Personal Injury: Obesity Linked to Rising Worker Claims

Employers may soon be urging staff to hit the gym: a recent study has linked heavy employees to two times as many workers' compensation injuries as their thinner counterparts.

Obesity tied to workers' injury claims rate

The study, which was conducted at Duke University, focused on a possible link between the BMIs of workers and their workers' compensation claims. Compiled over eight years, statistics showed that obese employees had up to 13 times more lost workdays because of work-related injuries, and the cost of medical claims for their workplace injuries were seven times higher than their fit co-workers.