November 22, 2019—Injuries to retail workers cause employes to miss an average of 24 days from work, according to claims data analyzed by AmTrust Financial Services Inc., a company providing insurance solutions for small commercial business and specialty risk.
AmTrust released the first AmTrust Retail Risk Report, identifying common injuries for retail workers and the resulting lost time. AmTrust analyzed more than 20,000 workers’ compensation insurance claims from the company’s retail clients with loss payments from 2016 to 2018.
The AmTrust Retail Risk Report found that the top three injuries with highest average payout are:
- Fall or slip from ladder or scaffolding: $21,000
- Strain or injury by repetitive motion: $14,000
- Motor vehicle collision with another vehicle: $13,900
“Analyzing three-years of data gave us new insights into why people in retail miss work, what kind of injuries are the worst or most expensive for employers, and how long it takes for an employee to return to work,” said Matt Zender, senior vice president, Workers’ Compensation Strategy, at AmTrust. “It reinforced our belief that training—in both operations and safety—is essential in the retail sector, especially for younger workers where we tend to see more workers’ compensation claims.”
The report also found that:
- The most hazardous classes are (1) meat, fish, or poultry retail (2) hardware (3) automobile parts and accessories NOC (not otherwise classified) & drivers (4) barbershop, beauty parlor or hair styling salon
- The average loss paid is greater for men ($11,641) than women ($7,030)
- Among the top ten injuries, almost a quarter (23%) of claims payments were associated with lifting
- Age is correlated to higher average payouts: the greater the age, the greater the average payout
The report also offers tips for how business owners can mitigate risks and continue to educate employees about safe practices.
Zender continued: “Lost time is detrimental to both the injured employee and the employer. This report provides visibility into retail risk and insight into how to decrease the occurrence and severity of these costly situations."
