The quarterly magazine Screen Education has released a study called Digital Distraction & Workplace Safety, which should interest all workers in Pennsylvania. As part of the study, researchers conducted a survey of 1,019 employees in the U.S.
Distractions lead to accidents
It turns out that the average worker wastes 2.5 hours of each workday accessing digital content with no connection to the job. Besides a significant loss in productivity, this was also found to lead to accidents with 14% of respondents admitting that employee distraction had led to at least one accident. Of these, 59% involved property damage and 50% involved an injury or fatality.
Industrial workers reported even more accidents (26%) with 75% of these accidents leading to property damage and 58% to injuries or death. This was in spite of the fact that 47% of respondents reported their employer having a policy to limit smartphone use on the job.
Workers ask for help with distractions
In addition, 19% of survey respondents and 27% of industrial workers in particular expressed their desire that their employer would help them reduce their use of their smartphone. The kind of accidents that were described in the study could be gruesome with drivers rolling their car off a cliff and other workers having arms crushed in a press.
A lawyer to represent injured workers
Whether or not it was distraction that led to you being injured on the job, you can be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. The process can be easier than filing a personal injury claim, but employers do have the ability to deny payment on certain grounds. For assistance with each step, you may want to have a lawyer by your side.