Working families absorb the costs of injuries

As a working parent, the last thing you ever wanted to have to deal with was a work-related injury. By not being at work, you’re not bringing in an income. Without an income, you can’t provide for your family.

There is nothing more devastating than feeling like you can’t provide for and protect those who need you. That’s why it’s so important to understand your right to workers’ compensation after an injury. Workers’ compensation helps cover lost wages, medical bills and other needs, so you can focus on your health instead of worrying about money.

Who pays for worker injuries?

Statistics show that 21 percent of all worker injury costs go to workers’ compensation, 11 percent fall under payments through the government, 13 percent of costs go to private health insurance and 5 percent is covered by state and local governments. That leaves 50 percent of costs to be paid by the workers’ families, which is something that shouldn’t happen.

Remember, it’s not just the workers’ injuries themselves that end up costing the family money. Travel expenses, injuries from helping the injured worker and other issues could cost the family money, threatening their financial security.

How can the costs of workers’ injuries be lowered?

The best way to lower costs is to eliminate injuries. Working in a safe environment is one thing that you can try to do. For example, if you notice that people aren’t following safety protocols at work, speak to your employer about a safety education program. If there is an accident on the job, your employer needs to address what happened, how it happened and what can be done to prevent it in the future.

Although injuries are somewhat inevitable, it’s possible to reduce the likelihood of suffering an injury considerably with good safety techniques. By reducing the likelihood of injuries, it lowers the potential costs to people and their families.