and keep any dangerous areas around the vehicle clear. Communication also applies to creating clear guidelines for operating procedures. This way everyone is on the same page.
Remove Distractions
Distractions bring in another dangerous element when operating heavy machinery. Phones and headphones should not be used or allowed while using these heavy machines. Construction sites can be dangerous on their own. There are many hazards, including people moving around. A distracted machinery operator may not pay attention or notice people around them, or other hazards.
By following these guidelines, you will be safer while operating heavy machinery. They are not hard steps to follow, but can make a huge difference in workplace safety.
