Recent Trends in Restaurant Claims

AmTrust Financial’s review of restaurant class codes reveals average claims costs vary widely across different injuries, lost time, seasonality, geographical and restaurant types

In an industry that offers a variety of different jobs to those of all ages and skillsets, restaurant workers face a variety of potential risks for common injuries that lead to lost time in the workplace. Due to the nature of the business, work-related injuries in commercial kitchens include:

Cuts, punctures and scrapes
Burns from hot surfaces or oil
Muscle strains and sprains from either slips and falls, repetitive motions, standing in the same place for long periods of time or lifting heavy objects

Our Restaurant Risk Report takes a deeper dive into:

Industry loss ratio trends
Common restaurant workers’ injuries and lost time in the workplace
The impact seasonality has on increased injury risk
How to implement loss control best practices to help reduce injury risk in restaurants

*Statistics cited in this document are based on 84,006 claims by AmTrust clients with loss payments from 2013 to 2017.

Cuts and Scrapes Hurt

Slip and fall accounts for 4.5 times more in paid losses than punctures or cuts.

Note: Graph shapes are not representative of the actual paid loss amount. *Other constitutes motor vehicles $20.1M, strike against/step on $12.7M and caught in or between 5.7M.

Cuts, punctures or scrapes make up a third of restaurant claims reported

In an industry where slicing & dicing plays a major role in food preparation, it’s not a surprise that cuts, punctures and scrapes make up a third of restaurant claims reported. However, there are certain measures that can be employed to help reduce the severity of these injuries.

How long will a worker be out

Summertime Risks Heat Up

Overall, June, July, & August have the highest reported restaurant workers’ comp accidents.

Loss Control Details

From Memorial Day to Labor Day, the restaurant work force nearly doubles. And, these inexperienced and/or newly hired seasonal workers are more likely to be injured than those who have been on the job for a while. Always assume new employees have no safety training at all, and then provide it.

A few loss control best practices to implement over the summer to help reduce the risk of workers’ injuries include: