How this is calculated

Workers' Comp Exposure

Counts who could be treated as your workers — employees plus any subcontractors who cannot show their own coverage — and sets the illustrative cost of one serious injury for that kind of work against whether a policy would respond.

Step by step

Subcontractors who show their own coverage are excluded from the count; those who do not, or where you are unsure, are counted alongside employees.
Work type sets the illustrative cost of one serious lost-time injury: office work $45,000, retail and light warehouse $90,000, construction and trades $180,000.
When a policy covers your people, the illustrated uncovered exposure is nil.
When there is no policy, or the answer is unknown, the full illustrative claim cost is shown as uncovered.
Where owners are excluded, the exposure is shown for the owners themselves — the policy responds for staff but not for them, so the figure is what an owner's own injury would sit against.
With no employees and no subcontractors counted, the illustration is still shown, but most states exempt a business with nobody to cover and the thresholds vary.

The formula

Counted workers = employees + subcontractors without proof of coverage. Exposure = illustrative claim cost when no policy responds, otherwise nil.

Assumptions and their default values

Some of these change with the state you select.

Illustrative serious-injury cost — office work $45,000

Illustrative serious-injury cost — retail, hospitality, light warehouse $90,000

Illustrative serious-injury cost — construction and trades $180,000

Where the figures come from

Broad published averages for the total cost of a serious lost-time workers' compensation claim by work type (illustrative, reviewed periodically).

What this method does not show

Deliberately absent: any rate, class code, or experience modifier. Those produce a price, which this tool must never do — and a price built without a loss run or filed rates would be wrong in a way a business owner could act on.

Important disclosures

This tool is educational only. It illustrates potential exposure using the assumptions shown — it is not insurance advice, a price, or an offer of coverage, and it does not determine whether any coverage amount is right for you. Policy language varies; review your actual policy and discuss your situation with a licensed insurance professional.
Workers' compensation is governed by state law. Who must be covered, whether owners and officers may be excluded, how subcontractors are treated, and what applies to a business operating without coverage all vary by state and can change.
The serious-injury figures are broad published averages across many claims. An individual claim can cost a fraction of them or many multiples — catastrophic injuries reach into seven figures.
This tool does not calculate a rate, a class code, or an experience modifier, and nothing here indicates what coverage would cost. Those depend on filed rates, payroll audits and loss history that no calculator can see.
Collecting a certificate of insurance from a subcontractor is not the same as verifying coverage was in force on the day of a loss.

Now that you can see the method, the numbers are worth a conversation.

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