It’s a lot safer than it used to be to go to work, but there are still a very high number of people who are seriously injured while working.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration collected injury data from 26 states to create its latest report. The 26 states used in the report have safety standards that are much higher than what is required by federal regulations. the report shows that 10,388 workers in 2015 were severely injured. In some cases, people suffered injuries to their eyes, such as having them gouged out; in 2,644 cases, an amputation was reported. When it came to workers being hospitalized, 7,636 spent time in a hospital room.
So what industry suffered the most injuries? The manufacturing industry. Fifty-seven percent of the amputations were in the manufacturing industry and just above a quarter of the hospitalizations.
The new regulations that went into effect in 2015 now requires that companies to report serious accident in the workplace within 24 hours. However, OSHA believes that about half of all the injuries suffered in the 26 states were not reported. The federal safety agency thinks this could be because smaller companies simply haven’t heard of the new regulations yet.
At Hannigan Botha & Sievers, Ltd., we know that workplace injuries are tragic. Those accidents in the workplace can even be fatal. If you have suffered a severe injury and workers’ compensation has denied your benefits, we can help. We help injured workers or the families of those who were killed in workplace accidents receive the benefits to which they are entitled. In order to learn more about workers’ compensation, please visit our webpages on the topic.