Workplace safety advocates often talk about the high cost of neglecting safety and prevention measures, but the overall medical and health care costs of job-related injuries and illnesses are even “greater than generally assumed,” according to a new study. In fact, the costs are higher than those racked up by cancer and stroke. And the argument for workplaces to adopt better workplace safety management solutions grows even stronger…
Workplace injury and illnesses cost the United States about $250 billion per year, according to the newly published research. The study, titled “Economic Burden of Occupational Injury and Illness in the United States,” was detailed in the latest issue of the Milbank Quarterly, a multidisciplinary journal of population health and health policy.
Here are the official findings, directly from the study:
Findings: The number of fatal and nonfatal injuries in 2007 was estimated to be more than 5,600 and almost 8,559,000, respectively, at a cost of $6 billion and $186 billion. The number of fatal and nonfatal illnesses was estimated at more than 53,000 and nearly 427,000, respectively, with cost estimates of $46 billion and $12 billion. For injuries and diseases combined, medical cost estimates were $67 billion (27% of the total), and indirect costs were almost $183 billion (73%). Injuries comprised 77 percent of the total, and diseases accounted for 23 percent. The total estimated costs were approximately $250 billion, compared with the inflation-adjusted cost of $217 billion for 1992.”
We found this to be an amazingly high cost, but we were even more surprised that the study’s author, J. Paul Leigh, declared the costs to be “at least as large as the cost of cancer.” Only about 25 per cent of the costs, adds Leigh, are covered by workers’ compensation, so “all members of society share the burden” of these costs.
Industries and businesses with higher rates of jobsite or worker injury may need to look at how safety is currently being managed. There’s always room for improvement. This $250 billion cost to the economy may seem somewhat abstract in the context of day-to-day operations, but chances are that there’s a real cost you can assign to downtime caused by worker injury or illness – no matter what business you’re in.
