In Texas, everyone is familiar with the type of burn you can get from too much sun exposure. If you work outside, your employer has a duty to reduce and mitigate the time you spend in direct sunlight. Employers also have a responsibility to reasonably protect their employees from other types of workplace burns, such as:
• Thermal burns
• Chemical burns
• Electrical burns
Personal protective equipment
One of the most important lines of defense against any type of workplace burn is personal protective equipment or PPE. If you are working around corrosive chemicals, for example, safety goggles must be worn. In some work environments, fire-resistant clothing is a necessity.
Hazard training
Workers must be made fully aware of all of the hazards that they are working around in order to properly protect themselves. For example, if you are required to work with an industrial cleaning agent, your employer should have provided safety training and information about skin burns. Many burn injury cases begin because workers were not informed of the risk of burns in their work environment.
Clear signage
Employers should make sure that there is clear and noticeable signage around anything that could cause a workplace burn. High voltage electrical sources, exposed live wires and open flames should be marked with “warning” and “danger” signs. It’s also a good idea to display a sign with emergency first aid procedures in the event that someone sustains a workplace burn.
Recovery after a burn injury
The amount of time it takes you to recover from a workplace burn injury will depend on the severity of your burn. No matter what, injured workers should always take the time to fully recover. The financial toll of your recovery time may be compensated through workers’ compensation insurance.
