Every workplace has its hazards. This means that even the most relaxed office environment can pose risks to the workers who are there.
Office injuries are actually very similar to the injuries that happen in other places. For instance, falls are a leading cause of accidents. Another risk is tripping. Repetitive-strain injuries are a third risk that many office workers are exposed to.
Airport workers are exposed to many hazards every day. In fact, it's extremely easy to get hurt on the job if precautions aren't taken.
Some of the unique dangers that airport workers face include:
When looking at the severity of workplace injuries, one important thing to consider is how long workers have to spend out of work after they get hurt. This gives an indication of how bad those injuries were, and it also speaks to the total financial cost in lost wages, medical bills and the like. In addition, it gives you a sense of the cost to the company itself in lost production or finding replacement workers.
So, which industries see injuries keep workers out the longest? Here are some of the median days out of work for a few notable professions:
It only takes you a split second to reach the ground when you fall from a ladder, but your whole life can change in that time. Even if it's a short ladder -- six or eight feet -- you could suffer serious back, neck or head injuries. Higher falls could lead to paralysis, permanent injury and death.
You don't think about these risks every time you climb a ladder. You just think about getting the job done. You think about the task at hand. If you're a construction worker or a contractor, you probably climb ladders every day.
Every job is important, but if certain jobs went undone, there would be immediate public outcry. Some of those jobs include, doctors, police officers, mail carriers and sanitation workers. Few other occupations work so hard and with so little thanks as sanitation workers.
Sanitation workers serve one of the most important jobs of all. Without waste collection, we could not live the relatively sterile lives that we do today. Garbage would pile up, we would have bug and rodent infestations and new and old diseases would be widespread. Given how badly we need sanitation workers, shouldn’t we be paying more attention to their health and safety on the job?
As a nurse, you are extremely knowledgeable about your patients, but patients can be your greatest threat. One of the most dangerous things you can do is move heavy patients and equipment.
Is it ever safe to manually lift a patient?
When you think of an employee dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the first occupations that often come to mind are EMT, police officer or firefighter. Trauma, however, can occur in any occupation. It was that realization that led to a newly expanded bill to protect many Colorado workers.
In April of 2017, Colorado Governor, John Hickenlooper, signed a bill that would allow first responders to file workers' compensation claims for PTSD. In 2018, Colorado expanded the bill to include any worker who suffers PTSD as the result of a traumatic event while on the job.
If white-collar workers suffer the most from repetitive stress injuries, then java-collar workers are surely suffering more.
Work-related injuries among baristas are on the rise, comprising mostly of elbow, wrist and joint problems from repetitive stress. Some have even coined the term "barista wrist" although baristas suffering from medial epicondylitis, or golfer’s elbow, is just as common.
Nursing is a dangerous profession. Nurses and other hospital employees work with infectious people, handle sharp objects that may have been exposed to blood-borne pathogens and work with equipment that uses radiation or dangerous chemicals. In this setting, injuries from strains, slips and falls may not seem very important.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, falls, trips and slips account for 27 percent of lost-time claims by nurses, second only to the 46 percent of injuries caused by strains, usually by lifting a patient.
If inhaled in high enough concentrations for too long, hydrogen sulfide, sometimes called H2S gas, can be deadly. Although industries have exposure limits put in place by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), it is up to each individual employer to maintain the monitoring equipment and enforce proper safety protocols.
Like any occupation, productivity can often out-rank safety. When that happens, lives could be at risk.
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