Most Common Workplace-Related Injury Causes

We expect to go to work, do our jobs, and return home happy and healthy. However, that’s not everyone’s reality. Every year, thousands of people are injured or become ill at work and require time off to recover. Health and safety procedures go a long way toward reducing the risk. Still, employers and employees are regularly contending with these common workplace-related injury causes: 

Harmful Substance and Environment Exposure

Harmful substance and environmental exposure is now the leading cause of work-related injuries and illnesses. It used to be the sixth-most common cause until the COVID-19 pandemic. Alongside contagious and infectious diseases like COVID-19, employees can also become unwell through exposure to: 

• Electricity 
• Temperature extremes
• Radiation
• Noise
• Air and water pressure changes
• Oxygen deficiency 
• Traumatic and stressful events 

As traumatic and severe as these exposure events can be, workers’ compensation platforms like myMatrixx PBM often make navigating workers’ compensation solutions much easier for employees, employers, and service providers. In particular, employees can enjoy solutions tailored to their unique needs. They may then be able to access the help they need and get back to work sooner.

Overexertion and Bodily Reaction

Whether your job involves manual labor or not, there’s still a chance you can be at risk of overexertion and bodily reaction. This injury type is one of the leading causes and often means employees need to take time off work.
You may be at risk of non-impact injuries, such as lifting, pushing, throwing, or carrying things that require a great deal of physical effort. Microtasks that require repetitive motion may also put you at risk of overexertion and bodily reactions. For example, you might develop occupational overuse syndrome from tasks like hairdressing, typing, cleaning, or general laboring. 

Slips, Trips, and Falls

Accidents happen. We aren’t always steady on our feet or on a particular surface. As a result, we can sometimes be at risk of slips, trips, and falls in the workplace. Some industries, like construction, agriculture, and public works, are often riskier than others.   
A slip and a trip can happen when you slip and catch yourself but don’t fall. You can also fall on the same level, such as tripping, slipping, and falling onto or against an object. Falling onto a lower level is also a risk, such as falling from a ladder, roof, or a collapsing structure. 

Contact with Objects and Equipment

Hundreds of thousands of workers are injured every year after contact with objects and equipment. Hundreds of employees also lose their lives annually. While every accident scenario is different, workers are often injured after:

• A moving object strikes them
• They strike an object
• Their bodies are compressed, crushed, squeezed, or pinched by objects 
• They’re struck, caught, or crushed by equipment 
• They experience friction or pressure
• They experience extreme vibrations 

While not all injuries can be avoided, employees may be able to avoid trips to hospitals by wearing the most appropriate PPE, following health and safety policies, and being appropriately trained. 
We can prevent many work-related injuries by being careful and following our workplaces’ health and safety procedures. However, we’ve still got a long way to go. Many hundreds of thousands of people are still experiencing injuries from the circumstances listed above.