Three main accident categories for steep slope roofing are falls, struck by, and overexertion injuries. Falls are the most costly, averaging $65,618 per claim and 92 days lost. Within falls, falling from roofs averages $131,308 and 136 days lost per claim. Struck by injuries most often involve fasteners or wood, with wood averaging $50,118 and 84 days lost. Overexertion accounts for 15% of claims but only 6% of costs, with other overexertion averaging $11,259 and 43 days lost per claim.

1. Mechanisms of Injury
CU 721051 Steep Slope Roofing
Industry overview
Three main accident categories dominate the Steep Slope Roofing classification unit: falls, struck by, and
overexertion. Falls make up the largest portion of the claims and almost 85 percent of the costs in this industry.
TYPE OF AVERAGE COST AVERAGE DAYS
ACCIDENT PER CLAIM LOST PER CLAIM
Falls $65,618 92
Overexertion $11,784 48
Struck By $6,359 24
All Other $7,194 30
• Falls produce the most severe injuries, with 92 workdays
lost on average and almost $66,000 in costs.
• Struck by accidents are the next most common, but the © iStockphoto.com/Branislav
resulting injuries tend to be much less severe than those
from falls.
Page 1 of 4
Source of data: WorkSafeBC Data Warehouse for 2006–2008 (as of April 30, 2009)

2. Mechanisms of Injury
CU 721051 Steep Slope Roofing
Falls
At $65,000 per claim, falls cost more than two times the average of other accidents in this industry. Fall from
roof is the most costly fall type. Fall from roof also makes up almost half of all fall claims and more than two-
thirds of the costs. Fall from ladder and Fall onto or against objects are the next most common and costly
types of falls.
Fall from
scaffold,
staging, platform
Fall from roof, Other fall to lower level, and Fall from scaffold, staging, and platform result in significantly
longer duration, higher cost injuries than other fall types, as seen in the table below.
AVERAGE COST AVERAGE DAYS
TYPE OF FALL
PER CLAIM LOST PER CLAIM
Fall from roof $131,308 136
Fall from ladder $28,613 75
Fall onto or against objects $14,513 52
Fall from scaffold, staging, platform $70,543 96
Other Fall to Lower Level $31,501 97
All Other $3,545 23
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3. Mechanisms of Injury
CU 721051 Steep Slope Roofing
Struck by
Many different sources of injury contribute to struck by accidents in this industry. These accidents most often
result from Fasteners. Although injuries due to Wood or lumber occur less frequently, these injuries produce
the largest portion of struck by claim costs.
Struck by injuries involving Digging handtools—nonpowered produced the highest average cost per claim
between 2006 and 2008, but these costs resulted from just two claims. Injuries involving Cutting hand tools—
powered and Wood or lumber also produced severe injuries, with four and five claims respectively, resulting in
a higher than average number of workdays lost.
AVERAGE COST AVERAGE DAYS
SOURCE OF INJURY PER CLAIM LOST PER CLAIM
Wood, lumber $50,118 84
Fasteners $3,000 18
Cutting handtools – powered $38,119 88
Digging handtools - nonpowered $56,592 142
All Other $3,964 19
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4. Mechanisms of Injury
CU 721051 Steep Slope Roofing
Overexertion
Overexertion accidents account for 15 percent of all claims in this classification unit but make up only six
percent of the costs. Other overexertion is the source of most overexertion accidents and their costs.
Injuries involving other overexertion result in an average of 43 days lost per claim. By comparison,
overexertion accidents as a whole result in an average of 48 days lost per claim.
AVERAGE COST AVERAGE DAYS
TYPE OF ACCIDENT PER CLAIM LOST PER CLAIM
Other Overexertion $11,259 43
Overexertion in lifting $7,022 44
All Other $15,652 56
Page 4 of 4 MI 09-11