It is important to remember that not all injuries in the workplace involve heavy machinery or repetitive stress injuries. For example, a workplace accident occurred at the Addipel resin pellits facility in Elyria, Ohio, in which a worker suffered burn injuries following a chemical mixing incident. Workers were mixing several chemicals, including crodamide, akawax-c powder, cellcom-obsh and vicrom. The chemical mixture reacted, causing the worker to be burned.
When firefighters arrived at the facility, there was a great amount of smoke, although the smoke did not pose a hazard to rescue crews. In addition, the chemicals at issue did not pose a risk to the area in which the incident occurred. The worker at issue suffered second-degree burns and was taken to a local medical facility. The incident is being investigated.
Burn injuries can be incredibly serious. The healing process can take a long time and can be very painful. It is likely that a worker who suffers a serious burn injury will not be able to return to their job right away. In fact, it may be weeks or even months before their burns have healed enough to allow them to return to work. This can be a difficult situation financially, as the worker will be between a rock and a hard place in which they cannot earn a salary, but find they are unable to afford ever-growing medical expenses, not to mention their daily living expenses.
Fortunately, Ohio’s workers’ compensation system might provide benefits to qualified individuals who have suffered workplace injuries. However, to obtain these benefits, it is important that workers understand what steps are required of them and what information they must submit to the appropriate agencies.