Employers have tons of incentive to worry about workplace injury: in addition to employee welfare, getting hurt on the job costs employers billions every year.
When you think about employee injuries, you might think about scary incidents like fingers getting caught in equipment. However, it’s the built-up effects of repetitive tasks and physical labor that lead to the most expensive injuries in the workplace. These are the same injuries that can be prevented by ergonomic material handling solutions.
Let’s look at the most expensive employee injury: overexertion.
Overexertion: Pushing, Pulling, & Lifting Our Way to Injuries
The largest direct costs for employers stem from overexertion injuries. According to the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, overexertion includes physical tasks like pushing, pulling, lifting, carrying, holding, and throwing. Such injuries added up to more than $14 billion in direct costs in 2011.
When including indirect costs, the numbers can increase exponentially. Indirect costs include lost time, loads of paperwork, and increased insurance premiums.
All told, the most expensive employee injuries include (with annual cost as of 2011):
- Overexertion ($14.2B)
- Slip-and-fall ($13.5B)
- Struck by object/equipment ($5.6B)
- Motor vehicle accidents ($2.4B)
- Repetitive motions ($2.0B)
Ergonomic equipment like the CartCaddy help prevent multiple causes of these expensive injuries. By reducing the heavy exertion and repetitive tasks of many jobs, workers avoid some of these big worry sources, and also have more energy and focus to avoid other injuries.
If rising insurance costs, fear of worker compensation claims and a focus on workplace safety are important in your industry, talk to us about CartCaddy safety solutions.
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com