The Most Expensive and Common Workplace Injuries

When it comes to the reputation of a business, safety is a major priority. You want people to be able to feel safe in their workplace, and you want to be able to advertise a great safety track record for your firm.

With that in mind, what are the most common injuries that tend to compromise a company’s record? What are the things that you most have to look out for in terms of offering people better health and safety on the job?

Materials Handling Injuries

One of the most common types of workplace injuries involves working with heavy equipment, materials or other objects.

Various limb sprains and strains constitute the most significant category of workplace accidents threatening workers in most physical industries. This has to do with the most common demands that are put on the body.

In an average physical work process, a person is asked to pick up something heavy, or move it from one place to another. It may be packaged bags of materials that weigh up to 50 pounds or more apiece. It may be heavy equipment arms or other pieces of gear.

Whatever it is, it puts a significant amount of pressure on joints like risks, elbows and shoulders. That’s where the limb sprains and strains come in.

Hundreds of thousands of workers report these types of workplace injuries each year, so one of the best things a company can do is build ergonomics into its business model, in order to reduce or eliminate these types of injuries.

Repetitive Motion Injuries

Another very common type of injury is the repetitive motion injury.

The culprit here is a work process where someone is asked to do the same thing over and over again physically, without adequate breaks, or without specific supports like braces, gloves or harnesses.

The result is that the repetitive motion injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome happen in a very wide variety of businesses. Nearly anyone can suffer from carpal tunnel — whether they are white-collar or blue-collar, whether they work with documents, or hang drywall, or move vats of food around.

Here again, ergonomics is key. Businesses have to look at what kind of work processes decrease the physical burden on workers and reduce the chances that someone will suffer from repetitive motion injury.

Back Injuries

Back injuries are another common category of place injuries.

Many of these are caused by a slip and fall accident — whether they have to do with improper flooring, wet or sticky materials on the floor, or other causes. Impact injuries can also cause back injuries, as well as various types of soft tissue injury.

More Serious Injuries

Businesses also have to look out for a more severe category of injury that includes things like electric shock from high-voltage wires, amputation of a digit or limb from sharp blades or surfaces, and crushing or heavy trauma. Businesses have to assess things like high-voltage systems, blades and heavy suspended structures to try to minimize the risk of these types of accidents happening. Having a developed safety plan is also critically important. With a little foresight, company leaders can plan well and decrease health and safety risks for the enterprise.

About Full Steam Staffing

Full Steam Staffing is a full-service staffing agency focused on providing clerical and light industrial staffing solutions to manufacturers, distribution centers and other organizations that need qualified, reliable workers. If you are currently looking to hire and grow your workforce, contact our team of skilled recruiters today!