Workplace Safety/Workers' Comp - Oak Creek Insurance Agency

WORKERS COMPENSATION INSURANCE

The fatal fire and explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. plant in Texas in 2013 calls attention to the issue of workplace safety in the state. A massive 1947 fire in the S.S. Grandcamp and Monsanto Chemical Company plant in Texas City, Texas ranked eight among the top 20 multiple death fires in U.S. history according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

Workers compensation insurance provides for the cost of medical care and rehabilitation for injured workers and lost wages and death benefits for the dependents of persons killed in work-related accidents. Workers compensation systems vary from state to state. Workers compensation combined ratios are expressed in two ways. Calendar year results reflect claim payments and changes in reserves for accidents that happened in that year or earlier. Accident year results only include losses from a particular year.

WORKERS COMPENSATION INSURANCE, 2003-2012

($000)

			Combined ratio (1)
Year	Net premiums written (2)	Annual percent change	Calendar year (3)	Annual point change (4)	Accident year (5)	Annual point change
2003	$32,885,046	7.4%	110.5	-0.8 pts.	98	-8 pts.
2004	36,735,582	11.7	106.9	-3.6	88	-10
2005	38,981,699	6.1	102.1	-4.8	87	-1
2006	41,820,419	7.3	95.4	-6.7	86	-1
2007	40,610,991	-2.9	101.7	6.3	99	13
2008	36,939,016	-9.0	101.5	-0.2	106	7
2009	32,247,870	-12.7	107.9	6.4	110	4
2010	31,643,087	-1.9	116.1	8.2	118	8
2011	35,664,230	12.7	117.6	1.5	114	-4
2012	37,943,501	6.4	109.7	-8.0	108 (6)	-6

(1) After dividends to policyholders. A drop in the combined ratio represents an improvement; an increase represents a deterioration.
(2) After reinsurance transactions, excludes state funds.
(3) Calendar year data are from SNL Financial LC.
(4) Calculated from unrounded data.
(5) Accident year data are from the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI).
(6) Estimated by NCCI.

Source: SNL Financial LC; National Council on Compensation Insurance.

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THE TEN OCCUPATIONS WITH THE LARGEST NUMBER OF INJURIES AND ILLNESSES, 2012 (1)

Rank	Occupation	Number	Percent of total
1	Laborers (nonconstruction)	60,640	6.7%
2	Truckdrivers, heavy	40,440	4.5
3	Nursing assistants	38,010	4.2
4	Production workers	28,090	3.1
5	Truckdrivers, light	24,620	2.7
6	Retail salespersons	24,520	2.7
7	Maintenance, general	23,470	2.6
8	Janitors and cleaners	21,970	2.4
9	Stock clerks and order fillers	20,940	2.3
10	Registered nurses	20,930	2.3
	Total, top ten	303,630	33.5%
	Total, all occupations	905,690	100.0%

(1) Nonfatal injuries and illnesses involving days off from work for private industries; excludes farms with fewer than 11 employees.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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TOP TEN WRITERS OF WORKERS COMPENSATION INSURANCE BY DIRECT PREMIUMS WRITTEN, 2012

($000)

Rank	Group/company	Direct premiums written (1)	Market share (2)
1	Liberty Mutual	$4,179,078	8.7%
2	Travelers Companies Inc.	3,801,993	7.9
3	Hartford Financial Services	3,286,686	6.8
4	American International Group	2,952,157	6.1
5	Zurich Insurance Group Ltd. (3)	2,409,805	5.0
6	State Insurance Fund Workers’ Comp.	1,943,838	4.0
7	Berkshire Hathaway Inc.	1,256,635	2.6
8	Old Republic International Corp.	1,110,916	2.3
9	Chubb Corp.	1,049,479	2.2
10	AmTrust Financial Services	995,575	2.1

(1) Before reinsurance transactions, includes some state funds.
(2) Based on U.S. total, includes territories.
(3) Data for Farmers Insurance Group of Companies and Zurich Financial Group (which owns Farmers’ management company) are reported separately by SNL Financial LC.

Source: SNL Financial LC.

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CAUSES OF WORKPLACE DEATHS

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the highest rate of workplace fatalities in 2012 was among logging workers, with 128 deaths per 100,000 full-time employees, followed by fishing workers, aircraft pilots and flight engineers, and roofers. The all-industry average was 3.2 deaths per 100,000 workers.

WORKPLACE DEATHS BY CAUSE, 2011-2012 (1)

	2011	2012
Cause	Number	Number	Percent of total
All transportation (includes vehicle crashes)	1,937	1,789	41%
Vehicle crashes (2)	1,103	1,044	24
Assaults and violence (includes homicides)	791	767	17
Homicides	468	463	11
Contact with objects and equipment	710	712	16
Falls	681	668	15
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	419	320	7
Fires and explosions	144	116	3
Total workplace fatalities	4,693	4,383	100%

(1) From intentional and unintentional sources.
(2) Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicles.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.

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LARGE LOSS FIRES

The charts below show the costliest large-loss fires, many of which involve industrial facilities and other non-residential structures. The rankings are based on property loss data from the National Fire Protection Association. For further data seeNFPA statistics.

THE TEN MOST COSTLY LARGE-LOSS FIRES IN U.S. HISTORY

($ millions)

			Estimated loss (1)
Rank	Date	Location/event	Dollars when occurred	In 2012 dollars (2)
1	Sep. 11, 2001	World Trade Center (terrorist attacks)	$33,400 (3)	$43,300 (3)
2	Apr. 18, 1906	San Francisco Earthquake and Fire	350	8,900
3	Oct. 8-9, 1871	Great Chicago Fire	168	3,200
4	Oct. 20, 1991	Oakland, CA, fire storm	1,500	2,500
5	Oct. 20, 2007	San Diego County, CA, The Southern California Wildland Fires	1,800	2,000
6	Nov. 9, 1872	Great Boston Fire	75	1,400
7	Oct. 23, 1989	Pasadena, Texas, polyolefin plant	750	1,400
8	May 4, 2000	Los Alamos, NM, Cerro Grande wildland fire	1,000	1,300
9	Oct. 25, 2003	Julian, CA, Wildfire (Cedar)	1,100	1,300
10	Feb. 7, 1904	Baltimore, MD, Baltimore Conflagration	50	1,300

(1) Loss estimates are from National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) records. The list is limited to fires for which some reliable dollar loss estimates exists.
(2) Adjustment to 2012 dollars made by the NFPA using the Consumer Price Index, including the U.S. Census Bureau’s estimates of the index for historical times.
(3) Differs from inflation-adjusted estimates made by other organizations due to the use of different deflators.

Source: National Fire Protection Association.

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THE TEN MOST COSTLY LARGE-LOSS FIRES, 2012 (1)

($ millions)

Rank	State	Type of facility	Estimated loss
1	Colorado	Wildfire	$354
2	Maine	Submarine in dry dock	400
3	Colorado	Wildfire	114
4	Pennsylvania	Plating shop	75
5	Georgia	Vehicle parts manufacturing	50
6	Minnesota	Paper mill	50
7	Illinois	Galvanizing plant	31
8	Pennsylvania	Single-family home	25
9	California	Party goods store	25
10	Massachusetts	Transformers	22

(1) Fires/explosions causing $20 million or more in property loss.

Source: National Fire Protection Association.

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Source: Insurance Information Institute, “Workplace Safety/Workers Comp” http://www.iii.org website. Accessed December 2, 2015. http://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/workplace-safety-workers-comp

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