Snap! Next, there was the sound of oozing fire; as if lava was slowly creeping in. Chase Smith tried to muffle his scream, which only made it sound more terrifying. Chase was working at a fast food restaurant. He was simply moving a hot pan of chili out of the microwave; something he and all of his coworkers have down thousands of times. But the chili pan snapped, spilling chili all over the ground; and his body. He took a step forward, trying to get away from the mess he created. However, he only managed to make matters worse. He stepped directly onto the slippy chili and fell, hitting his head on the ground, hard. At this point, us coworkers were piecing together what happened while trying to get to Chase’s side for aide. Chase was not responding to his name. He remained on the ground, the only moments he showed were slowly rotating. We could see the chili burning into his flesh. We called the hospital; then we called our boss.
Chase ended up having three-degree burns and a brain injury. I wanted to investigate this question to help future employees from what happened to Chase. Despite the simplicity of the question, it’s rather complicated. At first, I thought a straightforward “How To” would be able to answer the question. Yet, I believe that with injuries, specifically, head injuries, there is a lot more situation type ordeals that should be looked at. But what do I know? I am not a business owner, doctor, or has had a head injury. So the first step has to research.
According to Can, I Collect Workers’ Compensation for Traumatic Brain Injury? from ankinlaw.com, there are two types of head injury. One that affects the nerves outside of the head area and one that affects the nerves inside the head: the brain. The one that affects the nerves outside of the head area is called Cervical radiculopathy. Or in other words, Cervical radiculopathy is when the nerves around the spine are damaged. On the body, there are the cervical vertebrae, which make up the spine. All of those circular bones that create the spine, the individual bones are called cervical vertebrae. The nerves that are around those bones are sensitive. If compressed, that cervical radiculopathy can occur. Based off where the compressed nerves were, is where the damage is done.
If the nerves were compressed at the top of the spine, then that is where the damage will be. There are some common symptoms of cervical radiculopathy. The first one is a painfulness throughout the body. That includes pain spreading through the arm, neck chest, upper back and possibly the shoulders. Another symptom is a lack of coordination. Situations such as not being about to catch a ball are an example of lack of coordination that might be experienced with cervical radiculopathy. And the last out of the most common symptoms are lack of muscle performance. This could be your muscles beginning to weaken or becoming numb for periods of time. The weakness and numbness and or tingling would most likely be in the hands, or more specifically, the fingers.
The one that affects the nerves inside the head, or the brain, is called traumatic brain injuries. Traumatic brain injuries a different than cervical radiculopathy, as the symptoms are usually less obvious but the damage is extremely harmful. An example of brain injuries are concussions; you might have heard of these concussions from watching football. Another example is Secondary Impact Syndrome or SIS for short. SIS can lead to the brain massively swelling. It could impact the brain as a whole which impacts attributes such as emotions and a mental mindset. And, the most dangerous, a decrease or loss of blood flow to the brain. With a loss of blood flow to the brain, it creates more problems. The common ones are damaged brain functions such as thinking, remembering, and reasoning. What makes brain injuries so harmful is its ability to remain in the brain. Moreover, traumatic brain injuries could create depression, fatigue, and sleep problem. These can cause a lifelong medical problem, costing the worker or the business thousands of dollars.
Now having background information is important; yet, it does not provide an answer to the question How can businesses lessen the risk of personal injury to either employees or customers? The way to answer that understands what can cause cervical radiculopathy and traumatic brain injury. Understanding what causes the injuries could lead to how to prevent it from happening.
For cervical radiculopathy, the damage could be done from a number of incidents. Pressure from a herniated disc is a common way for the damage to occur. It could be from a named illness as well; illustrated by degenerative bone disease and arthritis. Another possibility is from an accident. If there was trauma to the nerve roots than cervical radiculopathy is potential. For traumatic brain injuries, the accidents are more painful. Falling is a common factor for causing traumatic brain injuries; falling merchandise, falling off of a ladder, falling to the ground, falling from a building, having objects fall on you, etcetera. Especially for a concussion, it could a sudden strike, jolt, bump and/or blow to the head. This includes motor vehicle accidents, sports injuries and, of course, falls. For job-related nerve injuries, falling, car, and machinery accidents could cause either traumatic brain injuries or cervical radiculopathy.
Looking into the casings for traumatic brain injuries and cervical radiculopathy, there is a big theme. Mostly it is from an accident, or from falling. So what can a business learn from this? There is one simple answer: precautions. Businesses need to think of how accidents could happen, and then create a list of precautions to prevent it from happening. It might seem pointless and a waste of time at first, but all options will be cheaper than paying medical bills of an injured employee. And when starting a new company, bosses do not have to try to think about all of the possible accidents at first. It is import to listen to the employees and the managers. Those are the people clocking in and out of the business and usually would know what could, and potentially, what has gone wrong.
Chase Smith had a lot of damages, he fell and had mechanize fallen on him, or in this case, the food fell on him. The company is at fault. What the Chase’s parents did not know was how this happened before. Nearly a year earlier, a 28 year old was doing the same act, taking chilli out of the microwave, and the tube broke. The difference is only a small part of the tube broke, leaving the 28 year old free from the almost-boiling chilli on her flesh. The boss new about this too. What resulted from this incident was an email warning us coworkers to be more careful. Nonetheless, more of a chance could have happened. The boss should have learned that the tubes are breakable and either discountiune to put hot chilli in them or have gotten new tubes for the chili.
Yet I also understand that sometimes it is impossible to try to predict an outcome or an accident. For example, when workers fall, that is a common and unperdictable injury. How can a bussiness try to stop gravity? Which bring into the common knowledge, that falling, different from leaping, tends to require more than just gravity. This is another exmample of why having sucha good relationship with the workers are important. See, workers could have slipped a little in a specific spot, and not thought anything about it. But if the boss directly asks, then the workers could be honest and retell the almost-falling experience. It is also good for the boss to be in good relations, in general, with the coworkers. The first year I started, I was intimitated by the big boss man. And having senior employees be fearful of him too would not make me feel comfertable around him. Even if he ask, directly, if there is something that could be fixed.
Looking back unto the question, How can businesses lessen the risk of personal injury to either employees or customers?, I think the most reasonably and cheapest way, is to set precautions. The boss at the fast food restaurant would of had spend a lot of money by buying new bans then rather paying from half a million in medical bills. Even now, there is a sign in the microwaves restricting anyone under the age of 18 to not be able to use the microwaves. No other precaution has been set. Business have a repeutation of not caring for the employees; yet, a simple precaustion list would show the employees the bosses care. At times it might be irksome, (I assume, as I cannot relate my fast food resturant to having a precaustion list and having a caring relationship for the workers.) yet everyone, employees or employers, would much rather have a safe envirorment.
By Gabrielle Fracassi
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