Even Denver physicians and other medical professionals may be the victim of hazardous workplace conditions, despite the fact that they are likely more aware of how to prevent injuries. Medical offices throughout Colorado are often just as dangerous as many other office workplaces. Like any office, there is the risk of serious injury, which could quickly lead to a workers’ compensation award.
As with any profession in Colorado, it is not unreasonable for physicians, nurses, or other medical professionals to miss work because of a workplace accident, illness or injury. Health care workers work in a fast-paced and stressful field, so improving workplace conditions can go far to reduce the number of serious accidents in medical offices.
One of the first things a medical office will need to do is to walk through the building and record all of the readily-apparent dangerous conditions. In addition, managers can talk to staff members to learn of hazards that they may have missed. Health care workers who work at a hospital or office on a daily basis are likely to know of more unsafe conditions than those that are easily noticed.
There are a variety strategies that employers can take after that, but all of them should draw employees’ attention to some of the sites where they are more likely to be injured. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that they will completely eliminate the threat of serious injuries in the workplace. But this is why Colorado health care workers have access to the workers’ compensation system, to provide for employees who are injured, despite an employer’s best efforts to make work safer.
Source: American Medical News, “How to save medical office staff from slips, trips and falls,” Victoria Stagg Elliott, Dec. 17, 2012
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