[All_jlab_accounts] JLab Safety: Report Work Injuries When They Happen

[Kandice Carter]

Sent on behalf of Mary Logue, JLab Associate Director of the Environment, Safety Health and Quality Division

After shoveling snow on site after our January 22 snow storm, one of our employees woke the next day with pain in the lower back. Attributing it to sore muscles, he did not report the injury. The pain steadily decreased over the next few days, but shoveling snow on January 29 aggravated this injury, such that by early March, he reported the pain to his supervisor and sought medical attention at an urgent care center. He was given prescription medication and job-limiting restrictions.

Jefferson Lab has had two injuries this year in which the employees did not report their symptoms when they first appeared. As a result, the employees' injuries continued to be aggravated, and both ended up with additional pain and extended recovery time.

It is laboratory policy to report any work injury to Occupational Medicine (x7539), so that the injury can be properly treated. Any soreness, strains, sprains, cuts or bumps that are the result of work at Jefferson Lab should be reported. If you believe the injury is truly minor, reporting can be achieved by a simple phone call to OccMed, who will then decide whether or not you need to be seen. 

Early intervention by OccMed staff can prevent a minor injury from evolving into something more significant that may impact your ability to work. Remember, there is no activity so urgent or important that we will compromise safety.
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