If you suffer an injury at work, you could struggle with high levels of physical pain as well as emotional challenges. Moreover, the financial impact of a workplace accident could turn your life upside down in different ways, whether you cannot pay rent or you have difficulty with medical debt.
Workplace accidents cause financial problems for various reasons. Aside from hospital bills, many people have to take time off work because of an injury they sustained on the job. It is helpful to take a look at statistics on missed work due to occupational injuries in order to understand how widespread this problem is in fields that are especially dangerous.
Reviewing data on missed work due to job-related injuries
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers in the private sector reported 2.8 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses throughout 2019. Over the course of the year, more than 888,000 work-related injuries and illnesses prompted people to miss a day of work or more. Put another way, 2.8 out of every 100 full-time equivalent private-sector workers had to take time off work because of an occupational injury or illness in 2019.
Occupations, injuries and missed work
The BLS reports that 10 occupations made up for 33% of all injuries and illnesses that prompted private sectors to miss work in 2019. Freight, stock and material movers, construction laborers, nursing assistants, cleaners as well as large truck drivers accounted for many of these cases.
If you have had to take time off of work because of an injury you sustained on the job, take a look at workers’ compensation benefits.