What Are The Most Common Office Workplace Injuries?

Employers in the United States are required to keep their workplaces to high safety and health standards for employees. Most employers also have to pay into or provide their own workers’ compensation insurance to also cover any injuries that do happen. 

You can keep most injuries from occurring by following safe practices and staying alert when you’re on the job. Your work environment should be clean and well-organized as well. However, even the safest workplaces can’t prevent all injuries if you don’t also take care of yourself and get plenty of rest and frequent breaks. 

Here are some of the workplace injuries that happen most frequently, especially in the office environment:

Falling.

Many trips and falls happen in the office because people don’t watch where they going or take any precautions when climbing up onto something. If you casually step up onto your chair to reach a cabinet without thinking, the chair might move or even tip over if you move a certain way. 

A disorganized or cluttered office also means a lot of fall hazards. If you’re dashing around the office to make copies or get ready to go home, it’s easy to overlook a box on the floor and trip over it. Even a relatively small fall can cause a serious injury. 

Repetitive Motion.

While many work-related injuries are one-time accidents that may lead to an acute injury like a broken bone or pulled muscle, not every injury can be linked to an actual accident. Repetitive motion injuries happen over time by overusing certain specific joints or muscle groups without properly resting or taking care of yourself.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common and painful repetitive motion injury that affects your wrists. This condition affects people who spend a lot of time typing without resting your hands. Getting your employer to provide breaks and devices that help you with proper posture and position can reduce your chances of suffering from one of these injuries. 

Shocks and Burns.

Chemicals and electronics can also be serious workplace safety hazards. Even if your office doesn’t work with any chemical that could be harmful, or even toxic, you are still putting people in danger if you use too many extension cords or let your devices go too long without repair. 

Electronics breaking down and power bars or extension cords that are worn down or overloaded are safety hazards that could cause serious electric burns to someone who’s around them at the wrong time.  

Overexertion.

While the average office may not seem like it involves much heavy lifting and other physical labor, there’s always some physical work going on. You might be moving boxes around, receiving new supplies, changing out a computer, or anything else. 

Overexerting yourself in lifting or carrying things can lead to serious, lasting energy. While in a warehouse, staff may be carefully trained in proper lifting techniques and other ways to reduce the risk of injury, workers in an office might not know the best way to avoid injury. 

There are always going to be risks, and it’s the employer’s responsibility to do their best to mitigate them. However, only you can take precautions to ensure your own safety. 

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