Women's Work Injuries Demand Attention

Tuesday, February 18, 2014 | 0

The percentage of women in the workforce has steadily increased and is now equal to that of men.  From the 1960s to the 1990s, the percentage of women performing higher-risk jobs, such as construction and manufacturing, also grew, according to the California Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation (CHSWC).  With this increase in working women and a broader choice of jobs have come increased workplace injuries.  Yet, attention to the causes of, and how to prevent and best treat, these injuries to women has lagged behind.

It’s time to pay close attention and identify strategies and methods to improve women’s workplace health and safety.  A recent study by the Pew Research Center found that 40% of households with children under the age of 18 have a mother who is the sole or primary provider.  When a mother is injured at work, the entire family’s well-being can be jeopardized.

CHSWC also found that men’s injury risk decreases as they age, but women’s work injury risk increases as they get older.  We can only speculate on why this is, as adequate research studies have not been done.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one explanation could be that women face different workplace health challenges than men, partly because men and women tend to have different kinds of jobs.  Per the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the 20 most common occupations for full-time women include secretaries, receptionists, nurses, home health aides, customer service representatives, maids, housekeepers, waitresses and social workers.  Women in these occupations are at risk for hand, wrist, back and foot injuries from repetitive work activities, such as typing, heavy lifting and standing for long shifts for a prolonged period of time.  CDC indicated more research is needed, focusing on job and anatomical differences, to determine why women have a higher chance of getting musculoskeletal disorders than men.

CDC indicates that another explanation could be the failure to provide safety training and/or proper safety equipment for women.  For example, household workers and housekeepers often deal with poorly maintained carts, cleaning tools with handles that are too short for hard-to-reach areas and little or no protection from chemical exposure or needle stick injuries.  And tradeswomen, such as carpenters, electricians, ironworkers and masons, are provided with respirators, safety harnesses and tools that fit improperly and are designed for a man’s body.  The organization Tradeswomen, Inc. has requested more research comparing injury rates of men and women, the types of injuries suffered and injury prevention.

An alarming statistic is violence against women in the workplace.  In 2012, workplace violence became the second-highest cause of women’s on-the-job fatalities.  Nurses and psychiatric technicians were attacked and killed by inmates at correctional facilities.  Many female farmworkers are victims of rape and sexual assault by their supervisors.  There are too many stories of teachers, saleswomen, social services employees and other female workers who are victims of homicide, robbery and assault.  Women are also sexually harassed to a greater degree than men, resulting in depression, anxiety and other forms of psychiatric injury.  Yet, according to a 2006 Bureau of Labor Statistics study, more than 70% of U.S. employers had no formal policy to deal with workplace violence.  The study further found that only 4% of all U.S. employers provide training to employees about domestic violence and its impact on the workplace.

Research has shown that despite making gains in employment opportunities, women continue to earn, on average, less in wages than men performing the same job.  Further, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, two-thirds of minimum wage earners are adult women.  Since injured workers cannot sue their employer for pain and suffering or to recover lost wages (except in very limited circumstances), workers’ compensation payments are usually inadequate.  These limited payments significantly impact single mothers and female breadwinners.  And, unfortunately, some women cannot return to their jobs as a result of a work injury, thus compounding the problem.  

Too many women workers receive injuries that could have been prevented.  And the effects of work injuries on women, especially those raising a family, can be devastating.  It is time for our Legislature, research organizations and those who care about the well-being of working women and the families they support, to examine the causes of, and identify solutions for, women’s work injuries.

Christel Schoenfelder is an Ontario attorney specializing in workers’ compensation and a co-chair of the California Applicants’ Attorneys Association (CAAA) Women’s Caucus.