What Is a Lost-Time Injury?
In the business world, a lost-time injury is any incident or accident that results in an employee no longer being able to perform essential job functions for a set duration. This may be a few hours, days, weeks or even years.
A great deal of otherwise productive time is lost in many industries due to accidental or incidental injuries that are the direct result of either hazardous conditions or unsafe practices. This is why the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has established guidelines for both safety and training, which are intended to both minimize risk and help educate employees in all fields about how to handle a situation when it arises. It’s important for employees to remember that, especially in an industrial setting, everyone is responsible for the safety of their co-workers. This may simply be a matter of increasing vigilance, or it may be that a particular work site needs proper training on the appropriate safety measures for the work they’re doing. In most cases, a given employer or job location will be required to have a single individual who is responsible for maintaining a safe work environment and providing the right training for the work being performed there.
