Environmental Health and Safety

What’s the workers’ comp cost for a foot injury?

A foot injury is, according to the Comp Pinkbook, the eighth most common workers’ compensation injury in Maryland. (The Comp Pinkbook represented a study of over a quarter million comp claims that had some kind of permanency award from the period of 1/1/11 to 6/30/12. The book is for sale at Amazon.com.)

The injuries to the feet outside of a work setting are more common than work-related. For example, bunions, calluses, heel spurs, ingrown nails, and others are typical foot issues. These are generally not compensable in a workers’ comp setting.

Broken foot, stress fractures, broken toes, and severe heel injuries are among the more common workers’ compensation foot injuries. Not all injuries are the same. Ask, “How much is my broken foot worth in workers’ compensation?” and there are a lot of variables. How bad was the break? What is the healing process expected to be? Are there other injuries involved? Has the foot been injured before? There are many questions involved in any workers’ compensation case involving the feet.

Despite the differences in every workers’ comp case, the Pinkbook does provide the averages. Out of a total of 701 awards, the average foot injury was shown to be worth $10,871.However, it makes a big difference as to whether this was a PPD award or a full and final settlement. (See the difference here.) The average PPD award for a foot injury case was shown to be $8,586, with an average impairment rating of 15.65%.However, the average full and final settlement for a comp foot injury was shown to be $17,435. This last number went up to $23,692 if the foot was coupled on the claim form with an ankle injury.

Averages are helpful, but don’t tell the whole story, especially for serious foot injuries. The largest comp PPD awards measured by the Pinkbook in foot cases were as follows: