Study Finds Quarter Trillion Cost in 2007 Workplace Injuries and Illnesses
The Milbank Quarterly, a journal of population health and health policy, has published a study by J. Paul Leigh of UC-Davis estimating the national costs of occupational injury and illness among US civilians in 2007. The abstract can be found at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0009.2011.00648.x/full. The findings are summarized as follows –
“The number of fatal and nonfatal injuries in 2007 was estimated to be more than 5,600 and almost 8,559,000, respectively, at a cost of $6 billion and $186 billion. The number of fatal and nonfatal illnesses was estimated at more than 53,000 and nearly 427,000, respectively, with cost estimates of $46 billion and $12 billion. For injuries and diseases combined, medical cost estimates were $67 billion (27% of the total), and indirect costs were almost $183 billion (73%). Injuries comprised 77 percent of the total, and diseases accounted for 23 percent. The total estimated costs were approximately $250 billion, compared with the inflation-adjusted cost of $217 billion for 1992.”