Avoid These Top Workplace-Related Injury Risks

Take a look at ICW Group’s list of 2021 top-risk exposures that resulted in injuries on the job and workers’ compensation claims filed. As your partner in workers’ compensation risk management, we want to help your business prevent injuries and illness from these common workplace risks. With ICW Group’s training, education, and general awareness library, you can help keep your employees safe, reduce injuries, and improve occupational safety and health.

Here are the top work-related injury risks our policyholders faced last year and some available preventative tools and resources.

• Struck By or Against – This was our top risk exposure in 2021 (31%) and is typically a leading cause of job injury year over year. According to OSHA, struck by is defined as injuries produced by forcible contact or impact between the injured person and an object or piece of equipment. These types of occupational injuries are prevalent in the construction industry. A worker can be struck by a flying, falling, swinging, or rolling object. Our online resource for policyholders, Safety OnDemand has a few tools to help prevent these injuries (free registration is required).
  • Struck By Object Intervention Assessment
  • Struck By Caught Between – Spanish language Safety Talk
  • Struck By Prevention for Forklift Operators

• Material Handling – This workplace risk exposure results from improper moving, handling, or storage of materials, which can result in damage to the musculoskeletal system causing ergonomic-type injuries such as strains and sprains, fractures, or cuts and bruises. Material handling injuries occur from lifting, stooping, twisting, reaching, and bending. We have a safety training webinar you can share with your employees to learn practical solutions to reduce their risk.

• Falls (Same Level and from Elevation) – Same-level falls typically involve slips and trips, while falls from elevation can occur from a ladder, scaffolding, or another surface. ICW Group has numerous training guides and resources to help keep your workers on their feet. Here are a few:
  • How to Prevent Same-Level Falls – Safety Talk
  • Preventing Slips, Trips and Falls in the Workplace – training webinar
  • Helping Employees Use Ladders Safely – training webinar
  • Find a variety of tools at Safety OnDemand
  • Helpful ICW Group blog posts on fall prevention

• Cumulative Trauma – This is the excessive wear and tear on tendons, muscles and sensitive nerve tissue caused by continuous use over an extended period of time. Cumulative trauma can develop from improper work positioning, repetition, or force. This type of injury can happen in all work environments. Our Safety OnDemand resource has multiple eLearnings and Safety Talks, available in Spanish and English, to help your employees avoid workplace injury.

With many businesses hiring new employees, proper training and guidance to control workplace injuries and illnesses is more important than ever. Contact your ICW Group risk management consultant if you have questions about the safety and health of your employees. We are here to help!