Heavy Workers, Heavy Cost: Obese workers have twice the rate of workers
compensation claims as their thin co-workers, according to a study published in
April in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Duke University researchers, using eight years of data from 11,728 people
employed by Duke, found that the most overweight employees had 13 times more
missed days because of work-related injuries when compared with those with
normal body mass indexes. Medical claims from the same group were also seven
times higher.
Obese workers were ones with body mass indexes of 40 or higher. A 6-foot,
300-pound person, for example, has a BMI of just over 40. The U.S. average is
around 28, a value that is considered overweight. A 5-foot 9-inch man weighing
155 pounds has a healthy BMI of 23.
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