Workers’ compensation injuries happen everyday in many different occupations, not just those doing manual labor. Knowing how to avoid these injuries in the first place is the best way to prevent them from ever happening. Workers’ compensation injuries can cause disability, pain and require ongoing treatment from a team of qualified physicians. Here we list a few ways you can prevent injuries.

Keep Your Space Clean
Seems obvious, right? Slips and falls are common workplace injuries and they can be linked directly to how clean the space you are working in is. Some tips for keeping your space clean is to do your part in cleaning up spills as soon as someone notices them. If items are used commonly, don’t put them up on high shelves that may cause a fall when someone goes to reach for them. If there is a spill that cannot be cleaned up by you, let your boss know so that they can have someone come in and clean it up.

Ergonomical Spaces
Many injuries in the workplace come from repetitive stress injuries, meaning you do something over and over again until finally it puts so much stress on your body that it causes an injury. The best way to avoid repetitive stress injuries is to make sure everything is set up in the most ergonomical way including how workers hold tools to how a computer and chair are set up at a desk. Keeping your space ergonomical will help to prevent things like joint pain, back pain, increased risk of arthritis and headaches. The human resources department at your workplace will help you get your workspace positioned in the best way.

Follow The Rules
By simply following the safety rules that your office has set out for you, you will be able to avoid common workplace injuries. If you have not seen the rules, speak to your human resources representative so that you can get briefed on what those rules are. If an employee goes against the set rules and disregards safety warnings and they get hurt, they will not be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits, so it is important you know what those rules are.

Don’t Overexert Yourself
Injuries that happen because someone is excessively lifting, pulling, holding or carrying items accounts for 26% of the cost associated with workers’ compensation. It is important that you ask for help if you find that you are overexerting yourself, especially if it is happening regularly. Your employer will be able to help you find something that can help, because you do not want to find yourself in a position where you have chronic low back pain from lifting items onto shelves when you could have been using a piece of machinery if you had just asked for help!

If you find yourself in a position where you qualify for workers’ compensation and live in Georgia, give our office a call. You can find out more about our program by visiting lowbackpain.com/workerscomp

Sources:
http://ehstoday.com/blog/preventing-top-5-workplace-injuries
http://www.painmanagementdr.com/blog/2015/december/preventing-injuries-in-the-workplace.aspx