You’ve been working at this restaurant for a while now. You’re friends with your coworkers and enjoy their company. You know how to use all the equipment efficiently and swiftly to complete your job. You may think you’re fairly proficient with the equipment by now – and you are.
Suddenly, however, you burn yourself with some deep fryer oil. This causes you to put your arm in a wrap, drastically reducing your work performance.
Workplace injuries are a liability for every worker, especially for fast-food workers. This can hurt how you do your job and any future work you may have. Here’s what fast-food workers should know about workplace injuries:
Fast food has one of the highest injury rates of any occupation in the U.S.
When working any job, you know there are some risks to be expected. You should know that you are more likely to sustain serious injuries while working fast food than in any other job. You may even be risking your life in fast food.
Many injuries you could experience are because of a lack of safety or poor safety training. Your injuries could be the result of problems like:
- Wet floors
- Open flames
- Hot surfaces
- Sharp objects
- Open wires
- Heavy objects
- Gas leaks
- Criminal activity
Fast food is true to its name and that means working quickly around hot stoves and grease traps. Many restaurants don’t have enough time to fix minor problems, and they resort to quick fixes. This puts everyone at risk, including you.
You can’t always protect yourself from everything, but knowing how you might be injured can save you a whole lot of time. You may be entitled to workers’ compensation if you’ve sustained serious injuries at your place of work. If your claim isn’t going as expected, find out more about your legal rights.
