5 Most Common Workplace Injuries that You Never Want to Admit

Based on internal analysis of claims data, AmTrust, one of the largest providers of workers’ compensation insurance nationwide, found that the most common workplace injuries for small businesses include:

• Overexertion
• Falls, slips or trips
• Transportation incidents
• Burns
• Lacerations

I'm not sure my injury this weekend would fall into any of these categories!

I was setting up for a live remote broadcast this weekend, and I sat down to log onto my computer, but my chair wouldn't scoot under the table.  I found that there wasn't a cap on the front chair leg, and it was digging into the vinyl flooring, and wouldn't let me just scoot the chair forward.

I tried to pick up the chair and move it at the same time, and when I did, I apparently caught my index finger in the hinge of the folding chair.  I knew immediately that I had pinched it pretty good, but it wasn't until I pulled it back to the front I noticed that this move had actually resulted in a huge chunk of my finger left behind on the chair.  And, the bleeding began.

Because I was in a place of business, of course, I didn't want to draw attention to the fact that I was bleeding profusely from my index finger, so I put pressure on it with my other hand's thumb and asked an associate if they happened to have a band-aid that I could have.  (He never noticed the blood pouring down my hand!)

He came back with the bandage, and tried to hand it to me!  I was currently controlling bleeding with one hand, and bleeding with the other, so I asked nicely if he could unwrap it and as soon as I moved my thumb, would he please just put the bandage in place and I would attach it to my wound.  He complied.

Working with this kind of injury is both exhausting and embarrassing.  We use our laptop computers while we are on location, so trying to type and move around the screens while broadcasting was painful and exhausting.  Not to mention, that within the first hour of my remote, I had bled through that band-aid, and had to request another!  That's the embarrassing part.

Now since I'm admitting my most recent workplace injury, I guess I should tell you that I have also tripped over my own feet and bruised my knee, ran into a trailer hitch on the back of our broadcast vehicle and tore open stitches on my knee, and broke my toe river rafting in Oklahoma City on a promo visit to Riversport Rapids.

Hi, my name is Jeri Anderson, and I am a clutz!