Workers’ Compensation and Asthma Development

Asthma is one of the most common health conditions that affects your airways and your ability to breathe, and it comes in many forms. Some people have exercise-induced asthma, while others can develop it later in life for one reason or another. For many, this eventual onset of asthma is caused in part because of their employment.

If you are someone who has developed asthma and has been subjected to poor indoor air quality during your employment, you may have a workers’ compensation case. We explain more in today’s blog.

Work-Related Asthma and Your Right To Compensation

When you think of people who may have developed job-related asthma, you’re probably picturing an employee who is required to wear a mask to protect against breathing in potentially dangerous chemicals, like painters, asbestos removal teams or microbiologists. While these people can certainly be exposed to conditions that lead to asthma, individuals in industries perceived as much less dangerous are the ones who are coming down with asthma. We’re talking about office workers, teachers and warehouse staff. All of these people work inside, and they may unknowingly be exposed to poor indoor air quality.

Overtime, poor indoor air quality can contribute to the onset of a number of health conditions, including but not limited to:

Asthma
Headaches
Fatigue
Difficulty concentrating
Irritated eyes, nose and throat

If you’re regularly breathing in damp, contaminated air, it might not be a question as to whether you will get asthma, but when you’ll get it.

Getting Compensation

If you’ve been diagnosed with asthma and you’re wondering if it may be linked to your employment, talk to a workers’ compensation attorney. We’ll review all the facts of your case, including your medical report, how long you worked at the facility, any documented air quality concerns and we can even conduct tests of our own to examine the air quality where you worked. It’s not going to be as easy as other work injury cases, but know that your asthma does not need to be the result of a single incident at work. If we can prove that you’ve been exposed to poor air quality over an extended period of time, workers’ compensation may have to cover medical bills, future medications costs and other financial aspects of your claim.

As we’ve said on the blog in the past, we only get paid when you win your claim, so you’ve got nothing to lose by pursuing a claim if you believe your work contributed to your asthma or breathing problems. We’ll also be honest with you if we don’t think there’s enough evidence to win a claim, because neither parties want to spend time and resources fighting an unwinnable battle. But if we think we can put together a winning claim, we’ll do everything in our power to get you what you rightfully deserve. For more information, or to talk to one of our lawyers, reach out to Hey Workers today.