HSC: Home Injuries Cost U.S. Employers $38 Billion Annually

According to the State of Home Safety in America report (2004), a new study released by the Home Safety Council, employers are spending an average of $280 per employee equating to $38 billion
a year for injuries suffered at home.

According to the study, factors of the severe economic impact of home injuries on employers include health insurance, life insurance, sick leave & disability as well as the cost of hiring and training new employees. In fact, the study found that an injury that results in a hospital stay costs nearly $20,000 and a fatal injury costs an employer nearly $30,000.

Specific employer costs associated with this public health issue include:

* Employer health care (medical) spending cost $15.8 billion in a single year.
* $11.8 billion was spent on sick leave and disability insurance.
* $9.6 billion was spent on costs related to disruption and efforts for
training/retraining or hiring new employees.

“The enormous cost of unintentional home injuries may surprise U.S.
employers,” said Meri-K Appy, president of the Home Safety Council (www.homesafetycouncil.org). “Home injuries affect worker morale as well as the company’s bottom line. By arming the workforce with guidance and information to reduce preventable injuries at home, companies protect their most valued resource: their employees.”

The State of Home Safety in America (2004) is the Home Safety
Council’s second comprehensive statistical report of unintentional home injuries in the United States, addressing causes, costs and victims.

The Home Safety Council worked in conjunction with the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center to create a comprehensive benchmark of home injuries in 2002 and to update the status of home safety in the minds and homes of Americans in the 2004 Edition. The report found falls to be the most common fatal home injury, followed by poisonings, fires/burns, choking and suffocation and drowning.

Resulting in nearly 20,000 fatalities annually on average, these injuries can cost society up to $387 billion each year.

The economic cost study which looked at costs of unintentional home
injuries was conducted by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation on behalf of the Home Safety Council.