You face different risks at work, but crush injuries are among the most serious. Even if they are not as common as other types of workplace injuries like slip-and-fall incidents, the severity of a crush injury makes it necessary to know as much about them as possible.
When looking at crush injury incidents, the basics to understand include: what these injuries are, how they happen and how they may affect you in the short and long term.
What are they and how do they happen?
Medline Plus takes a look at crush injuries and how they impact workers. First: what are crush injuries? Simply put, crush injury incidents involve any large and/or heavy object falling on, pinning, or running over any part of your body. Examples include a bulldozer running over your foot, a tree falling on your leg, or a car pinning you to a wall.
Next: how do crush injuries happen? They often occur in high-paced environments with a lot of busy activity and tired or distracted workers. One wrong move can result in a driver hitting you, or may end in a worker accidentally pushing something heavy off of the scaffolding onto the unsuspecting passers-by below.
How do they affect you?
As for how crush injuries affect you, they often have a severe impact on your overall health and wellness. Major risks for crush injuries include gangrene, sepsis, necrosis, organ failure and amputation. These injuries take months if not years to recover from, which can cost you heavily in medical bills and lost wages. This is why many victims in your situation decide to hire legal aid and seek financial compensation.