Workers Compensation Insurance
Workers compensation insurance provides for the cost of medical care and rehabilitation for injured workers and lost wages and death benefits for the dependents of persons killed in work-related accidents. Workers compensation systems vary from state to state. Workers compensation combined ratios are expressed in two ways. Calendar year results reflect claim payments and changes in reserves for accidents that happened in that year or earlier. Accident year results only include losses from a particular year.
Workers Compensation Insurance, 2014-2023
| |
|
|
Combined ratio (1) |
| Year |
Net premiums
written (2) |
Annual percent
change |
Calendar
year (3) |
Annual point
change (4) |
Accident
year (5) |
Annual point
change |
| 2014 |
$43,753,885 |
6.3% |
101.9 |
-1.2 pts. |
88 |
-5 pts. |
| 2015 |
45,355,102 |
3.7 |
95.5 |
-6.4 |
85 |
-3 |
| 2016 |
45,619,831 |
0.6 |
95.6 |
0.1 |
84 |
-1 |
| 2017 |
45,047,380 |
-1.3 |
92.2 |
-3.4 |
86 |
2 |
| 2018 |
48,614,131 |
7.9 |
86.3 |
-5.8 |
88 |
2 |
| 2019 |
47,146,756 |
-3.0 |
88.3 |
2.0 |
93 |
5 |
| 2020 |
42,529,620 |
-9.8 |
90.2 |
1.9 |
95 |
2 |
| 2021 |
43,159,123 |
1.5 |
91.5 |
1.3 |
100 |
5 |
| 2022 |
47,604,071 |
10.3 |
87.4 |
-4.0 |
97 |
-3 |
| 2023 |
47,975,234 |
0.8 |
88.1 |
0.7 |
98 |
1 |
(1) After reinsurance transactions, excludes state funds.
(2) After dividends to policyholders. A drop in the combined ratio represents an improvement; an increase represents a deterioration.
(3) Calendar year data from S&P Global Market Intelligence
(4) Calculated from unrounded data.
(5) Accident year data from the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI).
(6) Estimated by NCCI.
Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute; National Council on Compensation Insurance.
Top 10 Writers Of Workers' Compensation Insurance By Direct Premiums Written, 2022
| Rank |
Group/company |
Direct premiums written (1) |
Market share (2) |
| 1 |
Travelers Companies Inc. |
$3,807,268 |
6.7% |
| 2 |
Hartford Financial Services |
3,636,367 |
6.4 |
| 3 |
AmTrust Financial |
3,161,524 |
5.6 |
| 4 |
Zurich Insurance Group |
2,741,423 |
4.8 |
| 5 |
Chubb Ltd. |
2,426,232 |
4.3 |
| 6 |
Liberty Mutual |
2,313,160 |
4.1 |
| 7 |
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. |
2,050,907 |
3.6 |
| 8 |
Accident Fund Group |
1,749,368 |
3.1 |
| 9 |
New York State Insurance Fund Workers’ Compensation Fund |
1,565,411 |
2.8 |
| 10 |
Old Republic International Corp. |
1,430,352 |
2.5 |
(1) Before reinsurance transactions, includes state funds.
(2) Based on U.S. total, includes territories.
Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.
Top 10 Private Industry Occupations With The Largest Number Of Injuries And Illnesses, 2021-2022
| Rank |
Occupation |
Number (1) |
Percent of total |
| 1 |
Service |
538,380 |
24.0% |
| 2 |
Transportation and material moving |
503,610 |
22.4 |
| 3 |
Production |
223,840 |
10.0 |
| 4 |
Healthcare practitioners and technical |
223,680 |
10.0 |
| 5 |
Installation, maintenance, and repair |
163,140 |
7.3 |
| 6 |
Sales and related |
146,310 |
6.5 |
| 7 |
Construction and extraction |
136,570 |
6.1 |
| 8 |
Office and administrative support |
101,970 |
4.5 |
| 9 |
Management, business, and financial |
101,460 |
4.5 |
| 10 |
Education, legal, community service, arts, and media |
54,400 |
2.4 |
| |
Total top 10 |
2,193,360 |
97.6% |
| |
Total all occupations |
2,246,900 |
100.0% |
(1) Cases with days away from work.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Causes of Workplace Deaths
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, transportation related accidents (including vehicle crashes) were the leading cause of workplace deaths in 2022, with 2,066 fatalities, accounting for 38 percent of total workplace deaths.
Workplace Deaths By Selected Cause, 2021-2022 (1)
| |
2021 |
2022 |
| Cause |
Number |
Number |
Percent of total |
| All transportation (includes vehicle crashes) |
1,982 |
2,066 |
38% |
| Vehicle crashes (2) |
1,253 |
1,369 |
25 |
| Falls |
850 |
865 |
16 |
| Contact with objects and equipment |
705 |
738 |
14 |
| Exposure to harmful substances or environments |
798 |
839 |
15 |
| Intentional injury by person (includes homicides) |
718 |
791 |
14 |
| Homicides |
481 |
524 |
10 |
| Fires and explosions |
76 |
707 |
13 |
| Total workplace fatalities |
5,190 |
5,486 |
100% |
(1) From intentional and unintentional sources. Data in this chart do not add to total workplace fatalities due to the inclusion of miscellaneous injuries in the total.
(2) Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicles.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.
Large Loss Fires
The chart below shows the costliest large-loss fires, many of which involve industrial facilities and other non-residential structures. The rankings are based on property loss data from the National Fire Protection Association. For further data see NFPA statistics.
Top 10 Costliest Large-Loss Fires, 2021 (1)
| Rank |
State |
Month |
Type of facility |
Estimated loss |
| 1 |
Colorado |
December |
Wildland/urban interface, Marshall Fire |
$678.0 |
| 2 |
Illinois |
June |
Chemical manufacturing |
160.0 |
| 3 |
California |
November |
Textile manufacturing |
128.0 |
| 4 |
Wisconsin |
February |
Ship in for repairs |
100.0 |
| 5 |
Tennessee |
July |
Cereal manufacturing |
98.6 |
| 6 |
Nevada |
January |
Apartments under construction |
35.0 |
| 7 |
Tennessee |
March |
Rubber manufacturing |
35.0 |
| 8 |
Colorado |
October |
Apartment building (81 units) |
30.2 |
| 9 |
Texas |
February |
Warehouse with foam products |
26.0 |
| 10 |
California |
January |
Restaurant |
25.2 |
(1) Large-loss fires of $20 million or more in 2021.
Note: Loss data shown here may differ from figures shown elsewhere for the same event due to differences in the date of publication, the geographical area covered and other criteria used by organizations collecting the data.
Source: Reproduced with permission from Large-Loss Fires and Explosions in the United States in 2021 by Stephen G. Badger, ©2023 National Fire Protection Association www.nfpa.org.
