Workers Compensation Injury

An injury is any type of wound, including an abrasion, laceration, contusion, lesion, or bruise which harms the body causing physical or mental damage, pain, disfigurement or affliction.

Injuries covered or compensated by workers' compensation must have occurred at work while a worker is performing any type of work-related activity. Covered injuries can include a one-time accident or debilitating disease, which develop over the course of employment.

Most employers are required to purchase workers' compensation insurance and will provide wage loss benefits as well as medical coverage if a worker is injured at work. Payments are made to the workers without the worker having to prove the employer is negligent, but generally, the employee forfeits their right to additional compensation and is not allowed to file a personal injury claim against the employer. Injury claims may, however, still be filed against third parties.

Injuries not covered by workers' compensation insurance

Not all injuries are covered by workers' compensation. Injuries which may not be covered even if they occur at the worksite include self-inflicted injuries (including those caused by a person who starts a fight), injuries which are sustained in the course of committing a serious crime, injuries which are sustained while violating a company's clearly stated safety policy, injuries sustained while driving too and from work, or injuries sustained while the employee was not on the job.

Most common workers' compensation injuries

There are hundreds of injuries which a worker can sustain on the job, but the most common include overexertion from a repetitive movement such as pulling, lifting, pushing, holding, carrying, and throwing; trips and falls; falling off a ladder or stairway; being struck by an object which has been dropped by another employee from a higher level; highway accidents; machinery accidents, assaults and violent acts by another employee; and any number of debilitating diseases which are exacerbated by unsafe working conditions.