Employee experience large factor in comp claims: Travelers
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First-year employees, regardless of age or industry experience, represented more than one-third of all workers compensation claims and accounted for nearly 7 million missed workdays due to injury between 2016 and 2020, according to a report released Monday by Travelers Cos. Inc.
The insurer examined more than 1.2 million comp claims and determined a worker’s age and time spent in a particular role were significant factors when it came to injury frequency and cost.
The report said the industries most affected by first-year employment injuries were restaurants, construction and transportation. It said workers ages 35 to 49 had the highest percentage of injuries compared with other age groups, but that the average cost per claim increased with age, with costs higher for employees ages 60 or older.
The most common types of injuries were overexertion, slips, trips, falls, motor vehicle accidents, and getting struck by an object or caught between hazards.
Amputations constituted some of the most expensive claims, costing nearly five times the average. But it is considered an outlier, as are electric shock and multiple trauma injuries, such as breaking multiple bones at once.
Rich Ives, vice president of business insurance claims for Travelers, said in a statement that it can be harder for injured workers to return to work the longer they remain out, “especially if they’re dealing with a psychosocial barrier, such as fear or worry.”
