Comp Study: Injuries Down, Costs Up
Thursday, October 30th, 2003 Workers' CompensationWhile the number of serious injuries in the workplace has dropped again, the total cost of those injuries continues to rise, according to the latest survey by a workers‘ compensation insurer. The Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index—a ranking of serious on-the-job injuries based on payments to injured employees and their medical care providers—also found that the top three causes of injury that account for more than half of all workplace mishaps remains unchanged. From 2000 to 2001, the Index found that the frequency of work-related injuries dropped 6 percent. This drop is the largest decline in the four years of the study. Between 1999 and 2000, the number of injuries fell 1.3 percent; it rose 0.2 percent between 1998 and 1999. The cost of those injuries, however, grew to $45.8 billion in 2001 from $44.2 billion in 2000.
