Burn Accidents in Work Place

Burn Accidents in Work Place

Skin burn is a type of damage in tissue caused by exposure or direct contact with heat, chemicals, or electrical currents. Burns range from minor to significant to life threatening medical predicament and has various treatments for different spot or location of burn sustained in the body. According to World Health Organization (WHO), burns happen mostly at home and in work places, the tendencies of these type of accidents doubles up in third world countries wherein Bangladesh and and Ethiopia has 80% - 90% chances of burn to occur at their respective homes and mainly caused by women and children rooting from kitchen causes such as cookstove burning or explosions.

In a recent study by National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), there are significant numbers of cases of burns in workplaces ranging from 10% to 45% of total burns occurred reported. 40% of total burn death were also linked to workplace related fires and explosions and 20% of the number was caused by thermal burns. To be specific, there are types of burns in a work place identified according to their severity as:

• First Degree Burn - First degree burns damage first layer of the skin and mostly treated easily at home without going to hospital and seek medical professionals' help. Over the counter medicines for burns are also good as well for first aid and maintenance treatment for the said first degree burn.
• Second Degree Burn - Second degree burns damage first and second layer of the skin and most cases of these burns require medical assistance and need to be treated in an hospital. First aid used in first degree burns are also plausible as a countermeasure to infection and degeneration.
• Third Degree Burn - Third degree burn is the worst type of all degree as it damages all skin layers as well as the tissue inside the skin and may leave long term effects such as disability, amputation, blindness, or even death and in the process of recuperation it deals a lot of physical pain. 

Aside from the extent of damage of the burn, it is also classified into varieties according to how it is caused such as:

• Thermal Burns Common burns sustained at most work place such as offices and fast food chain and even at home. Thermal burn refers to a type of burn occured when skin or part of body made contact with fire, explosions, hot objects or hot liquids such as boiling water and gas stove fire which is commonly found at the mentioned work places.
• Electrical Burns This type of burn commonly occur at work space such as power station and factories for any kind of electronics where the constant risk of exposure of electricity is present. This happens when the a part of a employee's body makes contact with electricity or when electricity accidentally flows into the body and results in electrocution.
• Chemical Burns Chemical burns refer to the injuries in skin or any part of the body caused by corrosive acids and other chemicals found in household or workplace, it occurs when a person's skin or any part of his body makes contact with chemicals such as acids, alkaloids and other caustic agents, common example are cleaners for toilet bowl or industrial.

• Radiation Exposure Burns or Cold Burns (Extreme Temperature Burns) Workers who do their jobs outdoor incessantly even in bad or extreme weather and with lesser personal protective equipments, workers who work under bad sunrays and exposure to UV lights can sustain sunburns at an extent and fatigue as heat is draining and outside workers who work under cold condition with little to none protection may damage specific tissues that is left unprotected. 
• Friction Burns Friction burn is common at construction site, roads and other work space that requires labor and has rough environment. Friction burn occur when part of the body makes contact with a rough or hard surface along with a strong and recurring motion such as road rash.  

Numbers In Burns If you are curious about the retrospect standing in work place burns then here it is:

• Burn injuries is one of the leading causes of unintentional injury and death factor in the U.S. as 8% of total injuries are burn injuries treated are work-related.
• From 2011 to 2015, approximately 486,000 burn or fire injuries were treated in emergency rooms throughout the nation.
• According to World Health Organization, there is an estimated 180,00 deaths annually due to burns.
• Non-fatal burns, ironically, cause most mortality.

File a Workers' Comp Claim 

There are some jobs that is highly susceptible for the risks of burn such as firefighters, electricians, and etc. When there is a point that they have sustained workplace burn that occured during their duty of employment, it is no doubt covered under workers' compensation unless it is self-inflicted because maybe the worker is under the influence of alcohol or drugged out or maybe fighting among workers and resulted in the injury sustained are the limits.

With the filing of a victim his workers' compensatsion claim, it can help financially for one's medical bills and lost wages, and that is also how the said compensation is calculated. Beforehand the filing of the said claim, it is recommended to hire an injury lawyer, aside from they are free, they will help you through the whole litigation process from filing to gathering of evidences to meetings and they'd literally give free advice for your own best.

Ryan LLP is an Ohio based injury attorneys that has been representing victims of personal injur, wrongful death and medical malpractice for more than 40 years. They are competent and confident about the case they have handled and it is because of the proof of their successful history of legal representation. They do services and represent their clients' case against large companies and agencies fairly and expect them to make it work. Call our office now for free legal consultation.