Beyond Accidents: Other Health Conditions Worker's Compensation Cover

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You probably know that workers compensation insurance will compensate you if you are injured in a workplace accident and have to miss work for some time. For example, the insurance will compensate you if a machine severs your finger at work. However, it is not just accidents that the insurance cover caters for; it covers any injury or health issue that originates from work-related activities. Below are some of the non-accident medical issues that workers compensation covers.

Occupational Diseases

An occupational disease arises as a result of your exposure to workplace risk factors. For example, working in a mine can give you a respiratory health condition because you are continuously exposed to high levels of dust. Those who work in noisy places can develop hearing problems, those who work with extremely bright objects can develop eye problems, and those who work with chemicals can develop cancer. In all these cases, worker's compensation will come to your rescue if you can prove that the disease originated from the workplace.

Infections

Workers compensation will also compensate you for contracting an infectious disease at the workplace if you can prove it. Contracting a disease at the workplace is more common than many people think. For example, a coworker can sneeze and pass airborne pathogens to you, or you can get a skin disease by coming into contact with a surface contaminated by a sick person. Unfortunately, tracing the origin of infection is not easy, so you have your work cut out for you in proving that you got infected in the workplace.

Repetitive Motion Injuries

These injuries occur due to overuse of the same body tissues. They mostly occur if you usually engage in the same motion with the same part of the body over and over again. Say you are a machine operator whose main job involves pushing and pulling on a handle; you can easily develop a repetitive motion injury on your hand or arm. If that happens, you deserve workers compensation just like a worker who slips and breaks their arm in the office.

Mental Injuries

Workers compensation is not exclusive to physical injuries and diseases; it also caters to mental injuries. Workers compensation can come to your rescue whether your mental illness is as a result of a single event, a serious of different event, or continuous events. As is the case with infections, the main complication is proving that your mental injury occurred due to workplace factors. Talk to a legal firm like Winstein, Kavensky & Cunningham, LLC. to learn more.


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