Businesses incurring high expenses for injured workers
- Workplace injuries and illnesses cost businesses across a combined $163.9 billion in losses, according to the latest data from the National Safety Council.
- The cost per medically consulted injury averaged $44,000, while each fatal incident was estimated to reach $1.31 million.
- These include estimates of lost wages, medical and administrative expenses, employer costs, and motor vehicle damage. Other types of property damage are excluded.
- The pandemic has resulted in an overwhelming rise of workplace incidents involving exposure to harmful substances or environments.
Report: Amazon workers have a higher rate of injuries
- Amazon warehouse workers suffer double the on-the-job injury rates of their non-Amazon colleagues, an OSHA expert told Congress.
- The warehouse/retail reportedly had more on-the-job injuries (24,945) in Amazon’s 308 warehouses than the nation’s 4,184 non-Amazon warehouses (24,338).
- The overall injury rate for U.S. workers in all occupations was 3.3 injuries per 100,000 workers in 2021, according to OSHA.
- The rate for all warehouses was 4 per 100,000. Amazon’s rate was 7.7 per 100,000.
Ailments still rising for miners
- Deadly black lung disease has surged among miners in central Appalachia in recent years.
- It’s been decades since toxic dust rules for mines have improved, lawmakers claim.
- The epidemic to silica dust, which can burrow deep into miners’ lungs, according to recent research.
- Miners are increasingly exposed to the dust as mining companies go after thinner and thinner coal seams.
Man accused of stealing funds
- A Washougal, Washington, man is accused of stealing $127,000 in workers’ compensation benefits.
- He worked at his construction firm while claiming he was too injured to work, according to the state Department of Labor & Industries.
- Daniel Joseph Lesieur, 54, pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree theft in Clark County Superior Court.
- Lesieur allegedly deceived providers and falsely completed official forms so he could take nearly $121,000 in wage replacement payments and more than $6,200 in vocational training benefits.