The use of state workers' compensation administrative data to identify injury scenarios and quantify costs of work-related traumatic brain injuries.

PROBLEM

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a public health problem but little is known about the nature of that problem in the working population.

METHOD

The author used a national definition to identify cases in Washington State from workers' compensation (WC) hospital billing data, quantified the cost of WC insurance benefits using actuarial cost estimates, and identified high risk industries using ANSI Z16.2 typology.

RESULTS

There were 928 cases of TBI with a lifetime claim cost of $159 million from the Washington State Fund (1994-2001). Sixty percent of injuries resulted in death or disability. The highest risks of TBI are concentrated in 16 industrial insurance risk classes and the highest costs in 19 North American Industry Classification codes. Injury scenarios were identified for nine industrial insurance risk classes.

CONCLUSIONS

TBI is a disabling and costly workplace injury in the state of Washington, affecting even teenagers and seniors who are not generally considered to be part of the workforce. Injury typology codes provide useful information for improving workplace safety.

IMPACT ON INDUSTRY

This research provides industry with quantitative information regarding the cost of work-related traumatic brain injury and the usefulness of using workers' compensation claims data to reduce the burden of workplace injury.