BWC Workplace Injury Data – Lost Time Claims

Starting in July 2008 National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) added manual number 8842 -Group Homes, and 8864 – Social Service Organizations. For a complete listing on NCCI manual numbers you can refer to our State Fund Manual starting on page 147.

So for most of the questions below I was able to search for data using these manual numbers

  1. Within the data presented, what was the average or median of “lost time” per category reported?

The data presented here is for the 394 lost time claims in manual numbers 8842 and 8864. These claims are all fairly new, so the costs will go up over time, however this does gives some relative comparisons.

Causation / Ave. Cost
TRANSPORTATION RELATED / $28,286.05
STRIKING AGAINST OBJECT / $6,482.12
FALL OR SLIP / $6,234.34
STRUCK BY OBJECT / $4,786.64
STRAIN/SPRAIN / $4,142.23
MISCELLANEOUS / $3,221.21
WORKPLACE VIOLENCE / $2,620.78
CAUGHT IN, ON OR BETWEEN / $1,414.69
CONTACT WITH TEMPERATURE EXTREMES / $256.09
OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE / $200.36
  1. Does BWC have any estimates on the average or median cost of “lost time” to an employer?

We do not, however if you reference this OSHA link you will find the following chart based on a study by Stanford University

Direct Costs / Indirect Cost Ratio
$0 - $2,999 / 4.5
$3,000 - $4,999 / 1.6
$5,000 - $9,999 / 1.2
$10,000 or more / 1.1
  1. Is it possible to get this same data breakdown, in aggregate form, for an industry or service sector (e.g. heathcare or social service assistance….or whatever category BWC uses to define service sectors that are appropriate)in Ohio?

Only 4% of group home injuries were coded as workplace violence and 5% of social service organizations were coded as workplace violence. As I looked closer at the data I realized that restraints and other violent episodes were often coded under miscellaneous, struck by object, or strains. I placed these claims into the category workplace violence for the charts below and as you will note the percentages of workplace violence are actually 31% in group homes and 12% in social service organizations.

Causation for Social Service / Count
FALL OR SLIP / 140
STRAIN/SPRAIN / 57
MISCELLANEOUS / 52
WORKPLACE VIOLENCE / RESTRAINTS / 43
STRUCK BY OBJECT / 19
TRANSPORTATION RELATED / 16
STRIKING AGAINST OBJECT / 8
CAUGHT IN, ON OR BETWEEN / 3
CONTACT WITH TEMPERATURE EXTREMES / 2
OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE / 2
Total / 342

Causation Group Homes / Claim Count
FALL OR SLIP / 16
WORKPLACE VIOLENCE/RESTRAINTS / 16
STRAIN/SPRAIN / 10
MISCELLANEOUS / 5
STRUCK BY OBJECT / 2
STRIKING AGAINST OBJECT / 2
TRANSPORTATION RELATED / 1
Total / 52
  1. Can we get the same data for all claims, grouped by category? For the industry or service sector?

In 2008 for all employers combined we coded 20,933 lost-time injuries into causation codes and the chart is shown below. Workplace violence is within the miscellaneous part of the pie and represented 2.1% of the claims.

  1. Is there national data to benchmark with for health and human services sectors?

If you reference page 74 of this link there is some national data presented by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For residential mental retardation, mental health and substance abuse facilities 23.1% of lost time injuries are assaults and violent acts, for social assistance 7.8% of lost time injuries are assaults and violent acts.

  1. What are the definitions of each of the categories included in the pie chart?

NIOSH’s website is probably best at defining these categories

Assaults and Violent Acts include cases in which a person was injured or made ill by intentional assaults or by violent, harmful actions of unknown intent. Included in this division are assaults by others, injuries to onself, and assaults by animals. This category includes injuries occurring in a hostile environment even though the person injured was not the intended victim, such as a teacher hit while breaking up a fight.