According to Pinnacol Assurance, a large portion of Colorado’s workplace fatalities are due to motor vehicle accidents. This may be because workers in certain professions are on the road more as part of their jobs, and they encourage employers to providesafe driver training to employees who drive more than occasionally for work.

Pinnacol analyzed the impact of motor vehicle accidents in the state, finding that they make up 40% of workplace fatalities. Pinnacol is Colorado’s largest comp insurer, covering 60% of business in the state, and receiving around 1,500 motor vehicle accident-related claims every year. These kinds of claims have cost the company $173 million over the past five years. Most accidents occurred between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays, peaking between July and September with the most expensive injuries occurring on Mondays.

They also found that 89% of accidents involve other cars, 26% involved people who weren’t wearing seatbelts, and 42% of claims involved drivers who were on the job less than one year. The most common injury types are strains, contusions, fractures, sprains, lacerations and other injuries. Workers in health care, truckers and noncommercial drivers like chauffeurs, autoservicers and police officers are those workers most at risk of motor vehicle accidents.

Jim McMillen, Pinnacol Assurance’s director of safety services said that there are more employees in nonprofessional driving roles on the roads for work. He added that distractions caused by technology are a factor, and that safe driving should be part of any safety program.

“Defensive driving training should be part of any risk management program in which employees must drive for work, even if they’re not considered professional drivers or are driving their personal vehicles. The truth is, most of us could stand to take more driving training, and we should always, under all circumstances, put our smartphones away and wear seatbelts,”he said.