What Are the Top 10 Causes of Workplace Disabling Injuries?

Researchers at Liberty Mutual have released their annual top 10 list for the most common causes for disabling injuries. Their list was compiled using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and with the help of the National Academy of Social Insurance. Injuries only qualified if it caused the worker to miss six or more days of work. Additionally, Liberty Mutual has ranked the cause of injuries based on total workers’ compensation costs.

The Top 10 Causes of Workplace Injury

The following are the annual top 10 causes of injuries in the workplace, according to the researchers and their statistics:

• Overexertion
• Falls on same level
• Struck by object or equipment
• Falls to lower level
• Other exertion or bodily reactions
• Slip or trip without a fall
• Caught in/compressed by equipment or objects
• Repetitive motions involving micro-tasks
• Struck against object or equipment

Of the above, overexertion amounted to a quarter of the entire workplace injury cost for the study. The top three encompassed just below 50 percent of all the workplace injury costs.

Why is Overexertion a Leading Cause of Workplace Injury?

Overexertion is common in physically demanding jobs, such as occupations requiring heavy lifting, pulling and carrying. Other reasons for overexertion are repetitive motions or working in awkward positions. Not getting enough sleep and not drinking enough water can cause one to overexert themselves too soon.

Workplace injury studies can lead to jobsite improvements so that on-the-job injuries are reduced.

Check back with us again, as we will go into more detail on specific causes of workplace injury in the future.

The Law Offices of Aaron Allison – Austin Personal Injury Attorney