Some jobs come with an obvious burn injury risk. Professional chefs and line cooks work over open flames for hours. Construction professionals, manufacturing employees and firefighters could all be at elevated risk of serious burns while performing their job responsibilities.
Plenty of others could end up burned and injured at work due to equipment malfunctions or building issues. No career is automatically protected from the risk of burn injuries. Many professionals may struggle to continue their careers if they incur significant burns while on the job.
How could a burn potentially force someone to change professions or stop working?
Burns cause chronic health challenges
Many traumatic injuries are at their worst immediately after someone gets hurt. A worker with a broken bone has a terrible pain initially but is likely to improve rapidly with the right care, for example. With burn injuries, the worker may experience changing and worsening limitations even after they heal.
Burns can cause nerve damage that affects someone’s strength and range of motion. The scars left by the burn and from taking tissue for a skin graft can cause pain and may limit someone’s functional abilities. Additionally, burns put people at an elevated risk of infection for some time until their bodies fully recover.
Then there are the mental health consequences to consider. Someone dealing with long-term pain and disfiguring or functionally limiting scars may develop depression or other mental health challenges. They may find it very difficult to acclimate to life with their new injuries.
Workers’ compensation can help burn victims
Anyone who develops burn injuries because of their work may be eligible for workers’ compensation. The medical coverage that they receive can help them access medical care for as long as it is necessary, possibly even for the rest of their lives.
Additionally, if workers need a leave of absence or can no longer work, disability benefits can help them. In fact, workers who have to move into lower-paid jobs could even qualify for permanent partial disability benefits to cover part of the change in their earning potential.
Understanding the impact that injuries can have may benefit those contemplating a workers’ compensation claim. Workers who file benefits claims may have fewer long-term economic consequences after acquiring serious on-the-job injuries.