Overcoming the “complacency problem”: How to Prevent North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Cases
In Part 1 of our series on how complacency at work impacts the North Carolina workers’ compensation system, we discussed how both workers and employers alike often act far more cautiously during the first few weeks and months of tenure.
After a certain amount of time, both the worker and the boss become comfortable with the processes and procedures, and a certain amount of slack sets in. This “slack” can be benign, neutral, or harmful. It can be benign when workers do their jobs in a more natural, fluid, resourceful way. It can be neutral when it has no impact. And it can be malignant when it creates the conditions for laziness, inaccuracy, and recklessness.
How can we prevent this third category – the malignant situations – from wreaking havoc and creating needless North Carolina workers’ compensation cases?
The “knee-jerk” response to this question might be: “The answer depends on the circumstances and specifics of the line of work.” And there is some truth to this response. An industrial worker who works with potentially dangerous equipment, like lathes or bulldozers, might require incremental training “refreshers” to stay sharp and focused and avoid malignant complacency. An office worker, on the other hand, at risk for developing carpal tunnel syndrome due to bad postural and typing habits, might require a very different kind of intervention. For instance, he or she might benefit from periodic massage or physical therapy, or even from changing around the office furniture every two months or so.
Businesses in general could do more to reduce worker/employer complacency. So could the government: state or even federal regulations could require certain businesses to retrain and resystematize their processes at regular intervals, for instance, to prevent malignant over-complacency. Of course, there are dangers with inherent over regulating, as well. So the policy problem is certainly a tough nut to crack. However, we should not give up on the dream of forging global-scale solutions to the complacency problem.
All this theory aside, however, you and your loved ones need help with a case. Connect with an experienced North Carolina workers’ compensation law firm to get insight into your problems right now.
More Web Resources:
The dangers of complacency
Beating Complacency
