The office always needs a bit of life injected into it and when someone slips or trips – unless it’s fatal or causes severe injury – it’s a bit of comic relief. However this bit of comic relief may cause headaches for small businesses if they don’t have worker compensation. Larger businesses are often covered in these instances, but smaller businesses just starting out need to be aware that worker compensation claims, unless prepared for, can do some serious damage to the finances unless compensation insurance is taken out.
Worker Compensation Claims
Employees have legs to stand on – even when they’re broken – in the following cases:
Slips and trips: These can happen anywhere in the office but most often on wet or slippery floors. Worker compensation benefits would take care of broken legs, sprains, fractures or whatever other ailment or injury is a direct result of falling after tripping or slipping on business premises.
Hazards by electricity: It’s a known fact that leaving live wires around any office, home or close to water is a possibly fatal accident waiting to happen. Electrical hazards can cause severe burns or fatal shocks that not even worker compensation doctors can effectively assist. Ensure avoidance of this by taking out worker compensation insurance, and having an electrician come in and sort out the wires.
Industrial handling: Industries that require much manual labour the risk of physical injury is much higher and thus worker compensation is an absolute must. Staff can get seriously injured when carrying, lowering, and lifting and pushing boxes. Very often staff performing manual labour ends up with strained backs and muscles that need constant attention through physiotherapy etc. The benefits of compensation ease the medical bills that come from performing company tasks.
Car accidents: Many employees don’t know that they are eligible for worker compensation claims if they have a car accident while on the way to work. Benefits don’t cover the actual car but staff injuries are covered. Naturally the compensation settlements and laws work differently from state to state and country to country, but there is a degree of compensation involved.
Many of these injuries can be avoided by ensuring there are no live electrical wires around, the staff are given the correct assistance with their manual labour, wet floors are dried and slippery floors are dealt with to avoid injury. Worker compensation insurance is best to have on the books anyway, just to be on the safe side.
Vida Denning is a freelance writer who was researching office space Miami when she came across this topic.
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