Slidell Workers' Compensation Law Blog

Nail guns are responsible for 37,000 emergency room visits per year in Louisiana and throughout the country. Of those visits, 68 percent are made by workers who are hurt using the tools on the job. In some cases, workers are hurt because a nail was discharged when a person didn't intend for that to happen. In others, they were hurt because a nail hit a solid surface and ricocheted.

Injuries can also occur if a person is nailing from an awkward position or if an individual ignores safety best practices. Individuals could be hit by a nail if they bump into or otherwise make contact with a gun that someone else is holding. To prevent such injuries from happening, employers should aim to use sequential trigger nail guns. They should also implement a safety plan that includes rules for how and where these guns are used.

Employers and employees in Louisiana are probably aware of the dangers they face in the workplace. Many are unforeseeable, which explains why on-the-job accidents cost businesses and insurers hundreds of billions of dollars each year in workers compensation claims. However, an insurtech startup based in Iowa is providing devices that may help reduce accidents and streamline the investigation of workers compensation claims.

MākuSafe has developed is a wearable band for employees that can record environmental and motion data, reporting it to a cloud platform and making it more consumable for workplace safety managers. Whenever there are near-misses, it will record those too. The greatest benefit is that thanks to machine learning, the devices can identify unsafe trends and hazardous areas.

Louisiana companies and others that use the Safety Performance Evaluation Process, or STEP, can make their workplaces up to 670 percent safer. This is according to the 2018 Safety Performance Report issued by Associated Builders and Contractors. According to the report, companies that used the STEP system saw a drop in reportable safety accidents of 85 percent. Associated Builders and Contractors also found that STEP was more effective when both managers and employees were trained.

The program allows companies to use 20 different metrics to measure their progress and track their results against industry averages. Companies that use the STEP process can implement a variety of safety programs such as toolbox talks and putting together a safety committee. They can also use substance abuse and new-hire orientation programs to reduce the odds of an accident.

Many workers in Louisiana neglect to consider the danger of eye accidents in the workplace. However, eye injuries take a major economic and personal toll on workers across the country. Every year, over 20,000 workers suffer damage to their eyes while on the job. While the cost in productivity is often estimated at $300 million, the personal cost can be far greater. Employees who suffer workplace injuries that involve eye damage can suffer pain, loss of vision or even blindness.

Safety experts estimate that the vast majority of workplace eye injuries are preventable -- up to 90 percent of these accidents could be avoided through the use of protective eyewear. Some of the most severe eye injuries take place in jobs that involve heavy objects and intense physical work, including mining, manufacturing and construction. These industries account for 40 percent of all workplace eye injuries. At these jobs, workers' eyes are at risk from hot metal, toxic substances, chemical gases and airborne particles.