Working at Home Risks

Working at Home Risk

The pandemic, COVID-19, has put the world on halt because of its fatal threat to one's life which shuts down all businesses, ignoring if it is macro or micro. As the 3 month lockdown has come to finish, businesses implemented working at home policy as the risk of the virus is still there and there is little to none known information about the said entity in question. 

According to a research done by Stanford which has conducted on the first few months after the worldwide recommendation of working at home of all businesses including small businesses which has caused a backlash because of its impact to small businesses wherein they were unable to sustain their businesses and resulted in multiple shutdowns, around 42% of employees in U.S. were working from home full time and essential workers at 26% such as medical professionals were allowed to work on-site. It has raised questions and confusion about how would their rights and coverage if they sustained injury while on their job at home.

Aside from the direct sustenance of injuries while working at home, employees have been working with risks along on their side as primarily, sitting while facing on computer suggests and reflects unhealthy effects. So what are some of these risks? Let us together explore in this blog. 

Common Risks for Home Workers 

As previously mentioned, most common scene in working home is sitting while facing computers, these effects encompasses:

• limb pain issues and likelihood of developing disorders
  
  
• some employees are isolated which could inflict mental damage or burnout
  
  
• lacking of work equipment which is provided by the employer
  
  
• family or house members are exposed to hazardous substances and materials
  
  
• longer computer hours without going out as rest
  
  
• increased risks of slips, trips and falls due to addition of house elements
  
  
• increased likelihood of stress and depression

How do an employee identify an injury from home is work-related?

According to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), there are some scenarios where an injury is considered work-related through their provided examples that could be very relevant to working from home setups during the previous pandemic and continuing online activities, some of them are: 

Potentially Covered Scenarios:

• If the employee who is working remotely has dropped a heavy piece of work related load and has injured his/her foot or limb which requires immediate medical attention.
  
  
• If an employee cut himself with a sharp equipment without proper protective gears provided by the employer for work from home and developed into severe condition such as infection. 

Potentially Not Covered Scenarios:

The general idea of these situations is if injury is caused by negligence or carelessness of home owners such as:

• If injury sustained is caused by tripping due to carelessness and untidiness of home while conducting work. 
  
  
• If the injury sustained by an employee from work from home setup is caused by uneven floor design or fault wiring.

During the pandemic, most states' workers' compensation policy and benefits is still plausible and still cover medical expenses, coverage of lost wage due to recuperation, temporary and long-term benefits which could last up to 5 years. Have you sustained an injury from work from home setup? Ask for assistance from a lawyer to file for one.

Call our Injury Law Firm -- Ryan LLP 

If ever one of your family members or closests friend has been involved in a workplace accident or have developed a condition who have sustained either minor or significant injuries and even a possible disability because of the employer that has shown apparent negligence and recklessness and caused an accident and render the victim to have life-threatening injuries and condition, you can always refer help from a professional experienced injury lawyer to smoothen things out as your hired lawyers can help you decide from their factual and legal advices. 

Ryan LLP is an Ohio based injury lawyer that represents victims of personal injury caused by car accidents, medical malpractice due to medical professional's negligence, and even wrongful death against large companies, agencies and even individuals. We have 40 years of experience doing our service in this field and evidently successful with our civil litigations. Call our office now for free legal consultation.