There are many hazards in the workplace that can either contribute to, or cause, a skin injury or skin damage. Many workers work with chemicals or hot substances, both liquid and gas, which can cause long term skin damage and even in some cases skin cancer. If this has happened to you and you can prove the injury was due to your job you should be entitled to worker’s compensation to cover your medical treatment and loss of earnings while you recover. You may need a workers’ comp. attorney to ensure you get the true value of your injury. The Causes and Symptoms of a Skin Disorder Injury The hazards at work include exposure to: Chemical agents, such as inorganic and organic solids, gases and liquids. These could be hydrocarbons found in pitch, mineral oils, tar and shale or derivatives like creosote. Also, exposure to arsenic or arsenic-based products. Physical agents from exposure to water, heat, cold, sunlight and radiation sufficient to cause skin damage. Calluses occur at a point of great pressure and take place when workers use the same hand tools all day, every day. Biological agents, such as viral, bacterial and fungal infections as well as parasite infestations related to work of an agricultural nature. These can happen amongst abattoir workers, vets, farmers and shearers when any damaged skin can expose them to an infected animal they handle. When the skin is damaged the body reacts in such a way that it tries to repair the damage. The victim could experience warmth, pain, swelling and redness in the damaged area. Serious skin injury will be shown by the appearance of scaling, chapping and blistering. Calculating the Value of a Skin Disorder Injury If the skin disorder injury is serious and is limiting what you can do until it has healed, you could file a claim for worker’s compensation so that you can get the medical treatment required at no cost to you. Before you file a WC claim you should ensure you have informed your work supervisor of your injury within 24 hours of it happening. Now you only need to find the evidence that the skin injury took place at work. Your physician should be able to confirm that. Once you have filed your WC claim with your employer’s worker’s compensation insurer, if it is successful you can expect to receive two thirds of your weekly wage and the full cost of your medical treatment. Sometimes, a lump sum is awarded, but you should be wary of accepting that as it could turn out that your skin disorder injury takes longer to heal than expected. You could then find yourself out of pocket. Why You Need a WC Attorney for a Skin Disorder Injury Often it is hard to convince the insurer that your skin disorder injury happened at work. To make life easier for yourself you should ask a WC attorney to use his/her expertise to get the WC claim you deserve. Additional Resources Skin Disorders and Workers' Comp
