Current and historical workers’ compensation data shows how early job tenure, training, injury type, and industry conditions can influence new-hire safety and claim outcomes.
New employees may still be learning workplace layouts, equipment, procedures, traffic patterns, and job-specific hazards. The 2026 Injury Impact Report from Travelers, based on more than 1.2 million workers’ compensation claims received from 2021 through 2025, found that first-year employees accounted for approximately 37% of injuries and 34% of overall claim costs.
For warehouses, manufacturing plants, and distribution centers, these findings reinforce the importance of sustained onboarding, supervision, and early-tenure coaching. Voxel’s industrial intelligence can complement these established controls with continuous visibility into supported risks involving ergonomics, PPE, vehicles, equipment, and workplace conditions.
Travelers’ 2026 Injury Impact Report analyzed more than 1.2 million workers’ compensation claims received from 2021 through 2025. The analysis focused on indemnity claims in which injured employees could not immediately return to work and incurred medical costs, providing a broad view of lost-time injury patterns across industries and business sizes.
First-year employees accounted for approximately 37% of injuries in Travelers’ latest analysis. The finding highlights why early employment is an important period for safety teams, as workers may still be becoming familiar with equipment, procedures, physical demands, and site-specific hazards.
Employees in their first year generated 34% of claim costs across Travelers’ 2021–2025 claims data. The concentration shows how early-tenure injuries can affect workers’ compensation performance as well as employee well-being, particularly for employers that regularly onboard significant numbers of new workers.
Injuries involving first-year employees generated more than 5 million missed workdays during the five-year period. Extended absences can affect recovery, workforce availability, scheduling, overtime, and return-to-work planning, increasing the operational importance of injury prevention during the first year.
New employees represented 51% of injuries in restaurants within Travelers’ claims data. Frequent hiring and employee turnover can require employers to repeat onboarding and task-specific safety instruction consistently as new workers enter operations.
First-year workers accounted for 46% of injuries among small businesses. Smaller organizations may operate with leaner teams, making structured onboarding, clear procedures, and active supervision particularly valuable when employees are unfamiliar with their jobs.
Travelers found that first-year employees represented 44% of injuries in construction. Changing worksites, physical work, equipment, and multiple concurrent hazards can make workplace-specific instruction and continued safety reinforcement important as workers gain experience.
Across Travelers’ overall claims population, injured employees missed an average of 80 days. The figure applies to all analyzed indemnity claims rather than first-year workers alone and illustrates how the effects of a workplace injury can extend far beyond the initial incident.
Construction recorded the highest industry average in Travelers’ report at 114 missed days per injury. Long recovery periods can increase the impact of individual claims on workforce availability, project planning, transitional work, and claims management.
Injured transportation employees missed an average of 94 workdays. This is especially relevant to logistics operations where vehicles, material movement, and workforce changes can converge during periods of increased activity.
Manufacturing employees with covered injuries missed an average of 76 workdays. Extended absences can affect production schedules and staffing, strengthening the value of prevention, early reporting, and structured return-to-work planning.
Employees at small businesses missed an average of 86 workdays per injury, six days more than the overall Travelers average. For smaller teams, extended absences may have an especially visible impact on workload distribution and operating capacity.
Workers who had been on the job for less than one month experienced four times more claims than employees with more than one year of tenure. The finding reinforces the importance of task-specific instruction and active supervision during the earliest stage of employment.
Institute for Work & Health data found a 3.14 relative rate for short-tenure workers in 2007 compared with employees who had more than a year in their jobs. Although historical and Canadian, the data shows that elevated early-tenure claim risk remained substantial over time.
Men in their first month at a job had a claim rate five times higher than men with more than one year of tenure. The research also found that job tenure explained part of the injury-risk difference often associated with worker age.
For women, workers in their first month had a claim rate 3.3 times higher than women with more than one year of tenure. The finding further supports focusing early safety efforts on familiarity with tasks and workplace hazards.
Claim rates declined rapidly as workers accumulated experience. Employees in their second month had a rate just over half that of workers in their first month, showing how quickly familiarity with a job can influence injury patterns.
Despite the decline, employees in their second month still recorded double the claim rate of workers with more than one year of tenure. This suggests safety support should continue well beyond a worker’s first days on the job.
Institute for Work & Health research found that over 75% of workers surveyed during their first 12 months reported receiving no health and safety training. Although based on older Canadian data, the finding emphasizes the importance of making workplace safety training systematic for newly hired employees.
Travelers’ earlier Injury Impact Report analyzed more than 1.5 million workers’ compensation claims from 2015 through 2019 and provides additional detail on the causes of first-year injuries.
Overexertion accounted for 27% of claims involving first-year workers. Lifting, pushing, pulling, and other physical tasks can make ergonomic instruction, suitable equipment, and job design especially relevant as employees learn new work methods.
Slips, trips, and falls represented 22% of claims among first-year employees. New workers can benefit from clear orientation around travel routes, walking surfaces, elevated areas, housekeeping practices, and other location-specific conditions.
Being struck by an object accounted for 14% of claims. In industrial facilities, materials, machinery, and vehicle movement can create exposure that requires clear procedures, workplace awareness, and appropriate separation controls.
Cuts and punctures accounted for 6% of claims involving first-year employees. Proper tools, machine safeguards, PPE where required, and job-specific instruction can help address these risks as workers become familiar with equipment and materials.
Caught-in or caught-between events represented 6% of claims among first-year workers. Machine guarding, lockout/tagout where applicable, safe material handling, and appropriate authorization remain fundamental protections around industrial equipment.
Motor vehicle accidents accounted for 6% of claims. Industrial facilities can also reinforce vehicle safety around powered industrial trucks, stopping behavior, speed, traffic routes, and pedestrian interactions.
The most expensive first-year claim categories represented only 8% of claims but generated 26% of total claim costs. These categories included amputations, multiple traumas, electric shock, and dislocations, illustrating why less frequent but high-severity hazards deserve focused controls.
At its Orange, California distribution facility, MSI reduced workers’ compensation costs by 73% within six months. Voxel was one of the core safety initiatives implemented at the site alongside MSI’s established safety leadership and frontline engagement.
During the same six-month period, MSI achieved a 50% reduction in lost-time injuries at its Orange facility. The results supported expansion to four additional facilities, extending more consistent visibility into workplace safety risks across locations.
At its featured cold-storage facility, Americold achieved a 70% reduction in injuries and a 100% reduction in lost-time days. The facility also generated $1.1 million in EBITDA savings as part of its broader safety transformation.
After six months at its first site, Autokiniton reduced monthly injury costs by 47%. The manufacturer also reduced injury frequency by 48% and leading indicators by 39% before expanding Voxel to four additional facilities.
These outcomes highlight measurable results achieved within individual Voxel customer environments, with performance reflecting each organization’s baseline conditions, safety program, priorities, and implementation approach.
Strong new-hire safety begins with clear expectations and continues as employees gain practical experience. OSHA’s safety guidance emphasizes effective communication and coordination when staffing agencies and host employers work together, including ensuring workers understand site hazards and the controls needed to address them.
Organizations can strengthen early-tenure safety by focusing on five priorities:
Voxel’s risk management platform works with 95% of existing IP cameras and can deploy to a site in 48 hours using existing camera infrastructure. Relevant capabilities include ergonomic monitoring, vehicle safety, PPE monitoring, area controls, and Actions workflows.
Voxel focuses on site-related risks rather than individual identification, with no facial recognition and face and body blurring. These capabilities can help safety teams maintain consistent visibility as workforce composition and worker experience change.
New employees may still be learning equipment, tasks, procedures, workplace layouts, traffic patterns, and site-specific hazards. Travelers’ current analysis found that first-year employees accounted for approximately 37% of injuries in its claims data, while Institute for Work & Health research found that claim rates were especially elevated during the first month of employment.
Travelers’ 2026 Injury Impact Report found first-year workers accounted for 34% of claim costs in its 2021–2025 indemnity claims analysis. The percentage reflects Travelers’ claims experience across industries and businesses of different sizes.
Safety training should continue beyond initial orientation as workers gain experience and encounter workplace conditions in practice. Research showing that claim rates decline between the first and second months but remain higher than rates among workers with more than a year of tenure supports continued supervision, coaching, and refresher instruction during early employment.
Voxel analyzes compatible camera feeds for supported conditions involving ergonomics, PPE, vehicles, pedestrians, equipment, and workplace areas. This continuous visibility can help safety teams identify recurring risk patterns, prioritize coaching, assign corrective actions, and evaluate whether workplace interventions are improving observable conditions.
MSI reduced workers’ compensation costs by 73% and lost-time injuries by 50% within six months at its Orange facility, while Autokiniton reduced monthly injury costs by 47% and injury frequency by 48% after six months at its first site. These outcomes reflect individual customer environments, baseline conditions, safety programs, and implementation choices rather than universal expected results.
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