Auto technician injuries are all too common, but a recent safety survey suggests your business may be able to greatly reduce the risk with more training for new hires. Review the survey results to see how you can better protect your technicians and your business.

Auto Technician Injury Statistics

Every occupation has risks, but some jobs pose a higher risk than others. Auto technician happens to be one of them. As the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) notes:

Mechanics are more likely than the average worker to be injured or killed on the job, as evidenced by higher rates of fatalities and injuries and illnesses. For both fatal and nonfatal injuries, contact with objects and equipment, such as parts and materials and vehicles, represents a significant hazard. Many of the remaining nonfatal cases are due to overexertion and sprains and strains.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports that automotive technicians and repairers, bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists experience an average of 17,230 non-fatal injuries at work each year.

Cuts, sprains, eye injuries and chemical burns are some of the most common injuries for technicians. However, any injury can result in time away from work, lost wages, medical bills, lower productivity and workers’ compensation claims.

Auto Repair Injury Prevention Survey

While information about the dangers auto technicians face at work has been known for a while, underlying causes have been less understood. Many assumed that age and experience played a leading role. But a new industry survey suggests that training, or the lack of it, may have a bigger impact on safety, no matter the age or experience of the technician.

The survey in question comes from GMG EnviroSafe, a top provider of OSHA and EPA compliance services for auto repair facilities, including body shops and dealerships. To help its auto repair clients, the company decided to conduct a study on workplace injuries.

The study crunched the numbers on over 3,500 injuries to employees at more than 1,100 collision repair centers across the country occurring over a 10-year period. The survey revealed some interesting results.

Survey Results

Almost three out of five injuries (57%) occurred in a technician’s first two years of work at a facility, with 38% of injuries occurring during the first year alone. After this initial period on the job, the incidence of injuries fell off notably:

  • 10% of injuries occurred from the second to third year
  • 7% of injuries occurred from the third to fourth year
  • 5% of injuries occurred from the fourth to fifth year

However, the researchers noticed something interesting. Auto technicians in the 18–24 age range had the fewest injuries of all the workers surveyed. These young technicians accounted for only about 8% of the total injuries sustained, while older and often more experienced workers had more injuries. A higher average of 11% to 12% of injuries was consistent across these other technician age groups.

The researchers at GMG EnviroSafe came to the conclusion that age and experience were not the most important factors impacting injuries. Instead, a lack of familiarity with a particular facility or its operations and procedures resulted in a higher likelihood that an accident would occur.

Early Training Helps Prevent Injuries

Being that it’s in the business of providing safety training and compliance services to auto repair businesses, the company conducting the survey decided to test whether enhanced safety training would make a difference for injury rates. Results show that it did.

GMG EnviroSafe reports that it enhanced its “Day 1” training, providing technicians with OSHA training their first day, requiring the completion of a number of modules, issuing technicians proper PPE and having technicians sign an agreement certifying they understood their training and the workplace’s safety expectations.

For technicians that completed the above training, first-year injury rates fell by 33% and remained lower in subsequent years on the job. The company has since decided to expand the program further, adding check-in points throughout the first two years and a signed safety recommitment agreement after the first year.

Finally, the survey report notes that auto repair businesses participating in the safety program have also experienced added benefits. Employee loyalty and retention is up, a goal which remains a challenge for many aftermarket businesses.

Improving Safety at Your Business

Like those in the survey, you can help reduce auto technician injuries at your business by putting safety first. While you could hire experts to plan a comprehensive program, the basic concepts are available to everyone.

Auto technicians seem to do well in predictable work environments. But when something changes, the risk of an injury increases. Manage these common hazards, to better control your risk:

  • New co-workers: A new, untrained technician is not only a risk to themselves. They can also pose a risk to the other technicians around them. Minimize the risk by training the new employee on how to work in your shop. Focus the training on processes, procedures and equipment and introduce the new technician to others in the shop. Prioritize safety by providing PPE and having technicians sign a safety agreement.
  • New workplace layouts: Moving to a new shop or reorganizing an existing shop is exciting for everyone, but a new layout can increase the risk of an injury. From trip hazards to machines, chemicals and electricity, the risks are everywhere. Make sure all of your technicians understand where tools, equipment, pathways and hazards are located.
  • New workplace processes: Even if all your personnel and floorplans are unchanged, injury risk can increase if a new process is introduced to the workplace. Extra vigilance is needed, such as when a piece of equipment that will now be powered off has previously been left on. Make sure everyone is informed about and understands any new processes.
  • New materials, tools and equipment: Shops regularly upgrade or acquire new materials, tools and equipment to increase productivity and service capabilities. But when they are new and unfamiliar, these upgrades can pose a risk. Make sure everyone is trained on the proper procedures for using any new materials, tools or equipment in the shop.

Insurance to Manage Your Risks

Caring about the safety of your technicians can go a long way toward minimizing the risk to your business. Even so, training and safety programs are unlikely to prevent all injuries. Plus, businesses in the aftermarket industry can face numerous risks from other hazards. The right insurance protection can help protect you against these risks.

With Lockton Affinity Aftermarket, you have access to coverage tailored to the risks you face. We’re part of the world’s largest private insurance brokerage, offering you access to expertise and protection that is unique to the market. See what our coverage can do for you at LocktonAffinityAftermarket.com.