The cost of a lineworker injury extends into the crews and assignments that must cover the lost capacity. BLS estimated 3,830 cases involving days away from work among private-industry electrical power-line installers and repairers across 2023–2024. The median absence was 32 days, compared with eight across occupations. [1] A serious event can therefore affect staffing long after the initial emergency.
Prevention investments deserve a business case that captures those consequences and asks how much improvement is needed to justify the expenditure.
Claims are only part of the cost
National Safety Council data put the average workers’ compensation claim at $47,316 for accidents in 2022–2023. Lost-time claims caused by falls or slips averaged $54,499; burns averaged $64,973. [2] These multi-industry figures are useful benchmarks, but cannot substitute for a utility’s own claims, insurance arrangements and operating costs.
Other costs can include replacement labor, interrupted work, investigation time and retraining. Practitioner discussion also highlights lost earnings, psychological trauma and damage to crew trust. [5] Enforcement may add penalties: OSHA proposed $84,789 following the Dexter Fortson electrocution investigation and $49,650 after the Primoris T&D incident; Primoris contested its citations. [3] [4] These proposed amounts are separate from treatment and compensation.
Compare prevention options against the same problem
Evaluate planning, maintenance, training and supervision alongside digital checks and wearable warnings. Define the failure each option addresses, then measure its effect. Calculate employer costs consistently: distinguish insured payments from retained losses, avoid counting insurance and productivity savings twice, and budget for onboarding, integration and support. Test partial improvement rather than complete elimination of incidents.
Test an illustrative deployment budget
Consider 500 lineworkers and 164 support users. A planning assumption of 2.79% annual incident frequency gives about 14 cases. Mutually exclusive cost categories assign 70% of cases $100,000 each, 25% falls or slips $114,000, and 5% electrical shock $332,000, including modeled indirect costs. Annual exposure is $1,605,645. [8] These assumptions require replacement with utility-specific data.
An illustrative budget of $220,740 in annual subscriptions, $300,000 in onboarding and $150,000 for 500 wearable electrical field and fall sensors gives a three-year total of $1,112,220. Spreading upfront costs across three years yields an annualized cost of $370,740. [8] The scenarios test incident-cost savings alone, assuming full-year benefits; the percentages are planning inputs, not measured safety outcomes.
Annualized ROI scenarios
| Incident cost reduction | Annual avoided cost | Annual net benefit | Net ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25% | $401,411 | $30,671 | 8.3% |
| 50% | $802,823 | $432,083 | 116.5% |
| 75% | $1,204,234 | $833,494 | 224.8% |
Net benefit equals avoided cost less annualized deployment cost; net ROI divides that benefit by deployment cost. Values are rounded. Annual break-even requires a 23.1% reduction in modeled costs; first-year break-even is 41.8% against $670,740 cash outlay, assuming immediate full-year benefits. Rollout affects payback.
Evaluate the wider benefits separately
Improved loss experience can lower future workers’ compensation premiums for eligible experience-rated employers. [6] Confirm timing and amount with the carrier. Measure any retention benefit through actual turnover and recruitment costs.
Better evidence may reduce audit preparation and investigation effort. OSHA inspections still arise from complaints, referrals and targeted programs. [7] Hazard pay depends on employment terms and actual exposure; the example assumes no reduction. Measure corrected deviations, documentation time and response performance, adjusting longer-term incident comparisons for workload and job mix.
A utility platform example
SalvaIQ offers one way to combine procedural sign-offs, mobile PPE checks, sensing and auditable field evidence. Its supplied planning model provides the inputs for the illustration above. [8] The commercial question is whether the platform can deliver improvements beyond its full deployment cost under the utility’s conditions. Evaluate that question against the same baseline used for training, supervision and other prevention investments.
Sources
- BLS. SOII Table R66. Private industry, 2023–2024; DAFW cases and median days.
- National Safety Council. Workers Compensation Costs. NCCI accident years 2022–2023.
- OSHA. Dexter Fortson investigation. December 26, 2024; proposed penalties.
- OSHA. Primoris T and D investigation. March 13, 2026; proposed and contested penalties.
- Ken Lulow. The Real Cost of Cutting Corners Part 2. Line Worker Solutions, April 4, 2025; qualitative consequences, not cost estimates.
- NCCI. Insights From the Experience Rating Plan Review.
- OSHA. Current Enforcement Summary. FY 2025 inspection categories.
- SalvaIQ. ROI Model Lineman Accident Prevention. Supplied model; SWorker and SEField included; SVision excluded.