Why Whitten Law?

At the Whitten Law Firm, our attorneys and professional staff are dedicated to getting our clients results. With over 40 years experience, we are confident that when it comes to Workers' Compensation, we're the solution.

The Cost of Workplace Injury

Thousands of people suffer different types of injuries while on duty in their line of work and these injuries have become very expensive to the employers and the nation as a whole, in terms of both direct and indirect costs.

According to data from the National Safety Council, the direct cost of workplace injuries to businesses across the United States is $1 billion per week in terms of compensation to the victims, the shocking thing is that businesses also end up losing over $4 billion indirectly every week to workplace accidents, meaning every business should make the safety of its workers a top priority if it wants to achieve both its short term and long term goals.

Workplace injuries are therefore serious issues that should be tackled prudently to at least minimize their rates of occurrence. An important step that should be taken is to improve the knowledge of officials of your company's employee compensation and safety programs, as most of them are only aware of the cost of workplace injuries with regards to the direct compensation and insurance costs paid when such accidents occur.

The safety and health of every company's employees should be one of its most important policies, if it wants to generate profits, remain competitive and a key player in its industry. However many firms cut the budgets for workers safety and compensation, in their bid to lower their operational costs.

Many firms therefore end up generating more costs directly and indirectly, instead of saving money when they do not place the correct value on their workers' compensation and safety funds. The truth is lots of firms have difficulty measuring the indirect costs of workplace accidents compared to the direct costs such as insurance premium and employee compensation payments as well as investments on safety equipments and incentive programs.

The indirect costs of workplace injuries include the destruction of equipment, machinery, materials and other resources that were being used by the employee before the accident. Other costs that cannot be directly measured are loss of productivity, lower employee morale, loss of products or services, shipment delays, excess overtime, time delays from inspections and investigations into accidents. Hiring and training of replacement employees as well as the costs of their wages, attorney fees, potential penalties from regulatory bodies, etc. are some other indirect costs of workplace accidents.