Truck driving jobs can offer competitive wages and the potential for independence. With those benefits comes significant risk on the job, however.
Truck drivers spend all day on the road and in industrial settings, which means they have the potential to be injured on the job. Truck drivers could find themselves in need of workers’ compensation benefits because they wind up hurt badly enough to require medical attention or may even need to leave of absence from work.
What are the biggest injury risk factors for commercial truck drivers in the United States?
Driving is dangerous, but crashes are not the top injury risk
Crashes are a major risk for truck drivers, but they aren’t the only one. In fact, they aren’t even the leading cause of injury on the job for commercial drivers. Crashes cause approximately 13% of workplace injuries reported by truckers.
Overexertion, meaning injury due to lifting too much or pushing your body too hard, causes 41% of reported trucker work injuries. Another 23% of all commercial trucker injuries were the result of trips, slips and falls. Accidentally contacting equipment or machinery is also a noteworthy risk on the job, causing 19% of injuries.
Truck drivers can get hurt loading and unloading, gripping the steering wheel, sitting for long hours and encountering machinery in the workplace. Whether the injury is due to repetitive stress or a crash, the driver likely has the right to compensation. Provided that the truck driver is an employee and not an owner-operator, they will be able to file a workers’ compensation claim if they get hurt on the job and benefits.
