Claims Recap

As of the end of May, there have been 20 claims submitted so far in 2010. The following is a summary of all those claims.

Slips, Trips & Falls (3 claims) initial incurred $77,435

Material Handling Injuries (4 claims) initial incurred $30,042

Auto Accident (4 claims) initial incurred $47,108

Using Hand Tools (5 claims) initial incurred $2,500

Fall from Elevation (1 claim) initial incurred $2,500

Struck by Falling Object (3 claims) initial incurred $1,000

As you can see above, there were 5 employees injured using hand tools. Although the employees using hand tools sustained relatively minor injuries, more employees were injured using hand tools than any other task. Although each of these injuries involved the use of a different handheld tool, 4 of these 5 incidents resulted in an injury to the hand or arm that was not holding the tool. Under most circumstances, the hand holding a tool is not injured. It is the other hand or arm that all too often gets in the way. To help prevent these injuries train employees to anticipate how their hand or arm could be injured if the tool they are using slips, jerks or is kicked-back.

There were 4 injuries from motor vehicle accidents. On the surface, this may seem like there is an immediate need for driving safety training. Although good driver safety training is never a bad idea, all 4 of the injuries sustained in motor vehicle accidents were the fault of the other driver (not the Fund member employee). In fact, 3 of the 4 claims resulted from a single motor vehicle accident in which a truck transporting our roofers was stuck by another vehicle while stopped at a traffic light. Two of the three injuries from that accident were very minor. The other was much more serious. Please routinely encourage employees to wear their seatbelts. It is our best defense against injuries in motor vehicle accidents, regardless of who is at-fault in the accident.

Although the big hazard associated with roofing is falling from an elevation, there is only one claim to-date during 2010 that falls into that category. It involved an employee who fell 5 feet from a walkboard. The remaining 3 slip/fall injuries were either on a flat surface or on stairs. One of these was a slip/fall on ice. Another was a slip/fall in hot asphalt. The latter resulted in the most severe injury in 2010 to-date, as the employee who fell sustained burns.

Lastly, there were 4 incidents in which employees were injured while lifting, carrying or otherwise handling objects. The most severe injury in this category resulted from an employee sustaining a strain injury while hoisting materials.