Milestones in Mining Safety and Health Technology

NIOSH MINING PROGRAM

Technology

No. 558

News

 July 2017

Safety Pays in Mining: a Web Application that Demonstrates 

the Financial Impact of Injuries

Summary

The Safety Pays in Mining web

application uses aggregate injury

cost data to show cost distributions

for typical injuries that can affect

mine workers. The cost data are

derived from a decade of compensation claims filed by mine workers

in Ohio. This web application brings

awareness to companies about the 

unknown costs of injuries and the 

distribution of these costs.

By John R. Heberger and Joseph Schall

Background 

The costs of specific types of occupational injuries in mining are not well known. 

This information is generally not shared 

between mining companies nor readily 

provided by insurance companies. Therefore, companies only have cost information based on previous experience with 

their own employees. As one example, 

if a mine never experienced a finger amputation for one of its workers, it would 

not be aware of the possible costs of this 

type of injury. In addition, injury costs are 

unique in that the cost distribution is so 

wide—just using an average cost does 

not provide adequate information. Some 

injuries involve tremendously high costs. 

Even though the risk of these extremely 

high-cost injuries is low, mines need to 

be aware of their potential impact on 

their financial health. 

The Safety Pays in Mining web application (see Figure 1) developed by the 

National Institute for Occupational Safety

and Health (NIOSH) helps mines to 

determine potential injury costs and the

distribution of these costs. The application groups injuries by type, either by the 

cause of injury or by the nature of the 

injury itself. When the user selects one of 

over 30 injury types, the application 

provides information on the distribution 

of costs of workers’ compensation claims 

for that type of injury. Based on other 

user inputs, the program will estimate 

the total costs of all projected injuries, 

including an estimate of additional 

“indirect” costs, the impact of total injury 

costs on profits, and examples of ways 

that companies could spend the savings 

resulting from preventing injuries.

Figure 1: A user calculates the potential cost of an injury using Safety Pays in Mining.

Photo by NIOSH

How the Application Was Developed

To calculate direct costs, which include 

medical expenses and lost-time payments, NIOSH researchers obtained 

cost data for specific injuries from the 

Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. 

Compensation claims for (de-identified) 

mining industry workers from 2001 to 

2011 were used for the cost estimates. 

These claims included both medical-only 

and lost-time claims for each injury. Only 

injury types with more than 10 claims 

were included. 

In order to provide a realistic injury cost 

estimate, researchers also calculated 

indirect cost estimates. These are costs 

to the employer which are generally not 

covered by insurance. Such costs could 
include, for example, costs of reduced productivity due to disruption of work or work limitations 

during injury recovery, replacing damaged equipment, and temporary or permanent replacement 

of injured workers. The total cost of an injury is the 

sum of the direct and indirect costs.

In the application, all costs were adjusted to 2015 

dollars. Future versions of Safety Pays in Mining 

will update costs to the most recent calendar years.

Using Safety Pays in Mining

To use the Safety Pays in Mining web application, 

you select options from drop-down menus in 

four sections representing (1) common injuries 

and activities, (2) cost of injury, (3) impact of injury 

cost on profits, and (4) how the company could 

spend the cost savings from injury prevention. 

Default values are automatically included in most 

fields to allow you to make general estimates 

based on Ohio mining claims data, or in case the 

desired specifics on your company’s injuries are 

not known. Figure 2: A screenshot from the application demonstrates that the total cost of a single 

back injury could be over $31,000. In the “Most Common Injuries and Work Activities

for 2015” section, you choose the commodity of interest and

an injury summary for that commodity is displayed for 2015.

This shows what the most common injuries were and what

miners were doing when injured.

The section “What is the Cost of Occupational Injury?” is the

main feature of the application (see Figure 2). The user first

selects one of two lists of injury types: injury by “nature” or

injury by “cause.” Injury by nature refers to the type of physical

damage to the body, such as back sprains or finger amputations. Injury by cause refers to the manner in which the injury

was inflicted, such as exposure to electricity or being struck by

an object or equipment. The user selects an injury type, and

the distribution of injury costs for that type is displayed.

The user then selects the number of injuries of this type that

may occur in the future. In the next step, the user needs to

consider the provided information on the distribution of costs, 

along with the expected number of injuries, in order to select

an average cost per claim to enter. The best cost per claim to 

enter is a matter of judgment that depends in part upon the 

user’s concern about the possibility of experiencing a very 

high-cost claim. It is also important to consider the expected

number of injuries, because a higher number of claims results

in a higher chance of a very expensive claim. A note in the web

application suggests percentile cost figures to use based on 

number of total injury claims. You can select the mean cost

or one of the cost percentiles for the specific injury type. The

report then shows a summary of the injury, the number of

injuries, the direct cost, the indirect cost, and the total cost.

The user can repeat this process for each injury type and then

generate a summary report for all injuries.

The section “What is the Impact of the Cost of Occupational 

Injury on Your Company?” shows how injury costs can affect 

profits. You enter your company’s profit margin and annual 

sales, or accept the default values based on the commodity 

selected in the “Most Common Injuries and Work Activities 

for 2015” section. The resulting impact report shows the total 

injury cost, the total injury cost as a percentage of annual sales, 

and the additional sales needed to pay for the injury total cost.

The section “How Could Your Company Spend Its Savings from 

Preventing Injury?” shows different ways your company could 

use the money otherwise spent on injuries. You can use the 

default values or input the average amount that your company 

pays for an annual hearing loss prevention program, a pair of 

boots, or a hard hat. Based on these values, the web application displays how many of each could be purchased if the 

injuries were prevented.

How Mines Can Benefit from Using Safety Pays in Mining

This web application educates users on a wide range of 

occupational injury costs. Mine companies will find it beneficial 

to see the distribution of workers’ compensation injury costs 

as well as the indirect costs which are often overlooked. The 

application demonstrates that even a common injury has the 

potential to be extremely expensive. Safety Pays in Mining can 

be used by mine companies to help with determining possible 

injury costs and prioritizing health and safety interventions.

Where to Find Safety Pays in Mining

The web application is now available for use on the NIOSH 

Mining webpage at: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/

content/economics/safetypays.html. 

For More Information

For more information on Safety Pays in Mining, contact John R. Heberger (JHeberger@cdc.gov) or the NIOSH Mining program (mining@cdc.gov).

To receive NIOSH documents or for more information about occupational safety and health topics, contact: 

1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636), 1-888-232-6348 (TTY), or request information at the CDC website at 

www.cdc.gov/info, or visit the NIOSH website at www.cdc.gov/niosh.

DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2017-170

Disclaimer: Mention of any company or product does not constitute endorsement by NIOSH.