Because residents of Pennsylvania and the rest of the nation spend so much time at work, it is important that those workplaces are safe. Since this is so highly valued by individuals throughout the country, various organizations and agencies designed to deal with the matter have been created. One of those groups, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, recently released the results of a study focused on workplace injuries and its findings will probably not be surprising to workers.
According to NIOSH's study, paid sick leave greatly reduces the existence of workplace injuries in certain industries considered to be high-risk. The odds of suffering injuries at work that did not result in death are 28 percent lower when paid sick leave is available.
Individuals working in the following fields are included in that group:
- Construction
- Manufacturing
- Agriculture
- Health care and social assistance
The results of this study are significant as of the U.S. workers in the private sector, 43 percent do not have sick leave that is paid.
The reasons for the decline in injury producing workplace accidents is not provided in the study. However, individuals who worked on the study think that it probably has something to do with workers who receive sick pay not rushing back to work for financial purposes. This in turn would mean that workers would be able to focus on work rather than recovering from illness while at their place of employment.
Workers are not the only ones who potentially benefit from paid sick leave. Providing those wages to employees who need the time to recover from an illness could benefit employers as well as the costs associated with workplace accidents are not cheap.
Source: Claims Journal, "Workplace Injuries Less Likely Where Employers Provide Paid Sick Leave," Sept. 24, 2012
- Our firm handles similar situations to the one discussed in this post. For more information on these types of claims, please visit our Pittsburgh workplace safety page.