Safety Pays Tool

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The Safety Pays tool produces a report comparing injury/illness rates of your business to your competitors. The tool will be most useful if you have a recent record of your business's safety performance (such as your OSHA Form 300A) and your annual illness/injury case rate or number.

You can still use the tool even if you do not have a record of your business's safety performance. You can complete step 1 only to view the average injury/illness rates and costs of your industry competitors. The tool does not capture or relay any information entered or calculated by the tool. For more information on privacy, see the Department of Labor's Privacy and Security Statement.

Step 1 Provide basic information on your industry and business size.

1. Enter NAICS code or description

Don't know? Look up your industry.

(resets all inputs below)

   

Basic results on your industry are displayed below. Continue to steps 2 and 3 to customize your results to your business.

1. Injury/Illness How many workers' compensation cases do you have per year (such as cases entered on OSHA's Form 300A)?   

Choose one:

1. Injury/Illness How many workers' compensation cases do you have per year (such as cases entered on OSHA's Form 300A)?

2. Lost time Of these cases, how many included days away from work, work restriction or job transfer?

Choose one:

2. Lost time Of these cases, how many included days away from work, work restriction or job transfer?

Results

Provide information above to calculate results for your industry and business.

Displaying results for your industry based on Step 1 above.

Your industry results below are based on the industry and FTE employees.

Displaying results for your business based on the data you entered above.

Your estimates are based on the industry and FTE employees. Your rate of injuries and illnesses per 100 FTEs is and % of these are lost-time cases. Your cost estimates are based on workers' compensation insurance, with no deductible.

The average workers' compensation cost per injury is for lost-time cases and for medical-only cases. Industry average indirect costs per injury are for lost-time cases and for medical-only cases.

Results below place your business into one of these categories:

You are a top performer.

Your rates or costs are higher than your industry's top-performers.

Your rates or costs are higher than your industry's top-performers and competitors.

How Your Industry Competitors Perform
How Your Business Compares to Your Competitors

Your business has a of annual occupational injuries and illnesses compared to all competitors in the same industry and employment size categories.

Your business has a higher rate of annual occupational injuries and illnesses compared to top-performing businesses in the same industry and employment size categories.

Your business is among the top-performing competitors in your industry and employment size category for safety and health performance.

Figure 1: Total Case Rate (TCR)1 per 100 full-time workers

Top-performing competitors have the lowest 25% of rates among all businesses in your industry and employment size category. Top-performing businesses have reduced spending on injuries and illnesses and improved profitability by implementing effective safety and health programs. With a continued commitment to safety and health, your business can maintain a competitive advantage and avoid losses.

"Top-performing" refers to safety performance, but businesses with strong health and safety performance are often more productive and have lower costs in general.

1. The rate of recordable injuries and illnesses per 100 FTE employees, calculated as: total number of injuries and illnesses x 200,000 / number of hours worked by all employees.

2. Average

It is critical to make safety and health improvements. Top-performing businesses have reduced their spending on injuries and illnesses and improved profitability by implementing effective safety and health programs.

Top-performing competitors have the lowest 25% of rates among all businesses in your industry and employment size category. "Top-performing" refers to safety performance, but businesses with strong health and safety performance are often more productive and have lower costs in general.

1. The rate of recordable injuries and illnesses per 100 FTE employees, calculated as: total number of injuries and illnesses x 200,000 / number of hours worked by all employees.

2. Average

It is critical to make safety and health improvements. Top-performing businesses have reduced their spending on injuries and illnesses and improved profitability by implementing effective safety and health programs.

Top-performing competitors have the lowest 25% of rates among all businesses in your industry and employment size category. "Top-performing" refers to safety performance, but businesses with strong health and safety performance are often more productive and have lower costs in general.

1. The rate of recordable injuries and illnesses per 100 FTE employees, calculated as: total number of injuries and illnesses x 200,000 / number of hours worked by all employees.

2. Average

With a continued commitment to safety and health, your business will maintain a competitive advantage and avoid losses. Top-performing businesses like you have reduced spending on injuries and illnesses and improved profitability by implementing effective safety and health programs.

Top-performing competitors have the lowest 25% of rates among all businesses in your industry and employment size category. "Top-performing" refers to safety performance, but businesses with strong health and safety performance are often more productive and have lower costs in general.

1. The rate of recordable injuries and illnesses per 100 FTE employees, calculated as: total number of injuries and illnesses x 200,000 / number of hours worked by all employees.

2. Average

Expected Annual Costs for Your Business
Expected Annual Costs of Your Industry Competitors
Expected Annual Costs of Your Industry Competitors
Expected Annual Costs of Your Industry Competitors

Your business could incur annual costs that are higher than top-performing businesses, giving those businesses a competitive advantage.
This is equivalent to in additional sales based on your business's profit margin of . Your business would need to make up for the profits you are losing due to occupational injuries and illnesses.

Your business could incur annual costs that are higher than top-performing businesses, giving those businesses a competitive advantage.
This is equivalent to in additional sales based on your business's profit margin of . Your business would need to make up for the profits you are losing due to occupational injuries and illnesses.

Your safety and health performance results in annual costs that are $ than top-performing businesses, giving you a competitive advantage.

Figure 2: Expected Cost in an Average Year

Your Cost:

  • Indirect:
  • Direct:
  • Total:

Average cost for All Competitors:

  • Indirect:
  • Direct:
  • Total:

Average cost for Top Performers

  • Indirect:
  • Direct:
  • Total:

The chart above displays estimates of the costs to your business as a long-term annual average. Your business's actual cost experience in the past years may differ because a typical year will normally be below the long-term average, and because states differ significantly in their average payments.

If your business is insured by a third party, your business will not pay workers' compensation claims directly, but your business will bear the indirect costs. Over time, your business's insurance premium will also be affected by your safety performance.

Since your business is insured by a third party, your business will not pay workers' compensation claims directly, but your business will bear the indirect costs. Over time, your business's insurance premium will also be affected by your safety performance.

Since your business is insured by a third party, your business will not pay workers' compensation claims directly, but your business will bear the indirect costs. Over time, your business's insurance premium will also be affected by your safety performance.

Since your business is self-insured, your business bears the costs of workers' compensation claims directly. The cost of this workers' compensation is directly affected by your safety performance.


Background Information

Glossary
Term Acronym Description
Additional sales - Based on your profit margin (or a default of 3%), the tool calculates the additional sales that you would need to make up for the profits you are losing as a result of occupational injuries and illnesses.
Competitors - Competitors are firms in your industry and employment size category.
Days away from work, restricted work activity, or job transfer DART The DART rate per 100 FTE employees is calculated as: total DART cases × 200,000 ÷ number of hours worked by all employees. (Source: OSHA Form 300 Instructions)
Full-time equivalent FTE Employees working 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year. (Source: OSHA Form 300 Instructions)
North American Industry Classification System NAICS The business classification system used by the Federal government for statistical purposes. If you are uncertain of your NAICS code or need more information about NAICS, use the NAICS Identification Tools.
Indirect costs - In addition to costs for workers' compensation insurance and claims, employers may incur a variety of other costs, termed indirect costs. OSHA's estimates of indirect costs include costs of training replacement employees, time spent to investigate the injury and file and administer workers' compensation claims, lost productivity of the injured worker, lost productivity due to disruptions of work for other employees and supervisors as a result of the accident, wages paid to the injured worker and other workers for time not worked, adverse publicity, liability claims against the owner, and costs associated with damaged equipment and property. (Source: The Business Roundtable, Report A-3)
Top-performing employers - Top-performing competitors have the lowest 25% of rates among all firms in your industry and employment size category. "Top-performing" refers to safety performance, but firms with strong health and safety performance are often more productive and have lower costs in general.
Total case rate TCR The rate of recordable injuries and illnesses per 100 FTE employees, which is calculated as: total number of injuries and illnesses × 200,000 ÷ number of hours worked by all employees. (Source: OSHA Form 300 Instructions)

The Safety Pays tool uses the following data sources in its calculations. Use the the menu below to learn more about each data category:

Rates of occupational injuries and illnesses by industry

Types of injuries and illnesses by industry

Workers' compensation lost-time costs by injury type

  • The cost estimates of lost-time workers' compensation claims used in the Safety Pays tool were provided by the National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc. (NCCI). The data reflects the average cost of lost time workers' compensation insurance claims derived from unit statistical reports submitted to NCCI for policy years 2009-2011. NCCI manages the nation's largest database of workers compensation insurance information. NCCI analyzes industry trends, prepares workers compensation insurance rate recommendations, determines the cost of proposed legislation, and provides a variety of services and tools to maintain a healthy workers' compensation system. NCCI makes no guarantees nor assumes any responsibility for the accuracy of or any results obtained by using the NCCI data provided through this tool. NCCI's information and data may not be used or copied in any manner except as provided in conjunction with OSHA's Safety Pays tool.
  • Download the average cost estimates by injury type (Excel file).

Workers' compensation costs for medical-only claims

  • In addition to lost-time claims, a firm's workers' compensation costs will include medical-only claims. For medical-only workers' compensation claims, the tool uses the average cost of an emergency department visit from CDC's Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) database. This cost estimate is for all nonfatal injuries that are treated and released (i.e., they do not result in an inpatient hospital stay) for individuals ages 20 to 64.
  • Access CDC's WISQARS database.

Indirect costs

 
Indirect cots sliding scale
Direct Costs Indirect Cost Ratio
$0 - $2,999 4.5
$3,000 - $4,999 1.6
$5,000 - $9,999 1.2
$10,000 or more 1.1
  • The indirect cost estimates provided in this tool are taken from the Business Roundtable publication, Improving Construction Safety Performance, and are based on a study conducted by the Stanford University Department of Civil Engineering. The magnitude of indirect costs is inversely related to the seriousness of the injury. The less serious the injury, the higher the ratio of indirect costs to direct costs. While they may account for the majority of the true costs of an accident, indirect costs are usually uninsured and therefore, unrecoverable. The indirect cost multipliers used in Safety Pays are average estimates (across all injury types, based on data for the the construction industry) based on the limited research on this issue. The actual indirect cost multiplier will vary depending on an employer's unique circumstances.

  • Safety Pays uses the sliding scale table below to calculate the indirect costs of the injuries and illness.