Injury and workers’ compensation

Statistics displaying the noteworthy progression over the past several years with respect to serious injuries and workers compensation costs... 

Statistics given here on serious injury trending over the last several years derive from macro studies, or may relate to specific industries. But, it must be understood, as my studies have shown, that serious injury experience varies greatly by industry. Data on serious injuries and workers compensation claims costs have been extracted from two primary sources the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in the U.S. Department of Labor and the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI). 

Data on the trending of serious injuries and workers compensation claims contradict the premise that focusing on incident frequency reduction will achieve equivalent severity reduction. The following data have been extracted from publications of the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI). A July 2009 NCCI bulletin is titled Workers Compensation Claim Frequency Continues Its Decline in 2008. The reduction was 4.0 percent. A May 2010 NCCI report says that the cumulative reduction in claims frequency from 1991 through 2008 is 54.7 percent. 

To determine which jobs you should analyze first, review your injury and illness reports such as the OSHA 200 log, your medical case histories, your first-aid cases, and workers compensation claims. First, you should conduct a JHA for jobs with the highest rates of disabling injuries and illnesses. Do not forget jobs in which you have had close calls or near hits. You should give these incidents a high priority. Analyses of new jobs and jobs in which changes have been made in processes and procedures should be the next priority. 

Because an effective safety program in the plant or facility must include training, the ultimate objective of training is to influence the attitudes of employees around the clock. Off-the-job accidents cost industry many times more than on-the-job injuries. Although workers compensation is not involved, absenteeism from off-the-job injuries results in productivity losses and insurance cost increases. Employees injured off the job may, with the assistance of unscrupulous lawyers, sometimes claim the injury occurred during work time. Such fraud can be combatted by effective record keeping and supervisory vigilance. 

Butler, Richard J., David L. Drtrbitt, and Nurhan M. Helvacian. 1996. Increasing Claims for Soft Tissue Injuries in Workers Compensation Cost Shifting and Moral Hazard. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 13(1) 73-87. 

An obsolete ANSI standard that defined how eompanies conld record and track injuries and illnesses prior to the Occnpational Safety and Health Administration (OSH A) regnlations. This document defined terms like Permanent Total Disability, Permanent Partial Disability, and Temporary Total Disability that are used throughout safety and workers compensation literature. 

Table 4-6. Sensitivity Checks The Impact of Two Possible Refinements in OSHA and Workers Compensation Insurance on the Average Frequency of Injury... 

To a limited degree the current workers compensation system penalizes nonnegligent parties and rewards negligent parties in an industrial injury. WC makes safety conscious employers pay medical and income replacement benefits when not at fault and only partially compensates careful workers for their injury costs. Similarly, WC less than folly penalizes careless employers by requiring they pay less than foil compensation for injuries and less than folly penalizes careless workers by providing support for injuries. Under workers compensation as... 

A utihty knife designed for heavy industrial use with maximum blade length can, in some cases, violate a company s Deadly Weaponry policy. Not only has the company purchased an unsafe utility knife, but it has also paid extra retail dollars when a safety cutter can be acquired on a direct cost-based purchase. Workers using a utility knife can suffer cut injuries, resulting in medical and workers compensation costs. A utility knife can also damage products... 

Trailing indicators are the traditional metrics that measure past safety efforts (Dupont Corporation 2000). When using trailing indicators, data is collected after the fact (after a number of accidents or illnesses, after two years of workers compensation, etc.). Trailing indicators provide an organization with feedback in terms of how good performance has been over a period of time. Examples of trailing indicators include accident records, loss reports, injury and illness statistics, injury costs, and workers compensation costs. 

With these activity-based performance measures, there is also a variety of safety metrics that can be used to assess program performance. As identified by OSHA in studies ofVPP organizations, OSHA injury incidence rates, lost work day rates, and workers compensation losses are a few safety metrics that have been correlated to the performance of the VPP criteria activities. These measures can easily be expanded to include unsafe behaviors, accident trends, and near misses. 

Manual material handling is a common activity in most occupational environments. Workers handle raw materials, tools, finished materials, containers, and packing materials on a daily basis. Moving objects, regardless of weight, can result in arm, back, and leg strain. The costs of injuries due to material handling are enormous— from both medical treatment and workers compensation. Losses from these injuries are compounded when the days absent from work are factored in. 

Reduce injuries, lost workday accidents, and workers compensation claims. Prevention of damage or destruction to company property or equipment. Increased productivity through reduction of injuries. 

Kinesiology concepts—in the form of ergonomics—have been applied to workstations. Movement analysis can lead to better workstations and fewer overuse and acute injuries. Ergonomics can save business and industry millions of dollars in medical costs and workers compensation. 

Case law and workers compensation law indicate that there are dozens of variables that must be considered when determining the compensability of an injury that occurs in the workplace. Larson and Larson (2000) have presented a comprehensive overview of workers compensation compensability issues. There are two fundamental principles that affect compensability. The first of these two issues is whether the injury arose out of and in the course of employment. Arising out of refers to the injury being the result of on-the-job activity. For example, a teacher falls from standing on a chair while hanging decorations in her class. The job she had required her to perform this function. Therefore, the injury arose out of her job. 

Third, although popularized in the media among other types of injury claims, workers compensation does not permit payment for pain and suffering and pnnitive damages. In most cases, it also prohibits the employee from suing the employer for additional money. Workers compensation is provided as the sole remedy for responding to work-related injuries. 

We have both experienced what looked like major improvements in both TCIR and workers compensation injuries only to find that organizational changes had reduced exposures with shifts from permanent employees to contractors or temporary employees, technology changes, etc. The overall safety culture remained unchanged as well as the basic hazards and associated risk. 

Butler, R.J., Durbin, D.L., and Helvacian, N.M. 1996. Increasing claims for soft tissne injuries in workers compensation Cost shifting and moral hazard. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 13, 73-87. 

There are many studies that have been conducted, pre- and post-, ergonomic evaluations for the healthcare and manufacturing industries. In almost all instances, the number of injuries and illnesses were reduced, the number of lost and restricted work days were reduced, and workers compensation claims were reduced. 

Reduce injuries, lost workday accidents, and workers compensation claims by %. 

The expected benehts of hazard identihcation are a decrease in incidents of injuries, a decrease in lost workdays and absenteeism, a decrease in workers compensation costs, increased productivity, and better cooperation and communication. The baseline for determining the benefit of the hazard identification can be formulated from existing company data on occupational injuries/illnesses, workers compensation, attendance, proht, and production. 

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