Back to School, Back to Work

Back to School, Back to Work

When you think about going back to school, most people think of books, supplies, new classes, maybe uniforms, new teachers and friends. What most people don’t think about is jobs at a school. These jobs could range from Teachers, Office Staff, Administrator, Bus Drivers, Guidance Counselor, School Nurse, Librarian, Food Service, Inside and Outside Maintenance Workers, and Janitors, to name a few. Along with work, comes work injuries at school that could happen in a wide variety of ways.

Work injuries at school can and do occur on a daily basis through slip and falls, faulty equipment, cuts, burns, broken bones, twisting the wrong way, and more. For example, when working in a school kitchen, there are large pots and pans, as well as cutlery and utensils. The floors can also build up grease if not cleaned immediately. Consider this scenario: a food service worker is transferring a large pot from a shelf to the stovetop — which is also industrial-sized — and she slips on grease, drops the pot on her legs, wrenches her lower back, and bangs her head on the corner of the stovetop. Whether or not the incident is witnessed, she needs to immediately report the injury to a supervisor or boss and insist on filling out an Injury Report. She then needs to seek medical treatment with one of the employer’s panel physicians, or if the employer does not have a list of panel providers, she should go to one of her own doctors or an emergency room. With the selected medical provider, she should give a detailed history of how the injury occurred, which body parts were involved, and report all her symptoms.

If you or a loved one work at a school and suffer a work-related injury, contact Robinson Law LLC for a free initial consultation.