Top 10 Disabling Workplace Injuries Cost Employers $51 Billion Annually

Severe but non-fatal workplace injuries cost U.S. businesses $61.88 billion per year in direct workers’ compensation costs. The 10 most common accidents account for 82.5 percent of that total – some $51 billion, according to the 2016 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index. The top injury, Overexertion, accounted for nearly 25 percent of total costs.

The Index ranked injuries and accidents that caused employees to miss six or more days of work, based on the latest data available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the National Academy of Social Insurance.

The top 5 accidents accounted for nearly two-thirds of total costs:

  • Overexertion
  • Falls on same level
  • Falls to lower level
  • Struck-by
  • Other exertions or bodily reactions

“By highlighting the direct costs of the most serious workplace accidents, the annual Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index informs the national agenda on workplace safety,” said Dr. Ian Noy, Director, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety. “It also provides a key tool for individual companies to benchmark safety performance, and focus improvement efforts and resources on the most pressing areas.”

The Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index is compiled based on information from Liberty Mutual, the BLS and the National Academy of Social Insurance. Researchers examine BLS injury data to determine which events caused employees to miss six or more days of work, and then rank those events by total workers compensation costs.

Resources: