The Costs of Work Injuries

February 03, 2012

A recently published paper estimates that the annual costs of work-related injuries and illnesses in the U.S. is $250 billion, greater than the costs of cancer, diabetes, coronary heart disease or stroke – health conditions that receive more attention and research funding. But the public shares the costs of work-related injuries, since workers’ compensation covers less than 25 percent of the injured or ill workers’ expenses.

The study on occupational injuries and illnesses was done by J. Paul Leigh, a professor of health economics at the University of California Davis. It is analyzed by Celeste Monforton of Beyond OSHA, a Public Welfare Foundation grantee, on The Pumphandle blog.

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