Today is the Most Dangerous Day for Colorado Workers, Report Shows

Jan. 9 is the most dangerous day of the year for Colorado workers, a new report shows.

Pinnacol Assurance analyzed data to identify the most dangerous day for workers in Colorado, and found that over the past five years that day was consistently Jan. 9.

Pinnacol, Colorado’s largest workers’ compensation carrier, tracks trends in worker injuries. Pinnacol’s claims data showed a 62% spike in injuries on Jan. 9, with an average of 198 workers getting injured in Colorado on this day.

Most injuries were “slip, trip and fall on ice or snow,” one of the more common workers’ comp injuries the carrier reports seeing.

“Snowy weather is part of Colorado’s allure and charm, and anyone who’s lived or run a business here knows conditions can change rapidly,” Ellen Sarvay, a Pinnacol safety consultant, said in a statement. “So it’s no surprise that we see a lot of these injuries.”

Injuries from slips, trips and falls are usually relatively minor, causing minor bumps, bruises and cuts. However, Pinnacol sees more severe injuries every year, including serious muscle injuries, bone breaks and even head injuries, which can be very serious and even life-threatening, according to Pinnacol.

The most common injuries Pinnacol recorded on Jan. 9 were:

1. Slip, trip or fall
2. Strains
3. Struck (usually by an object)
4. Strikes (usually a worker makes contact with an object, such as hitting their head on a shelf)
5. Cuts

The industries contributing most to injuries on Jan. 9 were professional/clerical (office workers) and healthcare.

Pinnacol analyzed additional major industries in Colorado and found the most dangerous days for those respective sectors were: Construction and natural resources (July 28); education (Feb. 4); service and hospitality (July 13).