What Are the Hidden Costs of Ignoring Workplace Injuries

In 2022, the total cost of workplace injuries in the USA was estimated at $167 billion ($1,390,000 per death and $40,000 per injury that required medical consultation). The total figure was based on healthcare and administrative costs, wage loss, fire loss, etc. As a heavy-industry employer, it is essential to remember that there are many hidden costs of workplace injuries, which might not immediately be obvious. 

Therefore, adequate measures to prevent falls, burns, sprains, fractures, and other workplace injuries are important. However, handling such workplace injuries efficiently and promptly is also essential to minimize costs and ensure a strong bottom line. 

Let’s take a close look at the high price of overlooking employee injuries, both direct and indirect. 

Direct Costs: How Workplace Accidents Can Drain Your Business Resources

The direct cost of workplace accidents has multiple facets, as detailed below:

• Medical Bills: Unless the injury incurred by a worker is minor or treatable with first aid, you will need to send them to the emergency room (ER). And the expenses associated with hospitalization, medications, physical therapies, and surgeries (if required) can quickly add up, leaving you with a massive final bill. While a single incident might not put a dent in your resources, multiple workplace injuries can affect your profitability. 
• Workers’ Compensation Claims: Whether a worker is temporarily or permanently disabled due to an accident, you are liable to pay them due compensation for loss of income. Their dependents deserve the same in case of the worker’s death. Such compensation claims can eat into your profits significantly. In fact, during 2021-22, the average claim cost for all accidents was found to be $44,179. Moreover, you have to consider the time you have to invest and the human resources you must deploy to process such claims smoothly.   
• Lawsuits: Ignoring employee injuries or not addressing them at the earliest can bring you lawsuits as well. The more serious the injury or damage, the bigger the settlement amount. You will end up with hefty legal fees, too. 
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Considerations: Not complying with OSHA safety standards, violating them intentionally, and ignoring workplace injuries can also cause OSHA to levy large fines on you. It can go up to $165,514 for every willful or repeat violation.  
• Downtime and Productivity Loss: Accidents and injuries interrupt usual business operations, leading to downtime and financial losses. In 2022, 108,000,000 days were lost due to such scenarios. But you shouldn’t just focus on the loss that happens when an employee cannot work for a certain number of days. Any loss in productivity that occurs if they don’t recover properly or takes more time than expected to heal contributes to the hidden costs of workplace injuries, as you will soon read about.  

Hidden Expenses: Why Ignoring Workplace Safety Costs More Than You Think 

While the direct costs discussed above are simple to calculate in the wake of an accident, there are unseen consequences of workplace injuries you cannot afford to ignore in the long run: 

• Long Bouts of Absenteeism: Even after an injured employee goes through the initial phase of recovery, they might need periodic therapies or have to keep up with regular doctor’s appointments for some time. This means frequent leaves or more days away from work (DAFW). In other words, you end up dealing with reduced productivity, interrupted workflows, delays, and lower output on the whole. Also, other employees might have to take on more tasks to make up for it. 
• Low Morale and Engagement: This is one of the key hidden costs of workplace injuries. When employees don’t feel safe or valued enough, they tend to disengage with the job at hand gradually. They suffer from low satisfaction and morale, which affects the quality of their work and makes it difficult for you to attain your business goals. It might intrigue you to know that towards the end of 2023, only 33% of the employees in the USA felt active engagement.  
• Retention Issues: Here’s another shocking truth about ignoring workplace injuries. Not implementing appropriate safety measures and not addressing injuries immediately makes employees question their well-being when they are working for you. They also become hesitant about working in risky environments. This often leads to increased attrition. Replacing a worker (especially a highly skilled one) or hiring a new one can be quite expensive. Plus, new hires are more likely to get injured initially, even after extensive training, as they lack experience and required intuition.   
• Loss of Reputation and Trust: The long-term cost of workplace accidents also lies in the trust and reputation you lose among customers, investors, as well as potential employees. It becomes challenging to attract the right kind of talent in case you are looking to replace someone or expand your workforce. Additionally, customers might not want to engage with a brand that is known for safety violations and shift to your competitors. You might not be able to draw investors either, as non-compliance with OSHA can act as a major red flag.  

How to Minimize the Cost of Workplace Injuries

Now that you know about both the obvious and hidden costs of workplace injuries, it is time to focus on ways to minimize the same. Prevention is the way to go rather than just banking on cures when it is a matter of work injuries. This mainly involves the identification of common risks, tailored and thorough safety training, proper personal protective equipment for all workers, and open communication without the fear of retaliation. Ensuring who you hire is aligned with the job role in question and leveraging advanced technologies to track and assess engagement can help too.     

And in case someone ends up injured at the worksite, availing remote doctor triage services can help you arrange for prompt treatment of workers, save on healthcare costs, avoid unnecessary claims, and resume operations soon.  

By connecting with licensed and experienced occupational health physicians, employers gain access to expert advice, customized treatment plans, and necessary prescriptions—all without the need for time-consuming hospital visits. This approach helps control healthcare expenses, reduce unnecessary emergency room claims, and minimize downtime, allowing operations to resume smoothly.

Additionally, injured employees are likely to feel genuinely supported and valued, which boosts morale and loyalty. With proper medical documentation and adherence to safety protocols, you also reduce legal exposure, uphold your brand’s reputation, and demonstrate a clear commitment to workplace safety and employee well-being.

Conclusion 

In a nutshell, from lost profits to legal fees, the hidden toll of workplace injuries is no longer a mystery for you. Adopting preventive measures and tackling unfortunate incidents on time and efficiently can help you minimize the cost of work-related accidents. Besides ensuring OSHA compliance and avoiding financial burdens that come from treatments, lawsuits, compensation claims, and downtime, you can prevent extended absenteeism, low engagement, high attrition, and reputation loss. And all of that means a more robust bottom line.  

Consider availing workplace injury prevention services too, like Post-Offer Employment Testing (POET) and safety engagement systems. POET can help you gauge whether a new hire is up for the physical tasks their role demands so you can put together an efficient, productive workforce from the start and lower the chances of accidents. A safety engagement system, on the other hand, will measure employee engagement, ease and record safety training, and identify any gaps.   

Lower the Cost of Workplace Accidents with WorkPartners USA 

At WorkPartners, we don’t just offer POET services and an advanced safety engagement system (modONE™) for injury prevention. Our doctor triage services in St. Paul, MN are available round-the-clock, so you can connect with a licensed expert anytime and find out whether an injury needs onsite treatment or an ER visit. Since most injuries can be tackled with first aid instructions and medicines prescribed by our physicians, you can keep OSHA recordables low, avoid penalties, focus on worker well-being, and ensure business continuity. We also provide special first-aid kits and massage therapies for non-recordable musculoskeletal problems in partnership with Athletico.  

Keen to delve deeper into workplace injuries, preventive steps to take, and what to do if something untoward happens? Get in touch. We are reachable on (800) 359-5020 for early intervention of injuries, and for other concerns, give a ring on (651) 323-8654. Emailing to info@workpartnersusa.com will also do the trick.