Liberty Mutual reveals how much workplace injuries are costing employers each week

Workplace injuries cost US companies more than $1 billion per week, according to new data from Liberty Mutual.

The Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index lists the top 10 causes of serious workplace injuries – those causing an employee to miss five or more days of work – and ranks them by their direct cost to employers. The 2019 index is the first to report the causes and costs of serious workplace injuries for eight industries that account for a high proportion of all national workplace injuries:

• Manufacturing
• Healthcare
• Construction
• Professional services
• Retail
• Wholesale
• Transportation and warehousing
• Leisure and hospitality

“The latest ranking help employers, risk managers and safety professionals improve workplace safety by highlighting its financial impact in total and for specific industries,” said James Merendino, general manager of risk control, national insurance, for Liberty Mutual. “To better protect employees and the bottom line, each employer needs to understand the root causes of the most serious workplace injuries they face. Only then can they effectively mitigate and manage these through work design, system controls, technology, training and strategic risk management. Insurance companies and brokers can be a key ally in these efforts.”

According to Liberty Mutual, the 10 costliest causes of workplace injury and illness are:

1. Overexertion involving outside sources ($13.11 billion)
2. Falls on same level ($10.38 billion)
3. Struck by object or equipment ($5.22 billion)
4. Falls to lower level ($98 billion)
5. Other exertions or bodily reactions ($3.69 billion)
6. Roadway incidents involving a motorized vehicle ($2.7 billion)
7. Slip or trip without falling ($2.18 billion)
8. Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects ($1.93 billion)
9. Repetitive motions involving microtasks ($1.59 billion)
10. Struck against object or equipment ($1.15 billion)