Among the injuries workers can end up suffering on the job are overexertion injuries. Workers can suffer such injuries when performing physical actions towards an object, such as lifting, pulling, pushing or moving it. A recent report points to overexertion being behind a good deal of disabling workplace injuries here in America.
The report came up with a list of the top 10 disabling injury causes in U.S. workplaces for 2014. In coming up with these ranks, the report looked at how much in direct workers’ comp costs the various causes triggered that year.
“Overexertion involving outside sources” took the top spot on this list. According to the report, overexertion-related injuries were behind $13.79 billion in direct workers’ comp costs in 2014. The next closest cause was “falls on same level,” which had $10.62 billion in costs. No other cause came close to crossing the $10 billion mark for costs.
This was the third year in a row that overexertion came in at the No. 1 spot.
As this illustrates, workers’ comp claims involving overexertion can be a common type of claim for employers to see. It also illustrates that such claims can have a fair amount of costs associated with them.
Sometimes, disputes and litigation come up for employers/insurers in relation to overexertion workers’ comp claims filed by workers. Given how financially impactful what happens in worker’s comp matters can be for employers and insurers, it can be very important for them to handle such disputes/litigation the right way. Skilled workers’ comp defense attorneys can give employers and insurance providers guidance when disputes with workers arise in relation to workers’ comp claims.
Source: Safety+Health, “Overexertion tops list of disabling work injuries for third straight year: report,” Jan. 17, 2017