Adverse Weather and Workers’ Compensation Claims

How do adverse weather conditions affect work injuries and therefore workers compensation claims?

In this report, we use NCCI data on workers compensation claims to show a relationship between injury frequency and weather. We expand on prior analyses by studying impacts of cold and precipitation as well as heat.

Key Findings

• Both hot and cold daily temperatures are associated with more workers compensation claims than days with mild temperatures, with up to 10% higher claim frequency
  • Frequency impacts of heat increase with daily high temperature
  • Frequency impacts from cold are largest for temperatures around freezing
• Temperature can be especially impactful for certain injuries and jobs
  • Frequency effects of hot days are largest in outdoor sectors, especially construction
  • Cold and wet days have many more slip and fall injuries, as well as motor vehicle accidents
• Frequency increases due to temperatures at the upper and lower end of the range are large and statistically significant throughout our sample period, but were slightly smaller in the 2010s and 2020s than in the 2000s
  • Since the pandemic, injury frequency on very cold days is lower, perhaps due to an increase in hybrid and remote work
• An increased number of hot days relative to each city’s own standards is likely to result in a similar-sized effect on workers compensation claims in both warmer and cooler cities
• An increase in winter precipitation is likely to affect workers compensation claims primarily in colder cities, which have more days with temperatures near freezing

For more on adverse weather conditions, check out the complete report.

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