Workplace Injuries Cost $1 Billion Per Week

Some employers wrongfully assume that workplace safety programs are too costly to implement. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), for instance, requires employers to provide workers with the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) for their respective jobs. For construction workers, this may include gloves, a hard hat, impact-resistant goggles/eyewear, and steel-toed boots. While buying these items costs money, employers should view them as a long-term investment, and here's why.

Tens of thousands of workers are injured each year on the job. Some of these incidents are minor, whereas others are more severe. Regardless, employers pay a hefty amount in worker's compensation and other direct and indirect costs associated with these injuries. So, just how much do employers pay?

According to the 2017 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index, more than $1 billion is spent each week on serious but non-fatal injuries in the workplace. Each year, the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety conducts a study on the nation's workplace injuries, assessing the cost, types and more. In its most recent Index, researchers found that workplace injuries are downright expensive, costing roughly $1 billion per week.

In case you were wondering, the top ten most disabling workplace injuries as revealed in the 2017 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index were overexertion involving outside sources; falls on same level; falls from elevated level; struck by object or equipment; other exertions or bodily reactions; roadway incidents involving vehicles; slip or trip without fall; caught in or against equipment or objects; struck against object or equipment; and repetitive motions involving micro tasks.

The top five injuries cited above account for roughly 64% of the total cost burden, whereas the remaining five injuries account for 20% of the costs.

As you can see, overexertion from outside sources is the most common and costly type of non-fatal injury in the workplace. Repetitive lifting falls under this category, with countless workers sustaining MSD-related injuries from constantly lifting heavy and/or awkwardly shaped objects on a daily basis. To reduce the risk of such injuries, employers should encourage workers to use proper lifting practices. Rather than bending the back to lift an object, for instance, workers should bend their knees. This is where the adage, lift with your legs and not your back, comes into play.

You can access the 2017 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index by visiting https://www.libertymutualgroup.com/about-liberty-mutual-site/research-institute-site/Documents/2017%20WSI.pdf