If your business hires workers for physically demanding jobs – and if your business is manufacturing, warehousing or transportation, you probably do – reducing the risk and expense of workplace injuries is a priority you can’t afford to ignore. And while accidents are sure to happen, 63 percent of the top ten workplace injuries identified by Liberty Mutual Research Institute are exactly the kinds of mishaps that pre-hire Physical Abilities Testing (PAT) is designed to help prevent.
The bottom line is ultimately one of the most important things a business organization considers with every decision. As such, risky financial moves are often avoided. If your organization requires a labor force capable of physically demanding work, there is an easy way to mitigate financial risk: the implementation of Physical Abilities Testing.
Food production employers put a lot of time, energy, and money into workplace injury prevention. However, since the food production industry has higher than average injury rates, employers in this field must pay particular attention to reducing them. The chief reason for this, of course, is to protect valued employees from harm. However, beyond that fundamental goal are other important considerations for any successful business – most notably, a financial interest in reducing substantial costs that come with work-related injuries.
Controlling workers' compensation costs is essential to protecting the financial health of your business. Since even the most efficient safety plan cannot yield a perfect safety record, getting a grip on those costs means reducing the severity and number of claims-generating workplace injuries that do occur.
Working to reduce your workers' comp insurance mod rate – and therefore your premiums – means working to reduce your injury rate. Targeting injury types with the highest incidence rates is the most sensible place to start. Sprains, strains ,and exertion injuries rank high on that list, accounting for about one third of the top 10 disabling workplace injuries as presented by the 2014 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index.
High workers' compensation costs are a significant issue for employers today – and a growing one, as those costs continue to rise. According to The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), premiums rose by 7.3 percent for the average business in 2013. Additional statistics:
Controlling workers' compensation costs is an ongoing challenge for businesses today, and trucking companies are no exception. Protecting your trucking fleet against workers' comp fraud is an important part of that effort.
Controlling workers' comp costs is a major concern for virtually all employers today, with just the medical costs associated with the average claim creeping towards $30,000 and projected to exceed that figure within the next several years. However, for employers who operate in industries that place heavier than average physical demands on workers, those costs are of even greater concern since the jobs offered in their workplaces tend to generate higher worker injury rates.
When you think of the costs associated with workplace injuries, the costs of workers' compensation claims is likely the first thing that springs to mind. With medical costs of the average-sized claim alone, nudging up against the $30,000 mark, that’s certainly understandable. However, these costs, eye-opening as they are, do not tell the entire story. According to OSHA, indirect expenses can cost your company up to 4.5 times as much as the direct costs of a workers' comp claim. Add to that the impact of on-the-job injuries to your workers’ comp mod rate and you can begin to see why there’s a lot more at stake than medical bills alone.
Every business owner understands the direct costs of doing business, the ones that can be clearly and easily laid out on a spreadsheet. When measures are taken to reduce those costs, the benefits are readily apparent: fewer workers injured on the job means fewer workers' comp expenses. Simple. However, there are many less obvious factors that impact the bottom line.
