How to Insure Your Income: Second Injury Funds

The cumulative effect of two injuries combined can be greater than the effect of the same two injuries in isolation. This risk has particular importance to long-term disability.

Example: Richie loses sight in one eye because of a work-related accident. He has suffered a loss, but is still able to function in many job situations. Several years later -- at another job with another employer -- Richie is involved in another work-related accident and loses sight in his other eye. Now he's totally blind, a condition far worse than either of the single accidents. Should his second employer pay a bigger disability benefit than the first?

Once a person has been incapacitated, there is a greater risk that an additional injury may lead to permanent total disability, requiring higher statutory benefits than might be expected for the second injury alone.

In this context, the physically handicapped worker faces a serious problem. A second injury, combined with a previous injury or handicap, will result in an incapacity greater than would have resulted either single injury. The employer at the time of the second injury is faced with much greater disability costs than if the employee had not been previously injured. An employer may well be reluctant to hire a handicapped or previously injured employee because of this increased risk.

To counteract this situation, most states maintain a Second Injury Fund. These funds subsidize the additional coverage -- both medical and disability -- that second injuries can cause. To you, as someone making a workers' comp claim, these funds are invisible. You would still deal with your employer's insurance company.