According to the National Safety Council, 15% of all workplace injuries in the United States are attributed to slips, trips and falls. This is a staggeringly high number, considering these types of injuries are often preventable and should not lead to a Connecticut workers’ compensation claim, but they often do. Many of the things that cause these types of injuries can be fixed or prevented by general maintenance at a workplace.
Workplace safety is a joint effort between businesses and their employees, but ultimately it is the responsibility of the workplace to provide safe working conditions. If they are not doing that it is your right as an employee to report the unsafe work conditions to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and you are allowed to do this anonymously and without repercussions.
With that being said, there are some important things you need to be on the lookout for to keep yourself safe and not let it get to that point. It is in everyone’s best interest to prevent slips, trips and falls before they happen and not to get to a point where unsafe working conditions are causing injuries. Here are some situations you can be on the lookout for at your workplace to either notify your supervisor about or work to avoid yourself to keep you and your co-workers safe.
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Slippery conditions. While slippery conditions are often associated with wet surfaces or icy walkways, both of which can cause slips and lead to serious injuries, there are other types of slippery surfaces as well to be aware of that don’t require weather to make them slippery. Surfaces like a gloss finished tile or polished stone can become quite slippery and lead to an injury if you do not approach them with caution.
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Holes or broken surfaces can cause you to trip quite easily. If you are working in an old or not well kept warehouse or other venue that has the potential for these types of surfaces you need to pay extra close attention to make sure you do not miss a hole or broken surface and accidentally find yourself injured.
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Underlit or not lit walkways. It is quite common for a walkway in a warehouse or other venue to not be well lit. If this is the case it can be quite easy to find yourself in a situation where you might trip or fall. If an area is not well lit enough you may want to report it to your supervisor and until it is addressed you should definitely proceed with extra caution before you get injured because of a misstep due to bad lighting.
There are so many reasons why a slip, trip or fall might happen at work and if you do experience this situation you may need to take some time away from work to heal your injury and file a Connecticut workers’ compensation claim. If you do get injured, you should immediately tell your supervisor so she/he is aware of the injury and can begin working on the required paperwork to make sure you are compensated fairly for your injury.
If you face a situation where you are injured at work and you’ve followed all of the appropriate steps, you may still need to speak with a board certified workers’ compensation attorney. Contact one of our attorneys who will learn about your situation and work with you to protect your long-term interests.
