August 31, 2001—Liberty Mutual Group has announced findings from their first-annual Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index, listing the 10 leading causes of injuries and illness that account for 86 percent of the $38.7 billion in wage and medical payments US employers paid in 1998, the last year for which data is available. The Safety Index also provides guidelines to help reduce the human and economic costs generated by the top causes of job-site accidents.
According to the Safety Index, overexertion, falls, and being struck by an object are among the leading causes of workplace accidents. Repetitive motion injuries accounted for $2.3 billion. When the indirect cost of workers compensation claims are added to the $38.7 billion in direct costs identified by the report, the total economic burden of workplace injuries and illness is far greater, with estimates ranging between $125 billion to $155 billion.
The leading causes of workplace injuries and illness that resulted in employees missing five or more days of work in 1998 include (followed by the percent of workers compensation paid in 1998 / estimated direct cost nationwide):
- Overexertion—injuries caused by excessive lifting, pushing, pulling, holding, carrying, or throwing of an object (25.57% / $9.8 billion)
- Falls on same level (11.46% / $4.4 billion)
- Bodily reaction—injuries resulting from bending, climbing, loss of balance, and slipping without falling (9.35% / $3.6 billion)
- Falls to lower level, such as falling from a ladder or over a railing (9.33% / $3.6 billion)
- Being struck by an object, such as a tool falling on a worker from above (8.94% / $3.4 billion)
- Repetitive motion (6.10% / $2.3 billion)
- Highway accidents (5.46% / $2.1 billion)
- Being struck against an object, such as a carpenter walking into a door frame (4.92% / $1.9 billion)
- Becoming caught in or compressed by equipment (4.176% / $1.6 billion)
- Contact with temperature extremes that results in such injuries as heat exhaustion, frost bite, or burns (.92% / $.3 billion)
- TOTAL workers compensation cost nationwide: $38.7 billion
Liberty Mutual will release its annual ranking each year, based on its own claims data and the most recent findings from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Academy of Social Insurance. For more information, visit Liberty Mutual.
