Serious workplace injuries decrease, but financial impact remains high
While the number of serious workplace injuries has dropped, those injuries continue to hit the bottom-line of employers hard, according to two Liberty Mutual studies announced Tuesday at the National Safety Council’s World Safety Congress and Expo.
The rate of growth in the cost of these injuries slowed significantly: to 0.7 percent in 2003 from 6.5 percent in 2002, after adjusting for inflation. But the sheer size of the financial impact of workplace injuries remains: Employers spent $50.8 billion in 2003 on wage payments and medical care for workers hurt on the job.