Frequently Asked Questions

According to the National Council of Safety (NCS) an estimated 105 million days of lost productivity due to injury or disability in 2019 are a result of injuries that occurred in 2019 and days lost from injuries that occurred in previous years (i.e., ongoing disability). This estimate includes the actual time lost during the year from disabling injuries (NCS, 2020).

35 million days were lost in 2019 due to permanently disabling injuries that occurred in prior years, and the NSC estimates 55,000,000 additional days will be lost in future years due  to on-the-job deaths and permanently disabling injuries that occurred in 2019 (NCS, 2020).

The Centers for Disease Control and  Prevention (CDC) reports that productivity losses linked to absenteeism  cost employers $225.8 billion annually in the United States, or $1,685  per employee.

To help employers understand the  economic impact of environmental health and safety accidents, OSHA has created a handy online application: “$afety Pays”, which allows organizations to “assess the impact of occupational injuries and  illnesses on their profitability.” Users can select an injury type from  a drop-down menu (or use their workers’ compensation costs), enter  their company’s profit margin, and see their estimated total cost for  any number of injuries (OHSA, 2021). 

https://www.osha.gov/safetypays/estimator

Over a third of surveyed employers (36%) have a formal return-to-work (RTW)

program in place, and another 10% plan to implement one in the future.

The propensity of having a formal RTW program increases with employer

size, with half (49%) of employers with 1,000+ employees having one.

Reasons for not having a RTW program are primarily around budget and

culture, but also include staffing, the idea that it is not needed, or their

organization is too small. (DMEC Employer Leave Management Survey, 2020).