Hospitals are places where people turn for healing and help when dealing with serious medical issues, but for the individuals who provide these services, hospitals can be quite dangerous. Ohio health care workers face various types of risks and threats to their safety every time they clock in at work. As a hospital worker, if you suffered an injury because of your job, you could have the right to workers’ compensation benefits.
Workers’ compensation insurance protects the interests of workers who get hurt or become ill due to their jobs. These benefits cover medical care, recovery of lost wages and more. If you believe you have a rightful claim to this type of support, you have no time to lose after a hospital work accident to follow through with the appropriate course of action.
Threats to health care worker safety
Hospitals can be extremely hazardous places to work. In fact, hospitals report almost twice the amount of worker injuries than most other private industries. Statistics find that hospital workers actually face a higher risk of injury than the men and women who work in construction and manufacturing. While hospitals are fraught with risk and hazards for the people who dedicated their careers to helping others, some of the most common sources of injuries for these workers include:
- Overexertion of the body
- Slip-and-falls
- Trips-and-falls
- Violence from patients or patient families
- Exposure to dangerous substances
- Contact with dangerous objects
As a doctor, nurse, technician or other type of health care worker, you know that there are certain inherent risks involved with providing care to the sick and the hurt. However, the danger of your job does not preclude you from support in case you do suffer in a workplace accident or other type of incident.
You would be wise to know your rights and know what to do in the event of an accident at work. This can make it easier to protect your rights in case you find yourself in need of workers’ compensation benefits.
Support for a difficult time
If you got hurt or sick because of your job, you need time to recover and heal so that you can return to work at full capacity. However, you may need financial support to do this. Workers’ compensation benefits could be available to you, but it is not always easy to get this type of support.
From completing your initial application to fighting through any necessary appeals, you do not have to take one step of this process alone. If you are an injured hospital worker, you may find it useful to seek a complete explanation of your rights as soon as possible after an accident.