Workplace injuries are more common than many people think. The causes of these injuries can vary considerably, too. While unsafe work conditions and poor training cause some of these injuries, others are caused by human error. Two new studies have tried to highlight just how common the latter is in contributing to workplace injuries, which could help steer the implementation of new safety measures and trainings aimed at protecting worker safety.
The studies
Statistics have shown that human error accounts for as many as 80% of all workplace accidents. One of the recent studies mentioned above sought to detect how likely human error is to occur in certain occupational workplaces. The study did this by tracking eye movements in workers in high-risk professions, as well as those workers’ cognitive processes. By doing so, researchers were able to study why certain workers are unable to detect, understand, and react to the risks they confront. They found that even things as innocent as personality traits can contribute to risky behavior in the workplace, and that eye movement can be utilized as precursors to workplace errors that place a worker’s safety at risk.
Of course, there are many factors that contribute to human error in the workplace. Stress, for example, was one characteristic that was highlighted by the second study. It found that stress can compound with other contributing factors to workplace risks, such as complexity of the jobs involved, to increase the risk of injuries.
Some aspects of these studies might seem like common sense, but they will hopefully give scientists and businesses more information to develop better safety measures for workers. Hopefully then fewer people will be subjected to the significant losses that are often associated with these injuries.
Finding legal help when you need it
With all of that being said, the implementation of new safety measures come too late for those who have already been injured. That’s why these individuals need to do everything they can to protect their interests, which probably means pursuing a workers’ compensation case. Those who would like to learn more about how to aggressively do so should consider reaching out to a legal team that is well-versed in this area of the law.