This article looks at the most common workplace injuries and how the nature of those injuries has changed during the last decade.
It gives employers a hint of what to watch out for the most among their employees in order to avoid such injuries.
Injuries from overexertion cost the most among disabling injuries in the workplace, says research combined from Liberty Mutual claims, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Academy of Social Insurance.
The 2009 data – the most recent available – were distilled into the 2011 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index. The research also shows which injuries showed cost increases and decreases over the 10 years between 1998 and 2009.
“Overexertion”, defined as injuries resulting from pushing, pulling, lifting, holding, carrying or throwing, accounted for 25% of disabling injury costs for 2009. But over the 10-year period, overexertion case costs were down 9.9%, ranking seventh among tracked injuries.
For 2009, “fall on the same level” injuries totaled 16% of total injury costs -– the second highest – while over the 10-year period, this injury trended as the most costly at 34.2% of the total.
The research tracked the costs of 10 disabling workplace injuries that caused an employee to miss six or more days of work. Besides overexertion and fall on the same level, the remaining eight injuries were:
- “Fall to lower level” was third most expensive in 2009 at 10.7% of cost totals, and placed second for the 10-year period at 10.2%.
- “Bodily reactions” injuries were fourth most costly in 2009. They’re caused by bending, climbing, reaching, standing, sitting, slipping or tripping without falling. For the 10-year period, these injuries ranked third at 9.4% of overall costs.
- “Struck by an object” ranked fifth in total costs in 2009, at 9.3%. It includes things like a worker getting hurt by a falling tool. This injury ranked fourth at 5.9% of injury costs over 10 years.
- “Highway incident” ranked sixth in expense for 2009, at 4.3%. But over the 10-year period, this injury’s cost dropped 19.8%, putting it next to last.
- “Caught in/compressed by” placed seventh in 2009 at 4.1% of injury costs. This type of injury occurs when workers get caught or compressed by equipment or objects. For the 10-year span, its cost dipped slightly by 1.1%, making it the sixth most costly.
- “Struck against object” injuries were eighth in the 2009 ranking at 4% of injury costs. They include physical effects that can happen when a worker walks into a door, for instance. For the 10-year period, this injury was also ranked eighth in cost, with a decline of 13.4%.
- “Repetitive motion” injuries ranked ninth most expensive in 2009 at 3.9% of injury costs. For the 10-year span, they placed dead last, with a 40% plummet in cost.
- “Assault/violent acts” ranked last in expense among the 10 injuries tracked for 2009, at 1.2% of injury costs. But over the 10 years, the category ranked fifth costliest at 3.4%
Looking out for workplace injuries is one thing, but lowering your cost of workers compensation insurance is key when an accident happens.
At Leaders’ Choice we are committed to helping your businesses bottom line. Our average customer saves 30% on their Workers’ Compensation Insurance rate.
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