Top 10 Most Common Workplace Injuries

What is the most common way in which workers get injured on the job? Repetitive motion injuries? Accidental laceration or burn in a kitchen? Drowning from fishing at sea? Most people probably would not include “falls” multiple times of varying type on the list, let alone put it at the top, yet falls account for a large percentage of all workplace injuries nationally, and are a major source of both fatal and non-fatal injuries. The following is a 2012 national list compiled by Liberty Mutual Research Institute. The information was gathered by the company’s workers’ compensation claims data, as well as data from the National Academy of Social Insurance and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only injuries that lasted six days or longer were included in the count:

1. Overexertion accounted for 25.3 percent of injuries and $15.1 billion in costs. This type of injury is most often caused by pushing, carrying, pulling, throwing objects, or bending over. Overexertion is the second leading cause of missing work, after the common cold, according to the National Safety Council;
2. Falls onto the same level accounted for 15.4 percent of injuries and $9.19 billion. Falls are also one of the leading causes of fatal injuries, and falls from height account for the cause of death for the most dangerous U.S. job: roofing;
3. Being struck by an object or struck by equipment accounted for 9.9 percent of injuries and $5.3 billion;
4. Falls from height to a lower level accounted for 8.6 percent of injuries and $5.1 billion.
5. Other exertions or bodily reactions accounted for 7.2 percent of injuries and $4.2 billion.
6. Roadway incidents that involved motorized land vehicles accounted for 5.3 percent of injuries and $3.18 billion. Most often, the victims of these injuries are road construction workers;
7. Slips or trips without a fall accounted for 3.6 percent of injuries and $2.17 billion;
8. Being caught in or compressed by equipment or objects accounted for 3.5 percent of injuries and $2.1 billion;
9. Repetitive motion injuries involving micro-tasks accounted for 3.1 percent of injuries and $1.84 billion; and
10. Being struck by or against an object or equipment accounted for 2.9 percent of injuries and $1.76 billion.

Just because the cause and severity of your injury may be obvious to you, your family, and your coworkers, that does not mean that you will automatically receive the compensation that you deserve. In many cases, workers’ compensation benefits are not sufficient and a third-party liability claim is necessary.

To learn more about your options, contact an experienced San Jose workplace injury attorney. Call (408) 289-1417 to schedule a confidential consultation with Corsiglia McMahon & Allard, L.L.P. today.

• Top 10 Causes of Workplace Injuries: Liberty Mutual