A safe work environment in metal fabricating goes well beyond preventing amputations and loss of life. In fact, common injuries can prove to be pretty costly for a business.

In its 2024 Injury Impact Report, which reviewed more than 1.2 million workers’ compensation claims from 2017 to 2021, The Travelers Companies found that the most common workplace accidents accounted for the majority of claim costs. The most frequent causes of injury were overexertion (29% of claims analyzed); slips, trips, and falls (23%); being struck by an object (12%); motor vehicle accidents (5%); and caught in or between hazards (5%).

Those same causes of injuries also were the top drivers of severe claims, which Travelers defined as being $250,000 or more. Slips, trips, and falls, which include falls from height, topped that list.

Even with the costs associated with things like a back injury from reaching over a workpiece during welding or a broken wrist from tripping over a gas line in a welding cell, do metal fabricating shops really take the time to ensure ergonomic working conditions and clean workspaces? Does the lack of a true safety culture end up costing manufacturers in the long run?

To explore some of these issues and find out how metal fabricating companies can minimize the injury risks for their employees, The Fabricator spoke with Travelers’ Rich Ives, senior vice president, business insurance claim, and Jon Meyer, advanced manufacturing practice lead for commercial accounts.

The Fabricator: Overexertion is a term that we don’t hear a lot in conversations about shop safety. Can you describe what is covered by that term and what injuries might be associated with that?

Rich Ives: First of all, we associate overexertion with a body part that has been injured by overuse. This typically might come from repetitive motion or strains that can lead to injuries such as a sprain or a pulled muscle. Examples of causes of those types of injuries include when you’re pushing, pulling, lifting, twisting, picking something up, carrying an object, or bending over.

Inside manufacturing, there are a lot of manual tasks, certainly situations where you’re lifting things or other material handling examples. All of those repetitious motions really could lead to those types of overexertion-related injuries.

FAB: Human resources officials in the metal fabricating industry have described these types of injuries as sometimes resulting in workers’ extended absences. Do the report’s findings seem to validate that?

The largest is a dislocation, like in a shoulder dislocation, which had the highest number of average lost-time days at 142 days. That’s a little bit on the longer side.

A support for awkward-sized blanks is one way to prevent press brake operators from overexerting themselves. Ikonoklast_Fotografie/iStock/Getty Images Plus

But after that, you see that fractures had 92 average lost-time days, and inflammation was at 85 days. Strains and sprains were at 54 and contusions at 30 days.

Hearing this, you might ask yourself why would a dislocation require so much time out of work? We often see dislocations actually arriving later in the injury life cycle. For example, the initial diagnosis didn't start out as a dislocation in most instances. As a matter of fact, we find that 90% of the claims that ultimately end up as a dislocated injury or a diagnosis of dislocation started off as something different.

Similarly, with inflammation, almost 60% of those diagnoses were made after an initial diagnosis suggested something else. To illustrate that point, let’s say an individual has a knee injury of some sort, and it’s initially diagnosed as a strain or a sprain. He or she goes through some level of physical therapy, and it is just not getting better. Later, an MRI is done, and a torn meniscus is discovered. The individual has surgery and develops the complication of inflammation, significant swelling. Maybe that person didn’t follow the prescribed treatment plan like they should have, did something sooner than they should have, or is just suffering some of these complications because of age. That’s where inflammation comes in.

Jon Meyer: Taking steps to avoid these risks is the piece that everyone would benefit from focusing on. Are there things that people can do? You definitely want to put that plan together so that individuals who are injured have an opportunity to do transitional duties so they can be at work and still learn or contribute while they are recovering. For example, it’s a very good time for younger or less-trained employees to benefit from a knowledge transfer program, where they can observe and listen to someone who is more experienced, getting lessons so that they can be cross-trained for that process.

It’s important to have that system set up from the beginning. That really supports a vibrant workplace culture and keeps safety front and center.

FAB: New workers have a higher risk of injury while at work. Has this trend been declining in recent years given that shops have had to modernize to attract workers and increase the use of automation?

Ives: No, it's not on the decline; it’s actually consistent.

Our Injury Impact Report reveals that 35% of workplace injuries occur during the first year of someone’s employment. Often folks will go right to the thought that those are younger workers, and that’s actually not the case. It happens regardless of age.

The reason why it happens is because when somebody moves into a new role in the same industry or in a different industry, the nature of the work that they are now doing is unfamiliar to them regardless of age. Even small variations from your previous role can really increase that risk of injury. There are potential factors that include new corporate culture, new policies, and procedures. There might be a potential language barrier, or someone might be concerned about speaking up. So they kind of live with this dangerous situation.

Given all of that and the amount of movement in the workforce, we actually expected to see injuries be on the incline. If you look at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, you’ll find that the portion of the workforce that have been in their jobs less than a year is about 24%. So that’s why I think even though injury rates for workers that have been on the job less than a year have been stable over the past three years, right around 35%, it’s noteworthy because such a large portion of the workforce is somewhat new to their roles. We thought with retirements and job turnover being higher than previous years that the portion of injuries for new employees was really going to increase in frequency. We didn’t see it.

To establish a safety-first culture, the topic needs to be included in frequent conversations, discussions, and meetings. The topic needs to be emphasized to demonstrate its importance to an organization. SolStock/E+

Now, what we noticed in 2023 was an increase in more severe injuries—those being greater than $250,000 in costs. Newer workers were driving that trend. In one market, we were looking at the number of our losses that were over $1 million in 2023, and in that particular focus review that we did, we found that newer workers made up half of those.

FAB: Any advice for employers trying to minimize the risk of injuries for their new employees?

Meyer: The most important thing is creating a safety culture within your organization. A culture focused on safety and employee engagement can help reduce injuries and, frankly, help a company to manage workers’ compensation risks. So not only is it going to help you by keeping your workers on the floor, it’s also going to help keep your premiums down.

Top-down leadership creates that type of culture. That way first-year workers hear those messages consistently. No matter who it’s coming from—the head of safety, the foreman, or human resources—it’s very important that the message is consistent. When that becomes the norm, good safety choices are part of their decisions and influence actions.

Workplace safety training also should be part of the onboarding process and not just a part of early training. The workplace safety discussion should come before anyone is on the plant floor.

Additionally, a safety committee that’s made up not only of leaders of the organization but employees as well is one of the things that helps keep this all grounded and applicable to all of the jobs that are on the floor. As leaders, owners, and directors, many times we don’t know everything that’s involved in these work processes. But when you have the workers on the safety committee, those things can be brought up and addressed ahead of time. It allows for leading by example. All of these things are very important to make sure that those first-year workers see a safety culture in action. It can definitely lead to fewer injuries on the shop floor.

FAB: Are manufacturing companies doing a good job of minimizing the risk of injury for older workers?

Ives: An analysis of our work in manufacturing reveals that this is not necessarily the case. In manufacturing, we’re seeing an increase in the number of workplace injuries involving older individuals.

In a separate study that we conducted, we found people between 50 and 59 years of age have claims that are more expensive than other age ranges. It’s about 34% higher than those in the 18 to 49 age segment.

Similarly for employees 60 and older, we saw a 55% increase in the overall severity of a claim from a workplace injury compared to those that are 18 to 49 years old.

Climbing on industrial racking seems like something that someone should not do. A new worker, however, might not immediately see the danger. After all, if he can climb to retrieve something, he’s saving time rather than going to get a ladder, right ? That’s one reason why new employees are at a greater risk of injury in a manufacturing setting: Sometimes they just don’t know any better. Fertnig/E+

So when you think about ages, there’s always a trade-off. Younger workers tend to be injured more frequently, but the severity of their injuries is less. Older workers tend to be injured less frequently, but when they are injured, the severity is higher. That’s an important context.

Specifically for manufacturing, we’ve seen the percentage of workplace injuries for those injured employees 60 or older go from 9% about 10 years ago to 15% now. That’s about a six-point increase over the last 10 years. And we see that growing at a little bit of a faster rate than the rest of our book of business.

Now I don’t believe that it’s because the risk for older employees getting injured is increasing. I think this is naturally just in line with the aging of the workforce. You have fewer new workers coming into the workforce. The portion of the workforce that’s older is just larger.

However, we do see that there are complications when someone is injured and they’re older. They might have a comorbidity, which can be a challenge when talking recovery. In general, recovery takes longer for an older person.

So as a portion of the workforce grows older, the risk for employers increases. If an experienced, older worker is out with an injury, the company has a loss of knowledge and productivity.

FAB: Do your manufacturing clients truly grasp the impact of a long-term absence before it happens?

Meyer: Well, it’s certainly a lot easier to understand after someone’s had a claim.

Of course, in our business, we like to say that the best claim is one you don’t have.

Ives: But the reality is that even the best customers have claims, and there’s some good insight to take away from that. When you think of the world as wins and losses, you normally don’t think of the wins as opportunities to learn, but a loss gets your attention. Thinking of it that way, it’s really important when somebody does have an injury to be able to provide some type of transitional duty to get them back to work.

Everybody likes to have a purpose. When they are at work, they can add value. They are contributing in some way. Sedentary does not aid recovery.

So we do see a significant difference in the loss experiences for businesses who have put the time in and developed the plans if they have somebody injured. They have a plan to bring people back, even if they can’t lift 50 lbs. What can they do that’s meaningful that can be of help?

The other reason why this is really important is that the longer somebody’s out after a workplace injury, the less likely that they’ll return at all.

And if they can’t return, the longer they’re out, the bigger the impact for the business, especially if it’s a smaller business.

There’s an interesting study that was done by the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions’ Work Disability Prevention and Return to Work Committee where they documented the likelihood of somebody returning after they were gone for an excessive amount of time. They found that if a person was out at most 90 days, that person had a 90% likelihood of returning to work. That, however, decreases to just over 50% if that person is out after six months. It’s about 33% if they’re out for a year.

So you can’t always avoid an injury, but being prepared and thinking about how you mitigate that impact for the person who is injured and how that person can have some type of meaningful work that will help aid in their recovery. The worst thing that you can do if you’re an employer is leave someone with the perception that while they’re out of work because of an injury, that you don't care, because that aids in anxiety. That doesn’t help with recovery.

FAB: We mentioned making safety a part of onboarding activities and top-down leadership as some things that a company can do to create a safety-first work culture. Is there anything else that can help?

Meyer: Creating that safety culture is critical. So training, onboarding, leading by example, consistent safety messaging—all of this is crucial. But, you know, overlooking the small things, I think is where we go wrong sometimes.

For example, every manufacturing facility has dirty rags. What do you do with them? Do we have good housekeeping? Are workers using proper PPE every single time they do something which dictates the wearing of PPE? All of that drives a safety culture.

When you have a clean and sanitary environment, it not only reminds workers how important the little things are, but it also is an ongoing way that you can help avoid the slip, trip, and fall risks.

So if your culture is one where employees are just focused on getting the boxes from the floor to the table, but they’re standing right next to a lift table that isn’t being used, then that is a situation where the priority is just getting the thing done. You know, it’s probably not going injure you in the moment, but we know it’s that repetitive motion that can cause those issues over time.

FAB: More manufacturing companies seem to be investing in health and wellness programs for their employees. Is there a return on investment for companies that do this?

Ives: This is something that we’re passionate about because we do see a person’s mental well-being and topics like exercise and nutrition being linked, especially in certain recovery situations where someone is not doing well mentally. They end up being out of work for the same injury a lot longer—50% longer as a matter of fact—than someone who is in a better mental state.

Someone in human resources might be able to provide you with better feedback on the payback of some of those programs, but what I can tell you is that when employers do things to show employees that they care about them, it’s our belief that the risk goes down.

It’s interesting that the American Psychiatric Association did a recent survey on the state of work in America, and what they found is that 92% of the respondents said that they want to work for an organization that values emotional and psychological well-being. A vast majority of them felt like if that was something that an employer valued, that's where they'd want to work.

The other thing that your question makes me think of is that we find that one of the greatest causes of accidents is distraction. Now, when you think about distraction, what are some of the factors that could go into distraction? Certainly sleeplessness, anxiety, and worry. So that’s why we certainly believe in programs that can show your employees that you care. We think that it helps with more than just productivity. We think it helps make for a safer workplace.

Now for post-injury management, this comes into play as well. For a situation where someone might perceive some injustice or maybe that person is not sleeping well or is anxious because they’re worried about having a job to return to, we find that at least 40% of injured employees who are losing time from work exhibit one or more of what we call psychological or social risk factors. In those situations where they demonstrate at least one or more of these risk factors while being out with an injury, the amount of time out of work is 50% higher than someone not exhibiting these risk factors.

All of this set us down a path of saying, “How can we provide some help aids in this situation? What can we do for an injured employee exhibiting risk factors?” The result is a program called Wysa for Return to Work, which is an app designed to promote the mental health of injured employees and facilitate a healthy recovery. The app can be downloaded. It’s anonymous. Injured employees can get help aids, like sleep aids, or it can act as a sort of virtual coach.

For instance, a person can ask the app questions that can help them with reframing exercises. Maybe the reason that person is struggling with overcoming an injury is because he or she doesn’t have good coping skills or struggles with decision-making due to a previous adverse situation. Reframing exercises help promote the right behavioral responses in life and can make a big difference.

The article is reproduced from:https://www.thefabricator.com/thefabricator/article/safety/3-areas-of-safety-manufacturing-shops-should-focus-on

ABOUT THE AUTHOR：
Dan Davis
The Fabricator
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