Head hazards: Concussions in the workplace

NFL players are not the only ones at risk for concussions. While media attention has raised awareness of the potential long-term health risk from repeated concussions and brain injuries on the playing field, workers who play in a number of other fields – construction, firefighting, public safety, mining, among others - run a similar risk of suffering concussions and other traumatic brain injuries on the job.

Construction workers, for instance, account for nearly 25% of all occupational traumatic brain injury (TBI) fatalities in on-the-job incidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), and construction workers also see the greatest number of work-related, non-fatal brain injuries annually.

This article highlights the major causes of workplace brain injuries and how employers can manage traumatic brain injuries and concussions.