Liberty Mutual 2019 Workplace Safety Index Reveals Workplace Injuries Cost U.S. Companies Over $1 Billion Per Week

Latest study is the first to highlight the top causes of workplace injuries for specific industries, including Manufacturing, Healthcare, Construction, and others

News provided by

Liberty Mutual Insurance

Apr 10, 2019, 09:29 ET

BOSTON, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The annual Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index documents the top ten causes of the most serious workplace injuries – those causing an employee to miss five or more days from work – and ranks them by their direct cost to employers, which consists of medical and lost-wage payments.

The 2019 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index is the first to also report the causes and costs of the most serious workplace injuries for eight specific industries that account for a high proportion of all national workplace injuries:

"The latest ranking helps employers, risk managers and safety professionals improve workplace safety by highlighting its financial impact in total and for specific industries," notes James Merendino, General Manager, Risk Control, National Insurance, 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."

Beyond reporting industry-specific results, the methodology used to produce the 2019 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index was improved in three other important ways, which are detailed in the online Methodology section. Given these changes, the 2019 findings cannot be compared to those of earlier Indices.

Results Across all Industries

According to the 2019 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index^[1], the ten most costly causes of workplace injuries and illnesses are:

Injury Cause:	Cost (billions):	Percentage:
Overexertion involving outside sources	$13.11	23.65%
Falls on same level	$10.38	18.72%
Struck by object or equipment	$5.22	9.42%
Falls to lower level	$4.98	8.99%
Other exertions or bodily reactions	$3.69	6.65%
Roadway incidents involving motorized vehicle	$2.70	4.88%
Slip or trip without falling	$2.18	3.93%
Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects	$1.93	3.48%
Repetitive motions involving microtasks	$1.59	2.87%
Struck against object or equipment	$1.15	2.07%
Cost of the top 10 most disabling workplace injuries	$46.93	84.66%
Total cost of the most disabling workplace injuries	$55.43	100%

Results for Specific Industries

And here are the top causes by key industries:

Industry

Ranking of Cause of Loss

1^st

2^nd

3^rd

4^th

5^th

All Industries

Overexertion,

outside sources

Falls, same level

Struck by object

or equipment

Falls, to lower level

Other exertions

or bodily

reactions

Construction

Falls, to lower level

Struck by object

or equipment

Overexertion,

outside sources

Falls, same level

Slip or trip without a fall

Prof. Services

Falls, same level

Overexertion,

outside sources

Falls, to lower level

Roadway incidents

Struck by object

or equipment

Manufacturing

Overexertion,

outside sources

Falls, same level

Struck by object

or equipment

Caught in,

compressed by

equipment

Repetitive

motions, micro

tasks

Healthcare

Overexertion,

outside sources

Falls, same level

Intentional

injury by person

Roadway incidents

Other exertions

or bodily

reactions

Retail

Overexertion,

outside sources

Falls, same level

Struck by object

or equipment

Other exertions

or bodily

reactions

Falls, to lower level

Transport & Warehousing

Overexertion,

outside sources

Falls, same level

Roadway incidents

Other exertions

or bodily

reactions

Falls, to lower level

Wholesale

Overexertion,

outside sources

Struck by object

or equipment

Falls, to lower level

Falls, same level

Other exertions

or bodily

reactions

Leisure & Hospitality

Falls, same level

Overexertion,

outside sources

Struck by object

or equipment

Struck against

object or

equipment

Other exertions

or bodily

reactions

Study Methodology

The annual Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index is based on information from Liberty Mutual, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Please see the "Study Methodology" section available here for more detail.

About Liberty Mutual Insurance

Liberty Mutual's purpose is to help people embrace today and confidently pursue tomorrow. The promise we make to our customers throughout the world is to provide protection for the unexpected, delivered with care.

In business since 1912, and headquartered in Boston, Mass., today we are the fifth largest global property and casualty insurer based on 2017 gross written premium. We also rank 68th on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2017 revenue. As of December 31, 2018, we had $41.6 billion in annual consolidated revenue.

We employ nearly 50,000 people in 30 countries and economies around the world. We offer a wide range of insurance products and services, including personal automobile, homeowners, commercial multi-peril, property, general liability, commercial automobile, surety, workers compensation, specialty lines, and reinsurance.

You can learn more about us by visiting www.libertymutualinsurance.com.

[1] The 2019 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index is based on non-fatal 2016 injury data, with more than 5 days away from work. To allow for cost development every Index has been based on claims data 3 years prior to publication.

Contact: Richard Angevine, 617-574-6638, 617-833-0926, [email protected]

SOURCE Liberty Mutual Insurance