According to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), hospitals are one of the most dangerous places to work. The risks faced by hospital workers are significant, and many risks extend to other health care professionals.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics combines fatality and injury rates in the education and health care industries. In 2015, 197 workers died in education or health care work-related accidents. For every 100 full-time workers, four suffered recordable injuries or illnesses and 1.9 missed time from work, required work restrictions, or had to work different jobs because of their injuries or illnesses.
The Risks Facing Health Care Workers
As doctors, nurses, assistants, and others take care of patients, they risk their own injury or illness by:
- Lifting patients. Patients with limited mobility need help and health care workers risk injuring themselves when they are helping patients reposition or move.
- Coming into contact with contagious diseases. While certain precautions such as handwashing and proper disposal of needles can help reduce the risk of spreading disease, health care workers remain at risk.
- Treating patients with mental health challenges. These patients may become violent and cause injury to health care workers.
- Slipping or tripping and falling. Wet floors and cluttered halls can make slip or trip and fall risks significant for health care workers.
These risks and others can result in serious injuries, such as:
- Sprains and strains.
- Broken bones.
- Multiple traumas.
A health care worker who suffers one of these injuries—or any other injury in a work-related accident—may become the patient and may need to know how to get medical care and weekly benefits.
It’s Time to Take Care of Yourself
Your injury or illness may have been an accident. It may have even have been reasonably foreseeable given your job duties. However, your employer may still be responsible for paying your workers’ compensation benefits if you’ve been hurt in a work-related incident. Those benefits may include medical care and weekly benefits.
To learn more about how to protect yourself after an injury in the health care industry—or a work injury in any industry—please call our experienced workers’ compensation lawyers at any time. We are here to help make your recovery easier.