Healthcare companies lose approximately $6.9 million each year to serious, nonfatal workplace injuries, according to a newly published Workplace Safety Index from Liberty Mutual.

Included in the healthcare services numbers are skilled nursing facilities, home care services, hospitals, physicians offices and clinics, medical laboratories and other allied services.

Liberty Mutual provides companies with an annual road map for improving workplace safety by identifying the top 10 causes of the most serious workplace injuries. The seriousness is determined by injuries that cause an employee to miss more than five days of work. The company ranks those injuries by their medical and lost-wage payments.

Over the 25 years that Liberty Mutual has been compiling the index, the incidence of serious injuries has decreased, but costs have increased.

The major cause of healthcare workplace injuries is overexertion involving outside sources, that is, the handling of heavy objects. This type of injury costs healthcare employers $1.6 billion a year, or 31.4% of total healthcare workplace injury costs, according to the report. 

Employers can mitigate overexertion injuries at their root by ensuring that workers have access to equipment that reduces the need to lift heavy items, Liberty Mutual said.

Second on the list, falls, including the common slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall type injury, account for $1.29 million, or 25.3%, of serious injuries in healthcare settings.

The report advised employers to adequately monitor housekeeping and maintenance activities and make sure those tasks are consistently completed.

Third on the list, injuries caused by workplace violence cost the healthcare industry $0.50 billion a year, or 9.8% of the total healthcare workplace injuries cost. 

Slipping or tripping without a fall accounts for $0.27 billion, or 5.3%, of total healthcare workplace injury costs, annually due to hazards such as slippery or uneven sidewalks. Employers should be diligent about ensuring that weather-related hazards are promptly taken care of, according to the report

Lastly, at No. 5, Liberty Mutual found that other exertions or bodily reactions (awkward postures) cost the healthcare industry $0.26 billion, or 5.2%, annually. One solution offered is for employers to provide ergonomic measures wherever possible.

The Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index is based on information from the firm as well as customized data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Office of Safety, Health and Working Conditions and the National Academy of Social Insurance. Each year’s index is based on data three years ago. Therefore, the 2025 index reflects 2022 data.