Which Risks Are Costly? RMs Don't Know

By Sam Friedman

NU Online News Service, April 15, 4:25 p.m. EST, NewOrleans?Risk managers might have to realign theirworkplace safety priorities because a gap exists between what theybelieve to be the most worrisome types of injuries and statisticalreality, a study by Liberty Mutual has revealed.

Indeed, employers responding to Liberty Mutual's "2001 ExecutiveSurvey" said that "repetitive motion" is their biggest concern whenit comes to sources of workers' compensation claims, when, in fact,the carrier's "2002 Safety Index" found five other causes of injuryhad resulted in greater direct costs.

In addition, employers surveyed ranked "falls on the same level"as only their seventh-biggest concern, when in fact these types ofinjuries actually rank second in direct costs. The executives alsooverstated the importance of highway accidents on the job, rankingit third, when it was in fact seventh in terms of cost.

Employer perceptions about the relative severity of varioustypes of workplace injuries might have been skewed by thecontroversy over federal ergonomics regulations that has raged thepast couple of years, speculated Karl Jacobson, senior vicepresident of Liberty Mutual, in charge of safety and healthresearch and product development.

The direct, insured costs of workplace injuries last year(defined as payments to injured employees and their medical careproviders) rose 3.6 percent in 1999 (the latest year for whichfigures are available) over the year before to $40.1 billion,according to Liberty Mutual.

The top 10 causes of disabling injuries, however, accounted for86 percent of total direct costs, noted the Boston-based carrier,which based its findings on its own data, bolstered by figures fromthe Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Academy of SocialInsurance.

The total financial cost of workplace injuries, includinguninsured, indirect expenses (such as lost productivity andovertime pay) is estimated by Liberty Mutual at some $240 billion,"not to mention the pain and suffering endured by injured workersand their families," said Mr. Jacobson.

The order of the 10 leading causes of disabling workplaceinjuries (defined as those resulting in workers missing five ormore days of work), ranked by direct costs, were identical to thatof the prior year. "The consistency of the findings lends authorityand points to the strength of the study's methodology," accordingto Mr. Jacobson. He said the results should encourage risk managersto compare the national injury profile to that of their ownindustry and particular facility, and then to direct loss controland safety resources accordingly.

The top-ranked cause of injury was overexertion, defined asinjuries from excessive lifting, lowering, pushing or pulling of anobject. Such injuries accounted for $10.3 billion in directcosts?25.5 percent of the total

The other nine injury causes, ranked by direct costs, are asfollows:

? Falls on the same level--$4.6 billion (11.5 percent of thetotal).

? Bodily reaction (injuries resulting from bending, standing,reaching, and slipping or tripping without falling)--$3.8 billion(9.4 percent).

? Falls to a lower level--$3.7 billion (9.2 percent).

? Struck by an object (such as a tool falling on a worker fromabove)--$3.4 billion (8.5 percent).

? Repetitive motion--$2.7 billion (6.7 percent).

? Highway accident--$2.4 billion (5.9 percent).

? Being struck against an object (such as a worker walking intoa doorframe)--$1.7 billion (4.3 percent).

? Becoming caught in or compressed by equipment--$1.6 billion(4.1 percent).

? Contact with temperature extremes--$400 million (1.0percent).

The survey to assess employer perceptions about workplaceinjuries queried 200 executives--125 from mid-sized companies(those with between 100 and 999 employees, and commercial insurancepremiums up to $2.5 million) and 75 from large firms (those withover 1,000 workers and commercial premiums of at least $2.5million).