Household Pests and Workplace Injuries

Robin Martinek

Contributor

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Lately I have seen a number of clients come to our offices with serious injuries that most likely occurred at their workplace. But because of the state of the law in North Carolina, we were forced to turn them away.

I imagine hundreds of employees in North Carolina are exposed to the dangers of poisonous insects, spiders and other creatures at their workplace, and these are very real dangers that can lead to the necessity of medical treatment, hospitalization and even death. Yet in many of the cases we see, we are unable to help these injured employees get the help and financial assistance they need for treatment for one simple reason: the victim doesn't know what bit them.

North Carolina workers' compensation statutes and rules treat insect bites and spider bites much like they treat occupational diseases, and because of this interpretation of the law, a claimant must show that the bite occurred while they were working and that they were more likely to be bitten in the job they were performing than the general populace. Again and again, the North Carolina Industrial Commission has found that the claimant-employee was not able to carry that burden where they could not identify the creature that inflicted the wound.

According to the North Carolina State University Department of Entomology, the two most common poisonous spiders in North Carolina are the black widow and the brown recluse. The black widow spiders are often identified by the black skin and the red hourglass shape on its abdomen. However, younger females can be tan to gray in color and have orange and/or white stripes. The male black widow often has red and white markings on its abdomen. While their bite is generally mild and may appear as a bluish white spot surrounded by red, it can cause nausea, tremors, sweating and increase blood pressure. Black widow spiders tend to prefer dark, damp, protected areas to nest.

Brown Recluses tend to be tan to brown in coloration and are often identified by a dark "violin" or "fiddle" shaped mark on their abdomen. Brown Recluse bites also tend to be mild in the beginning, but can swelling or blistering in the wound area and can lead to an area of necrotic flesh that must be removed by surgery. Brown Recluses tend to also dwell in a variety of protected places both indoors and outdoors, but tend to more active at night.

In any case, a spider bite should be examined and treated by a trained medical professional. If you can capture the offending spider, bring it to the medical professional to assist in the identification of the proper anti-venom.