This is a MEMIC Winter Weather alert requesting that policyholders in the Northeast heavily sand and salt all sidewalks, pathways, stairs, and parking lots. These are locations most often cited in winter slip-and-fall injuries. Additionally, everyone is urged to use extra caution while driving and walking and exiting vehicles, and to wear appropriate footwear and traction enhancers.

Snow and ice forecasts anticipated for now through Saturday, Dec. 17, are likely to create dangerous, icy conditions conducive to slip-and-fall injuries. MEMIC, a leading workers’ compensation specialty insurer, has seen significant increases in slip-and-fall injuries during similar weather conditions that are preventable with sand, salt, and caution. 

In total, MEMIC sees more than 5,500 fall claims in a year, costing untold hardship and more than $38 million in medical and wage replacement costs. Slips and falls are among the most common workplace injuries. 

In 2018 and prior years, for example, a truck driver who slipped on ice and fractured a hip was kept out of work at a cost of more than $125,000 in medical and rehabilitation costs; a maintenance worker who suffered a head injury falling on ice experienced continued vision impairment and dizziness leading to extended treatment in excess of $250,000; and an employee became paraplegic from spinal cord injury after slipping in a parking lot at a treatment and wage replacement cost of nearly $1.5 million.

Safety tips on preventing slip and fall injuries are available at memic.com/winter-safety