Workplace injuries are quite rampant in the UK, and it’s baffling that some employees prefer to let their experiences slide rather than report to the right authorities.
From 2019 to 2020, there were approximately 693,000 people who suffered on-the-job injuries. Out of this number, a little over 65,000 were escalated to a higher authority. This lends credence to the assertion that people may have motives for not reporting. Below is a brief list of some reasons.
Fear of victimization
While this may seem unlikely, it is one of the main reasons some workers prefer to remain tight-lipped about personal on-the-job injuries. Sadly, there have been instances where injured workers were tagged ‘accident-prone,’ ‘cry-baby’, or ‘complaint lover.’
These names became descriptions because they decided to report personal unfortunate workplace experiences. In other circles, the fear of losing their jobs features strongly in the decision to avoid reporting on-the-job injuries.
While this phenomenon cuts across employees from all industries, the most concerning issue is people’s unresolved fear. UK labour laws forbid employees from being dismissed because they reported an injury and took steps to claim compensation. If it happens, a worker has the right to contact a legal firm like Manfred Sternberg & Associates to handle the case.
An awareness of claims complexities
It is an open secret that the workers’ injury compensation process can be cumbersome. Apart from the bureaucracy, it is also associated with technical complexities that make the procedure unattractive. Indeed, it usually takes a well-motivated employee to go through all the paperwork stages, meetings and other legal processes until the compensation is paid in full.
Admittedly, the temptation to end the process midway is high when these stumbling blocks seem to present a picture of a cumbersome process. Indeed, nobody likes to waste time on processes that appear to be purposely designed to cause frustration.
Even worse, in many cases, the actual compensation may not be commensurate with the severity of the injury. Having these in mind, workers would rather avoid the system than commit time and other resources to an injury compensation process.
Company apathy
Some organizations and companies tend to show a lack of interest in the entire claims and compensation process. As if that isn’t enough, some may deliberately frustrate the process when workers who sustained on-the-job injuries file their claims. Indeed, all these events set precedents that existing workers take cues from. Consequently, when other employees suffer the same injuries, they might want to endure it alone than kickstart the process while still in employment with an indifferent company.
Lack of employee awareness
Research has shown that in certain situations, employees may not be aware of injury and claims policies existing in the companies they work for. This makes it impossible to know what steps to take in the event of a workplace injury. While some employees may shrug at what they consider minor scratches, others may think these injuries happened due to their personal lack of attention.
Hopefully, these pointers drew your mind to the excesses in the system and why some workers would rather keep mute about their on-the-job injuries.
