December 29, 2004—The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has been involved in several recent initiatives addressing the costs of occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. The various initiatives focus on societal costs, corporate profitability, construction workers, and impact on retirement.
Societal costs of fatal occupational injuries: Researchers are enhancing a previously developed NIOSH computerized costing model for calculating the societal costs of fatal occupational injuries using the cost-of-illness method. Using the model, researchers have shown that between 1992 and 2001 the cost of fatal occupational injuries in the US was $48.7 billion. The model takes into account medical costs, the present value of future earnings summed from the year of death until the worker would have reached age 67 and the value of home production lost. Costs can be separated by gender, age, race, occupation, industry, or event. Current efforts to improve the model include expansion to calculate the cost of fatal occupational injuries using Census of Fatal Occupational Injury (CFOI) data, improving model specificity by estimating indirect costs using state-specific wage and benefit data, and improving the operational utility of the model. The calculated costs from this study can be used in evaluation tools to more efficiently allocate resources for research and prevention efforts. For more information on this study, contact Elyce Biddle.
Revision of OSHA “$AFETY PAYS” e-tool for employers: In collaboration with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), NIOSH is updating and enhancing $AFETY PAYS, an OSHA-developed interactive software program for measuring the economic impact of occupational injuries and illnesses on a company’s profitability. The program uses a company’s profit margin, average costs of an occupational injury or illness, and an indirect cost multiplier to project the amount of sales a company would need to generate in order to cover the cost. Enhancements to the program include customizing the program to fit a firm’s ability in capturing their costs. Contact Elyce Biddle for more information.
Economic impact of occupational injury and illness on construction workers: With funding from NIOSH, the Center to Protect Workers’ Rights is addressing gaps in describing and measuring the economic costs resulting from occupational injuries and illnesses. This project seeks to quantify those costs and the burden on construction workers and their families, specifically looking at those costs not typically addressed in existing approaches. Researchers will also determine who estimates and actually pays the cost of these injuries and illnesses among construction workers.
Job-related arthritis and disability in retirement: While the initial injury or pain of work-related arthritis typically occurs on the job, subsequent pain or osteoarthritis could occur much later in life. NIOSH says that current estimates of job-related injuries and illnesses ignore the costs of these later occurring health problems. NIOSH-funded researchers at the University of California will use data from the National Health Interview Surveys, National Center for Health Statistics, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to obtain prevalence and cost of osteoarthritis. Additionally, researchers will explore the connection between employment in injury-producing jobs and subsequent functional disability using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III.
