Serious (but non-fatal) workplace injuries cost U.S. businesses $1.19 billion a week in workers’ compensation. What types of injuries contribute most to this $61.88 billion a year cost to employers?
The 2016 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index breaks down the top 10 causes of these disabling injuries:
- Overexertion involving outside sources (injuries related to lifting, pushing, pulling, holding, carrying or throwing objects): 24.4%, $15.08 billion
- Falls on same level: 16.4%, $10.17 billion
- Falls to lower level: 8.7%, $5.4 billion
- Struck by object or equipment: 8.6%, $5.31 billion
- Other exertions of bodily reactions: 6.7%, $4.15 billion
- Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle: 4.8%, $2.96 billion
- Slip or trip without fall: 3.6%, $2.35 billion
- Caught in/compressed by equipment or objects: 3.2%, $1.97 billion
- Struck against object or equipment, 3.0%, $1.85 billion, and
- Repetitive motions involving micro-tasks: 2.9%, $1.82 billion.
The top five injury causes account for almost two-thirds of the total cost burden. The top 10 causes comprise 82.5% or $51.06 billion of the total costs.
The Workplace Safety Index is based on information from Liberty Mutual, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Academy of Social Insurance. Liberty Mutual examined BLS injury data to determine which events caused employees to miss six or more days of work and then rank those events by total workers’ compensation costs.