Not all work spheres in Wisconsin and nationally are equal from the perspective of on-the-job risks posed for employees and linked workplace injuries.
Candidly, some occupational realms are decidedly more dangerous than others.
Most readers of this blog might reasonably agree that some safety downsides can potentially materialize in any job environment, of course. Office employees sometimes suffer injuries at work. So do people in retail positions and workers in a host of other fields where so-called “sedentary” employment is the norm.
Notwithstanding that, though, a few select industries routinely dominate “Top-10” lists and other compilations of jobs where work injuries are most common and serious.
Perennial entrants come from spheres like manufacturing, transportation and warehousing. Those are supplemented by high-risk work environments like fishing, forestry and agriculture.
And, of course, construction, which is spotlighted below.
The construction realm: Ground zero for workplace injuries?
There is arguably no other work environment featuring injury-causing catalysts as routinely widespread as those that exist in the construction industry.
The vast and varied Milwaukee metro area is illustrative on that point. Industry workers labor year round on projects of immense variety and scope. They work indoors and outside in all types of weather. They earn their pay as inspectors, engineers, surveyors, roofers, masons, carpenters, ironworkers, crane operators, machinists and more.
Those varied positions routinely expose them to on-the-job risks that can yield serious and even catastrophic injuries. One in-depth overview of dangerous conditions that lead to construction accidents and linked worker injuries notes the sheer “variety of hazards faced by construction workers.” Those spawn adverse outcomes resulting from occurrences like these:
- Falls (scaffold and ladder incidents are especially common)
- Machinery crush injuries
- Burns and electrocution
- Structural collapses and cave-ins
- Exposure to toxins and hazardous chemicals
- Vehicle strikes
- Struck by moving machinery and parts
- Lifting/repetitive motion injuries
Seeking assistance following a job-related illness or injury
An authoritative Wisconsin legal source on workers’ compensation duly notes that the program’s creation and linked benefits emerged many decades ago “as a reaction to unsafe work conditions.”
Since that time, workers’ comp has enabled legions of injured employees to secure vitally needed benefits important to their recoveries and families.
Here’s a caveat, though: The scheme hardly works seamlessly and as it ideally should in every instance. Indeed, and as duly noted by the above-cited source, it has over time “evolved into a long and confusing process.”
Put another way: Injured workers sometimes face blowback and challenges from both employers and insurance carriers tasked with providing coverage.
They don’t have to face such challenges alone as they seek to secure their legal entitlement to benefits. A proven and empathetic workers’ compensation legal team can help them navigate the workers’ compensation process and secure the payments they deserve.
