AmTrust: Injured retail workers on average miss 24 days of work

A new report based on claims data collated by AmTrust Financial Services has found that injuries to retail workers cause employees to miss an average of about 24 days of work.

The Retail Sector Risk Report – AmTrust’s first report of its kind – identifies common retail workers’ injuries and lost time in the workplace, based on over 20,000 workers’ compensation insurance claims from 2016 to 2018.

Aside from determining the average number of work days injured retail workers miss, the report also identified the top three workplace injuries with the highest average payout. They are:

• Fall or slip from ladder or scaffolding: $21,000
• Strain or injury by repetitive motion: $14,000
• Motor vehicle collision with another vehicle: $13,900

“Analyzing three-years of data gave us new insights into why people in retail miss work, what kind of injuries are the worst or most expensive for employers, and how long it takes for an employee to return to work,” said AmTrust senior vice-president of workers’ compensation strategy Matt Zender.

Other findings of the report include:

• The most hazardous retail classes are (in order of risk, descending order):
  • Meat, fish or poultry retail.
  • Hardware.
  • Automobile parts and accessories NOC (not otherwise classified) & drivers.
  • Barbershop, beauty parlor or hair styling.
• The average loss paid is greater for men ($11,641) than women ($7,030)
• Of the top 10 injuries, nearly a quarter (23%) of the payouts are associated with injuries from lifting.
• There is a correlation between age and average payout amounts – the greater the age, the greater the average payout.

Zender concluded that the report’s results reinforce AmTrust’s belief that operations and safety training are essential in the retail sector – especially for younger workers, from whom AmTrust has observed more workers’ compensation claims being made.