Study methodology: the Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index is based on information from Liberty Mutual, customized data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Office of Safety, Health, and Working Conditions, and the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI). BLS nonfatal injury data are analyzed with the Liberty Mutual data to determine which events caused employees to miss more than five days of work and then to rank those events by workers compensation costs, which are then scaled to the NASI total cost. To capture accurate injury cost data, each index is based on data three years prior. Accordingly, the 2025 Index reflects 2022 data.
The steps you take today can help build a more successful future for your business.
You can create safer workplaces that help protect your employees — and your bottom line. It all starts with the right partnership. Ask your insurance broker and carrier for guidance on how to identify and help mitigate workplace risks.
Liberty is here for you. Today. Tomorrow. Together.
Wholesale
Transportation & warehousing
Retail
Professional &
business services
Manufacturing
Leisure & hospitality
Healthcare &
social services
Construction
Dive into the 2025 Index with these eight industry reports:
Specialized industries come with specialized risks. This year’s WSI examines
common causes of injury and how they may be unique to specific industries.
Deep dive: Risk exposures by industry
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2025 WSI total cost of workplace injuries
$58.78B
2025 WSI Top 10 total
$50.87B
At Liberty Mutual, delivering actionable safety insights is our priority. Our risk control services use a comprehensive, systems-based consulting approach to evaluate risks through your specific exposures and controls. By combining industry-tailored research with expert consulting, we help you identify the costliest risks in your sector — and how to prevent them before they happen.
Smarter insights. A safer workplace.
In any industry, gaining control of these costs starts with knowing which injuries have the most impact on medical expenses and lost-wage payments. Use this year’s Top 10 list as your guide, and then refine your strategy with a qualified risk control consultant.
25 years of insights
Driving risk control with greater precision
With the WSI as a benchmark, companies can identify their unique safety challenges and how they can apply best practices to cut risk.
Cost per year: $13.7B
Overexertion involving outside sources
Watch for heavy loads Do workers have access to equipment that reduces the need to lift heavy items?
Top 10 Workplace injuries
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Cost per year: $10.5B
Falls on the same level
Watch for wet floors Are housekeeping and maintenance activities adequately monitored and consistently completed?
Cost per year: $5.8B
Falls to lower level
Watch for unstable ladders Is your workplace designed to minimize the use of ladders unless absolutely necessary?
Cost per year: $5.8B
Struck by object or equipment
Watch for unsecured tools, racks, or products Are processes in place for functional and safe storage of workplace supplies?
Cost per year: $2.8B
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicles
Watch for following too closely Do policies exist that encourage safer driving practices?
Cost per year: $3.9B
Other exertions or bodily reactions
Watch for exiting a vehicle Are ergonomic measures implemented wherever possible?
Cost per year: $2.2B
Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects
Watch for moving or rotating machinery Is all equipment appropriately guarded with all workers properly trained and supervised?
Cost per year: $2.6B
Slip or trip without fall
Watch for slippery or uneven walkways Are weather-related hazards promptly addressed, and are walkways maintained?
Celebrating
Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index
Cost per year: $1.7B
Struck against object or equipment
Watch for low-headroom workspaces Are travel paths clear with potential hazards marked with proper warning signage?
Cost per year: $1.8B
Repetitive motions involving microtasks
Watch for hand- and shoulder-intensive work Do engineering controls reduce forceful exertions and enable good postures, and does scheduling allow for breaks?
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Precision
Safety
Training
Innovation
Trends
The WSI helps companies pinpoint the issues that matter most in their workplaces so managers can focus employee safety briefings on relevant practices.
Prompting targeted safety talks
Companies are using the WSI to educate new employees — a group that’s often at higher risk for accidents and injury — on the safety issues their industries face.
Sparking targeted training
The WSI is often cited in scientific and industry literature as rationale for research and intervention aimed at understanding and reducing risk.
Driving innovation
Our 25-year look back shows that while the top 10 causes of loss have remained largely stable, falls on the same level have increased both in cost and proportion of total cost.
Exposing longitudinal trends
A quarter century of bringing you the top 10 causes of the most serious workplace injuries
$2B
$4B
$6B
$8B
$10B
$12B
$14B
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
Take a look back:
Celebrating 25 years
For 25 years, Liberty Mutual has supplemented over a century of focus on risk control by providing the Workplace Safety Index to help companies across the nation identify and reduce workplace risks. Our decades of research uncover the causes of the most costly workplace safety incidents. By analyzing long-term trends, we help you pinpoint where to focus your resources and reveal how the risk landscape is evolving — so you can stay one step ahead. Explore the latest findings and see how we’re committed to helping you build a safer, more resilient workplace.
WSI over time: Injury rates have fallen, but total costs have risen in the U.S.
More than half (56%) of workplace injuries impact the back, shoulder, knee, or multiple body parts — costing nearly $32.6 billion. Musculoskeletal injuries remain a major driver of financial loss and lost productivity.
Falls on the same level: costs soar 84%. The total financial impact has skyrocketed by $4.6 billion, and same-level falls account for 4.8% more of the proportion of total cost.
For 25 years, “overexertion involving outside sources” and “falls on the same level” have dominated our report. Together, these two causes represent nearly 40% of total injury losses — $13.7 billion and $10.5 billion respectively — highlighting where focused prevention pays off.
$10.5
billion
$13.7
billion
The cost of repetitive motion injuries from microtasks has plummeted by 44%. Targeted safety efforts are making a difference in reducing these previously costly injuries, causing this type to drop out of the top 10 in 2022 and 2023.
Over the past 25 years, seven causes of workplace safety incidents have always been included in the top 10. In the 2025 report, these incidents account for $44.7 billion of losses across the insurance industry.
Key impacts 2001 – 2025
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Averaging $5.5B in 2001 to 2005 compared to $10.1B from 2021 to 2025
Averaging $2.7B in 2001 to 2005 compared to $1.5B from 2021 to 2025
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Your industry, our insights:
Navigating 25 years of safety together.