There are of course countless factors that could contribute to an individual in Pennsylvania suffering an injury while working. According to a study recently published in Archives of General Psychiatry one reason that may not always come to mind is an inability for a worker to sleep in the hours spent away from work. More specifically, the research links insomnia with around 274,000 workplace mistakes nationwide each year.

The study asked more than 10,000 people a series of questions regarding their sleeping habits and mistakes that had occurred at their place of employment. Of those individuals, 20 percent said that they had suffered insomnia for the period of at least one year. Regarding the mistakes, specific information was sought regarding incidents that cost the employer $500 or more.

Of the total number of workplace errors reported as part of the study, 7.2 percent of them were a result of workers suffering from insomnia. These accidents can result in more than just injuries to workers. According to the study, these mistakes accounted for 23.7 percent of employer costs accrued due to worker errors.

Interestingly, insomnia related errors in the workplace were found to cost employers more money than mistakes due to other reasons. The costs were determined to be $32,062 and $21,914, respectively. The study indicates that yearly the total is $3.1 billion. Clearly, insomnia related mistakes in the workplace can translate into great expense to the employers of those workers.

While the study does not go into depth regarding the types of mistakes committed, it is possible that many of them resulted in physical injuries to the workers involved. The ensuing benefits provided to injured employers via a workers' compensation claim probably contributed to the reported costs.

Source: The Huffington Post, "Insomnia costs $31.1 billion in workplace errors and accidents each year," Oct. 8, 2012