8 Workplace Illnesses and How to Prevent Them from Happening

Most people will be forced to take time off work at various points during their career due to illness or injury. Some will take more leave than others, depending on the extent and regularity of the health issue.

In many cases, absenteeism arises from an illness or injury caused by the person’s work. For example, they might have suffered a back injury from sustained manual labor in a warehouse, or they could be the victim of an asthma attack owing to exposure to sensitizers such as sawdust on a construction site.

Sometimes it is difficult to avoid such health risks completely given the nature of the job, but that doesn’t completely absolve management or staff from taking all reasonably foreseeable precautions to prevent illness or injuries occurring in the workplace.

Management must provide requisite safety equipment and post adequate warnings on the premises, while staff have a duty of care to adhere to all safety regulations set out and not do anything to endanger their colleagues.

This infographic analyzes a few of the most common injuries and illnesses that arise from the workplace, including some recommendations on how to minimize the probability of these occurring.