By Donna Motley
Vice President of Claims

Work related injuries, or workers’ compensation claims, tend to occur in “cycles”. What do I mean by that? We will see an influx of claims of the same type of injury for a certain period of time. What seems to be prevalent right now, are amputations. We are given ten fingers and ten toes for a reason. While being able to function perfectly well without an “appendix”, technically, even an appendix does serve a purpose.

MTM’s Claims Department works closely with our Loss Control Department. Claims will ask Loss Control to perform an investigation when an amputation occurs. Here, we will focus mainly on finger amputations. There are obvious amputations: while using a saw, a glove being pulled into a machine, a “start” button pushed in error, or even possibly a machine malfunction during operation. These are definitely claims we would want Loss Control to investigate. Safety measures are already in place to avoid these instances, hopefully reducing amputation type injuries. Training or re-training can be performed.

But what we are seeing lately are none of the above, we are seeing fingers being crushed or caught between two items, getting caught on part of the machine, heavy items falling onto a hand, etc. What safety measures can be put in place to avoid these injuries from occurring? Is the injury the result of being distracted? Carelessness? Hurrying? Not being aware of your surroundings? Boredom? Looking at or talking on a cell phone? Are we just working on “auto-pilot”?

I hate to use the phrase, but, “it takes a village”. Keep an eye out for your co-workers. EVERYONE should be part of a safety team. No one should be losing a finger – yes, we can get along with nine or nine and one-half – but, technically, we need all ten! Take your inventory!

And remember, when an amputation does occur, it must be reported to MIOSHA within 24 hours.