You certainly don’t want to get injured on the job, and you do everything in your power to work safely. You inspect ladders, you wear personal protection equipment, you never work when you’re feeling too tired or fatigued, and you generally just try to be as safe as you can at every turn.
This is good, but remember that you could still be injured by a negligent or dangerous co-worker. When companies were asked how often their employees decided to ignore or sidestep safety regulations, some studies have put it as high as 80%.
This doesn’t mean that 8 out of 10 employees are ignoring safety regulations, but it does mean that 8 out of 10 companies have at least one employee who is doing so. If you end up working with this individual, they could cause severe injuries to you or others around you.
How will the injury happen?
Exactly how the injury happens really just depends on what type of work you do. If you’re a warehouse worker, you could be struck by a forklift driven by a negligent or poorly trained co-worker. If you’re a construction worker, you could be struck from above when they drop something that should have been tethered to the structure, and you could suffer a severe head injury. If you work on a road crew, you could be injured by someone driving a vehicle or using heavy machinery.
The biggest thing to remember is simply that other people can cause severe injuries that have a massive impact on your earnings and your livelihood. Make sure that you know what options you have for workers’ compensation.
