Top 5 Injuries in Worker' Compensation Claims

Liberty Mutual recently released their Workplace Safety Index (WSI). The WSI identifies the top causes of serious non-fatal workplace injuries based on information from the insurance carriers’ workers’ compensation claims, the US Bureau of Labor Stats (BLS), and the National Academy of Social Insurance.

The data which formed this top five list below use injury-event definitions developed by the BLS and data on injuries that keep employees out of work for six or more days. These injuries are then ranked by the total of the workers’ compensation costs for each type of injury.

The following list represents claims from 2009. This is the most recent year for which data are available.

  1. Overexertion
    Excessive lifting, pushing, pulling, holding, carrying and throwing
  2. Fall on Same Level
    Tripping, slipping and tumbling without falling to another level of flooring.
  3. Fall to Lower Level
    Tripping, slipping and tumbling down to another level of flooring.
  4. Bodily Reaction
    Bending, climbing, reaching, standing, sitting, slipping and tripping without falling.
  5. Stuck by Object
    Objects falling such as a tool falling and hitting a construction worker.

Click here to see the full 2011 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index in PDF format.

* Photo courtesy of gregory via Flickr Creative Commons.

About the Author

Managing partner Benjamin T. Cochran oversees the operation of Hardison & Cochran Attorneys at Law in addition to representing individual clients in cases involving workersโ€™ compensation and personal injury law.

A lifelong North Carolinian, Cochran knew from his high-school days in High Point that he wanted to be an attorney. He received a B.A. degree in economics and African-American studies from the University of North Carolina in 1999 and then enrolled at the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University.

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