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AmTrust Financial Services as a workers’ compensation provider and claims operation has a significant presence in California.  Claims departments are located in Irvine, San Diego, Concord, and San Francisco.  

There are greater numbers of workers’ compensation claims in January than in any other month.  But while an increase because of holiday shopping usually means a similar increase in the number of seasonal workers, a new report on retail risks has found that these workers were more likely to get injured on the job in January rather than in November-December.

AmTrust Financial Services Inc. has found that the number of workers’ compensation injuries that are claimed for every $100,000 of a retailer’s payroll in the United States was 25% higher in January.

AmTrust is the third-largest provider of workers’ compensation insurance in the USA.  It analyzed more than 42,000 workers’ comp claims that were filed with the company by retailers during the five-year period 2017-2022.  The retail categories in the study included convenience/grocery, meat/fish, hardware, furniture, auto parts, beauty/barber, clothing, and dry goods.

Overall, January saw the highest number of workers’ compensation claims, according to AmTrust’s report. Claims related to strains and falls were also most likely to occur in that month.

The month of December, in contrast, saw the least reported injuries per $100,000 in payroll over the last five years.  

The report showed that strains make up 26% of claims reported and 29% of claims payouts among retail businesses. Falls followed closely, accounting for 19% of claims reported and 27% of claims payouts.

This seems odd, but there’s an explanation.  Although it would seem that December would be a time that frequency of injuries would rise, especially with strains, slips, and falls, it doesn’t because of the type of seasonal worker who regularly comes aboard in December.

Seasonal workers tend to be younger, on the average, and may be young people who come home from college while on holiday.

These young people tend to recover more quickly from mild injuries or choose not to report minor injuries.  They might rely on their health insurance or treat their injuries at home. They could also have access to other treatment options, such as their parents’ health care plans, compared to employees whose only recourse might be through workers’ compensation.

In January, there is seasonal cleanup, putting away boxes and merchandise from the holiday season that could lead to injury.
There are more weather elements. There’s more snow in January than in December.  Snow will contribute to some slips and falls in the post-holiday time when dealing with returns and inventory.

An executive of AmTrust stated that to cut down on workers’ compensation claims during and after the holiday season, retail organizations should not skip critical coming aboard and training sessions with their temporary workforce.

It can be difficult for retailers to think about some of the downstream elements when they're focused on their production because, for many retailers, this is the time of the year that can make or break their business, the same executive expressed.

It’s hard to focus on training seasonal workers when they’re only going to be employed for six to eight weeks, but there are some orientation practices that don't take a lot of time and energy but can help reduce the incidence of claims whether it's in December or January.

Other retail safety tips AmTrust highlighted include:
•    Placing heavy items at waist level and lighter items on higher shelves
•    Using safe lifting techniques and lifting aids
•    Keeping walking surfaces free of clutter
•    Enforcing proper footwear policies
•    Keeping walkways, exits and parking lots well-lit and maintained

Aside from creating a robust workplace safety training program, retail operators must also set merchandise racks correctly according to federal and state regulations and ensure employees know procedures of on-premises security, robberies, and shoplifting.

It’s not complicated to let seasonal workers know how to work safely and what they should look out for.  Encouraging seasonal workers to store things properly and put things back after they've been used also helps the customer experience as well as the overall operation to run more safely.

lonce@adjustercom.com, Lonce Lamonte, journalist, adjustercom, copyright with all rights reserved