Data center growth: What does it mean for workers’ comp pharmacy management?

Unlike traditional office buildings or manufacturing plants, data centers blend heavy infrastructure with advanced electrical engineering and continuous uptime requirements. The workers who maintain servers, cooling units, power distribution equipment and backup batteries face a unique mix of hazards.

One of the most serious exposures is high-voltage electrical work. Electricians, technicians and maintenance teams regularly interact with energized components capable of causing arc flashes or electrical shocks. These events can lead to severe burns, nerve damage, cardiac issues and other long-term complications, often resulting in high-severity claims.

Electrical injuries often involve complex treatment plans including medications for pain, infection control and wound care. Long-term recovery may require neuropathic pain treatments or rehabilitation-related medications.

Another major risk factor is heat. Servers and battery systems generate enormous amounts of heat but can malfunction. Burns or inhalation injuries resulting from these events are among the most expensive claims and often require hospitalization and extensive pharmaceutical therapy.

These injuries typically lead to prolonged medication use, including pain relievers, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs and, in some cases, psychological medications when trauma or stress symptoms develop after the incident.

Other risks involve working with heavy equipment, ergonomic strain, constant noise, respiratory hazards and round-the-clock operations that create an environment where a single mistake can lead to a serious incident.  

While data centers are often viewed as highly automated, many essential tasks still rely on physical labor. High-intensity physical demands — including repetitive, strenuous and awkward tasks like lifting, bending and overhead work — can lead to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). MSDs are already one of the most common causes of lost-time injuries across all industries.

Technicians regularly install or replace heavy servers, battery units and equipment racks which require maneuvering through narrow aisles, under-floor cabling and tight workspaces. Workers are frequently exposed to whole-body vibration from machinery, prolonged standing and heavy tool use, leading to a higher prevalence of injuries than other sectors.

MSD-related claims often involve frequent medication use, including anti-inflammatory drugs, muscle relaxants, topical pain treatments and occasionally opioids. These injuries also commonly require physical therapy and rehabilitation. Without strong clinical oversight, MSD claims can easily evolve into long-term pain management cases with rising medication costs.  

But workplace dangers are not limited to operational facilities. The construction phase itself is generating a surge in workers’ compensation exposure. Building a hyperscale data center requires extensive electrical installation, structural work, heavy machinery operation and elevated work environments.

As construction accelerates to meet AI-driven demand, injury rates during buildouts may increase. Slip-and-fall incidents, electrical injuries, struck-by accidents and equipment-related trauma are common risks during these projects.

This translates into short-term spikes in claims that often require immediate pharmaceutical treatment, such as pain management medications, anti-inflammatory drugs and sometimes short-term opioid therapy.  

Another factor that can drive up pharmacy costs is regulatory scrutiny. When an injury requires emergency care or hospitalization, it often becomes an OSHA-recordable event.

As the number of recordable incidents rises, organizations may face more regulatory attention and potentially higher insurance premiums.

This is why collaboration across the workers’ compensation team is so important, starting with the employer and insurance company, loss prevention team, claims administrator, medical equipment provider, healthcare provider and pharmacy benefit manager.

Regulatory oversight can also affect how providers prescribe medications. Clinicians may start with more aggressive treatments to manage pain or prevent infection.

While these decisions are often medically appropriate, they also require careful monitoring to ensure prescriptions stay aligned with evidence-based guidelines and do not develop into unnecessary long-term medication use.  

The rapid expansion of data centers will continue for many years to come.⁴ Workers’ comp payers will need strong pharmacy management strategies to control costs while ensuring high‑quality clinical care.

Medication oversight programs are essential in achieving this balance, by helping injured workers receive safe, effective treatment while preventing unnecessary or inappropriate medication use.

Key components of these programs include formulary management, prospective prescription review and ongoing monitoring of high-risk medications.

Formularies guide physicians toward medications proven to be safe and effective for specific injury types. Prospective review programs add another layer of protection by flagging potentially inappropriate prescriptions before they are filled. These might include high-dose opioid prescriptions, unnecessary compound medications or drugs that lack evidence for treating a specific injury.

Clinical pharmacist interventions are particularly valuable for complex cases, such as burns, chronic pain or neurological injuries from electrical incidents. Pharmacists can collaborate with physicians to fine-tune medication plans, reduce the risk of long-term drug dependency and support safe, effective recovery.  

The data center industry is expected to remain one of the fastest-growing sectors over the next several years. Global investment projections suggest trillions of dollars will be directed toward expanding digital infrastructure to support AI, cloud services and advanced computing.

For workers’ compensation payers, this expansion introduces both new challenges and opportunities. The unique hazard profile associated with data centers will likely produce injury patterns that differ from traditional industries, requiring tailored risk management and pharmacy oversight approaches.

The nature of AI adds an interesting angle to injury prevention and treatment. As Dr. Hall notes, “This is probably the first time that the technology that is being created will be used to help us treat the injuries that workers receive from supporting it.”