Getting injured at work is a real pain – pun not intended. You must take time off to recover, you must recover both mentally and physically, and you might suffer from a future loss of earnings as a result.
There are types of personal injury claims in Ireland and the EU which don’t stem directly from accidents. Some injuries occur only after repeated actions, inactions, or improper training.
In fact, we would bet money that there are types of injury at work which don’t directly result from a momentous accident, but which rather happened over time.
Don’t believe us? Here are five of them.
5 Types of Long Term Personal Injury at Work
If you suffer from a workplace injury it might not be because of an accident at the garage, office, or store. Instead, you could feasibly suffer one of the following injuries without ever knowing you were risking your health.
1 – Back Injuries in Office Workers
You may not think that a back injury would be common to an office worker since their jobs do not involve much heavy lifting. The opposite is, however, the truth. Office workers sit in strained positions for long periods, causing pain in unusual places. The back, hips, knees, and neck are all at risk of repetitive strain injury.
If you have suffered a back injury at work and your boss made no attempt to provide you with something to solve the problem, then you should seek legal advice. Talk to Lacey Solicitors, in Belfast and Dublin.
2 – Manual Handling
It is probably no surprise to you that manually lifting and moving things can hurt your joints, muscles, and tendons once in a while. If you complain about pain and your employer fails to make life easier for you, then you could claim compensation for that as an injury at work.
Unison estimates that there are around 300,000 manual handling incidents in the UK each year. Your boss has a responsibility to give you proper training and, where appropriate, the right gear to lift with.
3 – Over Exertion Injuries
If you are lifting, carrying, straining – or even just working beyond the point of exhaustion, two things will happen. First, you will start to make mistakes. These will gradually worsen as the second thing happens, when your body fails you.
An employer who expects this from you day after day is asking for far too much.
4 – RSI
Of course, we cannot talk about workplace injuries without mentioning repetitive strain injury. This injury happens when you repeat a motion over and over again. RSIs can be avoided if you have appropriate training and the right equipment, tailored to you.
5 – Exposure Injuries
Exposure injuries can be the result of a harsh sunburn due to your boss failing to provide you with shade or appropriate gear when working outdoors. An exposure injury could be to the cold, wet, or other weather conditions.
Exposure injuries can be significantly more harmful, however. Exposure to hazardous chemicals over a prolonged time can cause fatal diseases. A good example of this is the lung diseases suffered by the workers at popcorn factories in the USA[i], who were exposed to diacetyl daily.
Seek Legal Advice Before You Continue
Don’t give in to pressure from third parties, whose insurance solicitors will make you a low offer in exchange for your silence. Seek legal advice before you proceed. Otherwise? It could be the most expensive mistake that you ever make.
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