It is very common for healthcare workers to seek help from a New York workers’ compensation law firm after sustaining serious injuries at work. In some cases, healthcare workers are even killed and their families must try to obtain death benefits from a workers’ compensation insurer.
Unfortunately, the reason that healthcare workers and their families are forced to pursue benefits claims so often is because healthcare is a particularly dangerous industry. In fact, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration indicates that “In 2010, the healthcare and social assistance industry reported more injury and illness cases than any other private industry sector — 653,900 cases.” This was a total of 152,000 more reported injuries than manufacturing, which was the sector with the second highest injury totals.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has recently released some web-based materials which are aimed at helping home health workers to stay safe. The material aims to provide practical solutions to help home health workers and their employers to recognize and appropriately respond to some of the biggest risk factors that make healthcare work so dangerous.
Preventing Injuries Among Home Health Workers
The NIOSH curriculum is focused on preventing some of the most common injuries that home health workers sustain. This includes:
- Injuries which occur when lifting clients or when transferring clients
- Slipping, tripping, and falling
- Needle stick injuries and illnesses due to exposure to injections and due to exposure to blood.
- Violence by patients and verbal abuse perpetrated by patients
- Workplace stress
The curriculum provides tips to home health workers on:
- Reducing the chances of experience strains when moving patients. Nurse aids, attendants, and orderlies had the highest rates
- Preventing slip and falls
- Reducing the risks presented by environmental exposure
- Safely working with patients who are suffering from dementia, whose behavior can often become violent and erratic
- Setting work/life boundaries in order to minimize ill health effects from job stress
- Safely handling behavior by patients which turn violent or threatening
All health workers face risks, but those who are in the home care profession are especially vulnerable because they are often alone with patients in private homes without sufficient support if a problem arises. The risks to home healthcare workers will increasingly be an issue as baby boomers age and demand for home health workers increases. There are already close to four million home health workers who the NIOSH director indicates: “often work in isolation and without the typical protections and benefits that workers in traditional healthcare settings receive.”
Home health workers need to understand the risks, but also must know their rights. Any healthcare worker who gets hurt while performing work duties, including those who are injured by the violence of residents, should explore options for pursuing a workplace benefits claim. Rosenberg, Minc, Falkoff & Wolff can provide assistance to home health workers and to others in the health industry who sustain injuries while doing their jobs. Contact an attorney as soon as possible after an injury to make sure you can get the benefits that you deserve.
