2. Find out if your injury is related to work

Your work does not have to be the only cause of your injury or disease. But it must be a significant cause.

For example, if you get a pain in your back after lifting something heavy at work, your job could be the cause of the back pain.

Problems that start when you’re not at work

If your problem starts when you’re not at work, your work could still have caused your injury.

For example, it could be related to your job if you have a heart attack at home or you develop lung cancer years after working in mines.

Injuries that develop over time

The injury might happen in an accident, for example, falling off a ladder at work. Or, your injury or disease could be something that happens over time.

For example, you might not think your back pain is connected to your job because you didn’t have an accident and don’t have the pain all the time. But your back pain could be from:

• doing a lot of lifting at work
• a twisting movement you do over and over in your job

Old conditions getting worse

Your work may make an old medical condition start up again or get worse.

For example, you could have had a health problem before you worked at your job, such as asthma attacks. And now, the chemicals you work with cause your asthma to return.

One injury leading to another

You may have an injury that’s related to work that leads to another injury.

For example, you hurt your knee at work and then develop a back problem because the knee injury changes how you walk. Your back problem is also a work-related injury.

Physical and psychological injuries

A work related injury can be physical or psychological or both. This means that you can have an injury to your body. And you can also have an injury to your mind, thoughts, or emotions.

For example, you could have an injury because you fell off a ladder and broke your leg at work. You may also develop a psychological condition as a result of the injury or because of changes to your life that happen as a result of the injury.

A work related psychological injury may also be caused by stress that is defined as traumatic mental stress or chronic mental stress.