Serious Work Injuries Cost Companies $60 Billion

U.S. businesses spend upward of $60 billion a year in workers compensation costs related to serious, non-fatal work injuries. Overexertion and falls are among the leading causes of those accidents, according to a recently released insurance industry report.

The safety index report uses the insurer’s workers comp claims data, as well as information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Washington-based National Academy of Social Insurance, to determine the costliest workplace injuries and those that result in employees missing six or more days of work.

At the top of the list: “overexertion involving outside sources.” It represented 23 percent of serious, non-fatal injuries and cost U.S. businesses $13.8 billion in 2014. This category includes accidents related to lifting, pushing, pulling, holding, carrying, or throwing objects.

The next most reported cause of injury: same-level falls. The category accounted for 17.7 percent of accidents and cost employers $10.6 billion in 2014.

Falls that involved the injured dropping to a lower level represented 9.2 percent of serious, non-fatal injuries and cost employers $5.5 billion, the report said.

Also on the list:

• Struck by object or equipment
• Roadway incidents, and
• Caught in/compressed by
  equipment

Source: Business Insurance