Who Are Injured Workers
Studies have estimated that approximately 50,000 annual U.S. deaths are attributable to past workplace exposure to hazardous agents. In comparison, about 33,000 people died in traffic crashes in the United States in 2013. While the estimate of three million serious work-
related injuries each year may seem extremely high, it is undoubtedly only a fraction of the true number. Numerous studies provide documentation that many, and perhaps the majority, of work-related injuries are not recorded by employers, and that the actual number of workers injured each year is likely to be far higher than the BLS estimate.
Services
AIW services are set out to assist injured workers and their families while they are in the process of having their case approved for disability benefits, so that workers get some help during a time of the uncertainty, financial crisis, and despair. Specifically, AIW will provide case management, family holiday experiences, vocational training assessments and linkage to services, job placement, workshops, and financial assistance for basic needs. In addition, AIW will provide a resource center.
Poverty can be Closer Than You Think
Work injuries and illnesses contribute to the pressing issue of income inequality: they force working families out of the middle class and into poverty, and keep the families of lower-wage workers from entering the middle class.1 For working families already struggling to meet basic necessities and set aside some savings, a work injury to a primary wage earner can be especially devastating.1 There are also less tangible effects that are important but impossible to monetize.1 Workplace injuries can diminish self-esteem and self-confidence, increase stress between spouses, children and other family members, and strain relations with friends, colleagues and supervisors. These indirect costs can translate into tangible economic costs, including lower wages.1,[i]
In reality, the costs of workplace injury and illness are borne primarily by injured workers, their families, and taxpayer-supported safety-net programs. State legislatures and courts have made it increasingly difficult for injured workers to receive the payments for lost wages and medical expenses that they deserve.[ii] During this time period of litigation the injured worker gets nothing. See figure 1
[i] Keogh JP, Nuwayhid I, Gordon JL, Gucer PW. The impact of occupational injury on injured worker and family: Outcomes of upper extremity cumulative trauma disorders in Maryland
workers. American Journal of Industrial Medicine 2000; 38:498–506
[ii] Spieler, EA, Burton JF. The lack of correspondence between work-related disability and receipt of workers’ compensation benefits. American Journal of Industrial Medicine 2012; 55:487-505