I always look forward to this time of year and following the Little League World Series, as teams from all over the world converge on South Williamsport, PA, having earned their spot in the prestigious tournament that began in 1947. Watching 10–12-year-old athletes compete at a very high level is exciting and rewarding. Whether it is 82-mph fastballs, 12-K complete games, or the first girl with three hits in the LLWS, there is non-stop action in every game played.
Baseball combines strategy and skill in unique ways, and during the game – strategy and/or skill is determined successful or not by human umpires. Sometimes this leads to contentious interaction as sides argue the umpire’s observation/interpretation of events. The question often comes down to whether a baserunner is safe or out [unsafe].
To help answer the question, technology (the use of cameras for replay and review) has provided increasingly more ways to assist umpires in making the correct call relating to “safeness.” Taking time to review plays offers the best attempt to assess the accuracy of the situation – and answer the question – is the baserunner safe or unsafe?
Workers safe or unsafe?
Consider thinking about safety in the workplace in the same way. At QIC, we provide program reviews to our clients running safety programs – in order to accurately assess their program’s effectiveness. Like reviewing a baseball play, our account management team helps clients determine whether their employees are safe or unsafe.
As cited in this post by Safety+Health, Liberty Mutual’s recent Workplace Safety Index provides a review of the U.S. workforce – helping us to accurately assess whether U.S. workers in general are safe or unsafe. According to Liberty Mutual, U.S. employers’ injury costs were a whopping $58.6 billion, based on 2020 data. To compile the index, they used their own data in conjunction with data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI).
The Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index shows categories of the top 10 costliest injuries/illnesses. Categories were determined by ranking events which caused employees to miss at least five days of work, analyzing workers’ compensation costs and then scaling according to NASI total cost. These 10 categories accounted for approximately 80% of the $58.6 billion total injury cost.
I encourage you to read the Liberty Mutual study here – and you make the call. Safe or unsafe?
