Color Workers' Compensation is a system for compensating people who have been hurt on the job. In order to recover benefits, it is not necessary that you prove that your employer or anyone else was at fault. You merely have to prove that the injury arose out of your employment. Because an injured worker does not have to prove that the employer was at fault in the injury in order to recover benefits, the amount of benefits and the length of time these benefits are available are limited. Specific injuries are those which happen at a specific identifiable time in a specific manner and are compensable. An example would be sustaining a back injury while lifting, twisting, or pulling. Similarly, injuries to extremities, organs, feet, hands, toes, fingers, skin and other specific parts of the body are also compensable. Some injuries occur over time as a result of repeated use of a part of the body. While the symptoms and disabilities become apparent over a period of time, no specific accident can be identified. These repetitive trauma injuries are compensable under the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Law. An example of this is injury to nerves and joints of the wrist through repetitive twisting, pronating, grasping, or trauma to the wrist. Typing, weaving, assembling work, and similar jobs frequently result in injury due to repetitive trauma. Occurrences such as radiation exposure, or inhalation of fibers and airborne toxins to which a person is exposed at work can result in significant occupational diseases. Examples of these diseases are asbestosis, cancer, byssinosis (brown lung), and silicosis. Depending on the levels of exposure and causative connection between that exposure and the disease, these occupational diseases may be compensable under the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Law. Workers compensation law of South Carolina also compensates the worker who has a preexisting condition which is aggravated by an injury or accident on the job. The worker is entitled to benefits for this second injury or aggravation. An injury on the job may also involve a heart attack or stroke brought on by stress or strain of the job. For example, if a person were straining to lift a very heavy weight and the exertion causes a heart attack, the worker may be compensated for the heart attack. Sometimes a physical injury and the pain and disability associated with it may cause depression, anxiety or other psychological or psychiatric problems. If these psychiatric problems are related to the original physical injury, medical treatment and disability benefits may be paid for those problems. Moreover, under certain circumstances in the absence of a physical injury, a purely psychiatric injury caused by your work may be compensable. return to top