Dollars & Sense

54
The number of fatalities that occurred out of the 51 million skier/snowboarder days reported for the 2011-12 season. Thirty-nine of the fatalities were skiers and 12 of the fatalities were snowboarders. In 2010, more than 6 million individuals participated in the winter sports of snowmobiling, snowboarding and ice skating. These sports accounted for more than 91,000 emergency room-treated injuries, according to the National Safety Council. During the past 10 years, about 41.5 people have died skiing and snowboarding per year on average, reports the National Ski Areas Association.

45%
The percentage of all residential building fire responses by fire departments caused by cooking from 2008 to 2010, according to a new report from the U.S. Fire Administration. Cooking remains the leading cause of all residential building fires and injuries. The report estimates 164,500 cooking fires in residential buildings occurred in the United States each year and resulted in an annual average of 110 deaths, 3,525 injuries and $309 million in property loss.

$1.1 Billion
The amount of property loss each year resulting from highway vehicle fires. Between 2008 and 2010, there were roughly 194,000 highway vehicle fires each year in the United States, says a new report examining the characteristics of highway vehicle fires. Accounting for 14 percent of fire department responses, the fires resulted in approximately 300 deaths, 1,250 injuries and $1.1 billion in property loss, according to the report, “Highway Vehicle Fires (2008-2010),” developed by USFA’s National Fire Data Center and based on data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System. Unintentional action (32 percent) was the leading cause of fires, and 86 percent of all fires occurred in passenger vehicles.

4,000
The minimum number of surgical mistakes that occur each year. Johns Hopkins patient safety researchers estimate that a surgeon in the United States leaves a foreign object, such as a sponge or a towel, inside a patient’s body after an operation 39 times a week, performs the wrong procedure on a patient 20 times a week and operates on the wrong body site 20 times a week. Researchers estimate that 80,000 of these so-called “never events” occurred in American hospitals between 1990 and 2010. The researchers estimate that 4,044 surgical never events occur in the United States each year.

Workers’ Comp Injuries
When it comes to high-severity workers’ compensation injuries, traffic accidents lead the way. Driver-related factors that are linked to traffic accidents include speeding, distraction, and impairment. There are differences between accidents for large trucks and for passenger vehicles, as well as impacts due to recessions. According to an NCCI report, risk varies by type of vehicle. While the frequency of truck fatalities is now very similar to the frequency of passenger vehicle fatalities, the frequency of nonfatal injuries is higher for passenger vehicles. Motor vehicle accidents are more likely to result in multiple claims, and severity is higher for motor vehicle claims from multiple-claim events.

$800 Million
The amount that the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved in disaster assistance for Superstorm Sandy survivors in New Jersey. More than $300 million in housing assistance was approved for more than 52,000 people. More than $42 million has been approved to help replace damaged property and to pay for costs not covered by insurance and other aid programs.

$4 Billion
The amount in criminal penalties that a U.S. judge accepted as an agreement for BP to plead guilty for its role in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon offshore oil spill disaster. The company faces civil penalties of up to $21 billion and separate state claims due to be heard at a trial starting in New Orleans on Feb. 25.