Valuable guidance from work comp claim studies

Recent reports from The Travelers Company and the Workers' Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) give employers valuable insights into the type, nature, causes, demographics, and costs of injuries by industry. Here are five key findings to help guide risk management and employee safety strategies:

1. New employees are the most vulnerable to workplace injuries

   Findings: Travelers' 2024 Injury Impact Report notes that 35 percent of workplace injuries occurred during a worker's first year on the job and accounted for 32 percent of all workers compensation claim costs. Similarly, the WCRI Flash Report finds over a third (37.5 percent) of all workplace injuries occurred within the first year of tenure and half of all injuries occurred during the first two years of employment. Many of the injuries resulted in an emergency room visit. Further troubling, the report noted an upward trend particularly among older workers - the share of work injuries among shorter tenured older workers increased from 18 percent to 23 percent between 2017 and 2022, suggesting mobility or reentering the workforce. Industries experiencing particularly high rates of injuries in the first two years include restaurants (62 percent), construction (60 percent), and agriculture (59 percent).

   Takeaway: The impact of short-tenured employee injuries on work comp costs is significant. Given higher minimum wages, increasing indemnity payments, and accelerated job turnover rates, this trend will continue unless employers take action.

   Short-tenured workers have more accidents because they lack the knowledge, training, and experience to prevent them. While many are young and inexperienced, others with industry experience may have had inadequate training or confront different safety hazards and processes, as well as a different safety culture. No worker is immune from the need for a robust safety orientation process. To minimize risks, employers must ensure all new employees receive orientation on not only the technical aspects of the equipment and tasks but also the associated hazards, as well as risk mitigation, PPE, injury reporting, emergency response plans, and safe driving expectations when on company business. Pairing new workers with an experienced mentor for hands-on training and observation will help prevent accidents. Mobile technology, such as apps specifically designed for training, including safety checklists and safety data sheets, with personalized task lists can be an effective tool to engage young workers.

   Educating new workers on your injury care management and Recovery at Work program is also critical. Unless emergency medical care is required, injured employees should be discouraged from using the ER, which often is the most expensive and least likely to lead to a prompt return to work.

2. Injured employees 55 and over require more time away from work

   Findings: The WCRI notes that employees 55 and over represent 23.4 percent of the workforce and account for 21 percent of all workplace injuries. Injury rates were higher in some industries, including clerical & professional, services, mining, and healthcare. Rates of injuries in transportation, utilities, and trade are increasing.

   While the injury rates were lower than new employees, days away from work were notably increasing and medical costs were higher. At the 24-month maturity, the per- claim medical costs were $7,339 among workers ages 55-64 and $8,010 for workers ages 65 and over, compared to $2,408 for workers ages 20-24 and $3,515 for workers ages 25 -34. Age-related issues, co-morbidities, and costly medical treatments prolong recovery. Indemnity rates are also higher for those 55-64 years.

   Takeaway: It's expected that the aging of the labor force will continue. Actions to prevent slips and falls, improve ergonomics, reduce the size of loads, automate tasks to alleviate strain, limit multitasking, and provide a strong conditioning program will help keep older workers safe and productive. Encouraging the early reporting of injuries and having a well-planned recovery-at-work program will reduce costs.

3. Claim characteristics were similar for males and females except by industry

   Findings: Overall males accounted for about 58 percent of injuries. However, in construction, males comprised 95 percent of total injuries, followed by 93 percent in mining, 74 percent in transportation and utilities, and 71 percent in public safety. For comparison, females accounted for most injuries in healthcare (80 percent), clerical (66 percent), and agriculture (56 percent). Notably, the proportion of injuries attributable to men increased in the clerical and professional sectors (five percent) and 2.3 percent in healthcare sectors, and the proportion of injuries among female workers increased five percent in agriculture, transportation, and utilities. The costs per claim were significantly higher (15 percent) for men, reflecting the higher injury costs in their predominant industries.

   Takeaway: The shift toward more frequent injuries among women in male-dominated industries could be due to increased employment in these industries, but employment data and injury rates show that women are in roles less prone to injuries. Employers should take the time to understand subtle injury shifts to determine if they represent a fluctuation or an emerging trend.

4. Most frequent types of injuries were sprains, strains, and contusions

   Findings: In both studies, common workplace accidents comprise most of the claim costs. The most frequent types of injury, according to WCRI, were sprains and strains (37 percent) and laceration and contusions (26 percent). Of the sprains and strains injuries, 12.7 percent involved the back and neck, while 24.5 percent included other body parts. Hand lacerations accounted for 10.2 percent and other lacerations and contusions made up 15.4 percent of injuries. Similarly, Travelers identified overexertion (29 percent) as the number one cause of claims, followed by slips, trips, and falls (23 percent). While this group represents a surprisingly high percentage of all injuries, they tend to be less severe. Neurologic spine pain, fractures, and inflammation represented a much greater percentage of lost time versus all other claims.

   Takeaway: While there have been improvements in workplace safety and ergonomic practices to relieve stress on workers, strains and sprains are challenging for employers as they can occur in an instant or develop slowly over time and are caused by varying ergonomic and individual risk factors. A multi-component combination of training, equipment, technology, work processes, and policies is needed for effective interventions. Although this makes it difficult to get leadership and manager commitment to solutions that will work consistently over time, the preponderance of injuries warrants a thorough risk assessment and an investment in practices, technology, and equipment that can eliminate or substantially reduce such injuries.

5. There were notable changes in the industry composition of work-related injuries

   Findings: Five industries accounted for nearly three out of every four work injuries - wholesale and retail trade (21 percent), manufacturing (17 percent), services (13 percent), healthcare and social assistance (11 percent), and transportation, warehousing and utilities (10 percent). While construction and mining only accounted for seven percent of total injuries, they had the highest share of medical and indemnity costs per claim.

   Upper extremity fractures were concentrated in construction and manufacturing, while upper extremity neurologic injuries were more common among clerical and professional and manufacturing workers, compared with the overall claim population. Lower back injuries were common in wholesale and slips, trips, and falls often occurred in retail and trade.

   Takeaway: While lowering injury rates is important, they don't tell the whole story. The Travelers analysis revealed an increase in missed work, due to injuries, with the construction industry having 103 workdays lost on average, the highest number of lost workdays per injury. Following was transportation with an average of 83 days lost, and services with an average of 72 days lost. Claims with more lost days mean higher medical and indemnity costs, as well as a reduced likelihood of return to work. Falling injury rates are not necessarily indicative of low risk for serious or fatal accidents, or an effective safety program. That's why companies should use both leading and lagging indicators to measure safety performance. Leading indicators are proactive, quantify prevention efforts, and provide insight to the behaviors and conditions that precede incidents, whereas lagging measures are reactive and highlight failures in the safety program.