The last thing you want is for one of your workers get hurt on the job, but it happens more often than you think. In 2016, approximately 2.9 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses were reported to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by private employers. To break this down, that’s 2.9 cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers.

If this number seems high, do note it’s actually 48,500 instances less than the amount reported in 2015. Now that the numbers are right in front you, there’s no denying what staffing agencies in Chicago already know — workers get hurt when employers don’t take proper safety precautions.

5 Most Common Workplace Injuries

Every workplace is different, but the same accidents and injuries tend to happen across the board. Results of the 2016 Travelers Injury Impact Report revealed the five most common workplace injuries, according to more than 1.5 million workers’ compensation claims analyzed by the insurance company, filed between 2010 and 2014. These included:

  • Material handling (32%)
  • Slips, trips and falls (16%)
  • Being struck by or colliding with an object (10%)
  • Accidents involving tools (7%)
  • Traumas occurring over time — i.e., strains or overuse of the body (4%)

When people get hurt at work, it’s costly in more ways than one. Employers pay almost $1 billion per week in direct workers’ compensation costs, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Direct costs noted by OSHA include workers’ compensation payments, medical expenses and costs for legal serves, but indirect costs add up too.

Some of the most common indirect expenses include training replacement employees, investigating accidents and implementing corrective procedures, lost productivity, repairs to damaged property and equipment, lower employee morale and higher levels of absenteeism, according to OSHA.

No accident prevention strategy can completely eliminate the chance of injury or illness, but when you make safety a priority at your company, the risk is much lower. Invest in the future of your company by caring enough about the people who make it a success to put their well-being first.

Premium Staffing, Inc. is firmly committed to worker safety. We enjoy working with companies that share this philosophy, so if this is how your team operates, team up with us to find the best engineers for your Chicago area company every time

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