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Bureau of Labor Statistics
Releases 2005 Workplace Injury and Illness Data
Nonfatal workplace injuries
and illnesses occurred at a rate of 4.6 cases per 100 equivalent
full-time workers among private industry employers in 2005, according
to the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses by the Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. Department of Labor. This was
a decline from the rate of 4.8 cases per 100 equivalent full-time
workers reported by the BLS for 2004. The rate resulted from
a total of 4.2 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses in private
industry workplaces during 2005, relatively unchanged compared
to 2004, and a 2 percent increase in the number of hours worked.
Incidence rates for injuries and illnesses combined declined
significantly in 2005 for most case types, with the exception
of cases with days away from work.
This release is the second
in a series of three releases from the BLS covering occupational
safety and health statistics in 2005. The first release, in August
2006, covered work-related fatalities from the 2005 National
Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. In November 2006, a third
release will provide details from the Survey of Occupational
Injuries and Illnesses on the more seriously injured and ill
workers and on the circumstances of their injuries and illnesses.
“More seriously” is defined in this survey as cases
requiring at least one day away from work to recuperate.
Goods-producing industries
as a whole had an injury and illness incidence rate of 6.2 cases
per 100 equivalent full-time workers, while service-providing
industries had a rate of 4.1 cases per 100 equivalent full-time
workers. The incidence rate for goods-producing industries declined
by 0.3 cases and the rate for service-providing industries fell
by 0.1 case per 100 equivalent full-time workers compared to
the rates reported for 2004. Among goods-producing industry sectors,
incidence rates during 2005 ranged from 3.6 cases per 100 full-time
workers in mining to 6.3 cases per 100 full-time workers in construction
and in manufacturing. While rates among service-providing industry
sectors ranged up to 7.0 cases per 100 full-time workers in transportation
and warehousing, finance and insurance had the lowest rate within
this domain at 1.0 case. Despite this low rate, finance and insurance
was the only industry sector to experience a statistically significant
increase in the overall incidence rate in 2005, rising by 0.1
case per 100 full-time workers.
Small establishments (those
employing 1 to 10 workers) reported the lowest rate for injuries
and illnesses combined (2.0 cases per 100 full-time workers),
while mid-size establishments (those employing 50 to 249 workers)
reported the highest rate (5.8 cases per 100 full-time workers).
While incidence rates remained relatively unchanged for establishments
employing fewer than 1,000 workers, the rate for large establishments
(those employing 1,000 or more workers) declined significantly
in 2005 to 5.2 cases per 100 full-time workers, down from 5.4
in 2004.
Fourteen industries, each
having at least 100,000 injuries and illnesses combined, accounted
for slightly more than 1.9 million cases (46 percent) of the
4.2 million total. These same fourteen industries also reported
having at least 100,000 injuries and illnesses in both of the
previous two years. Hospitals (NAICS 622) has topped this group
of industries in each of the last three years, followed by nursing
and residential care facilities (NAICS 623). (NAICS is the North
American Industry Classification System, which the Survey began
using in 2003 as the means of classifying businesses by the type
of activity in which they are primarily engaged.)
Approximately 2.2 million
injuries and illnesses were cases with days away from work, job
transfer, or restriction; that is, they required recuperation
away from work, transfer to another job, restricted duties at
work, or a combination of these actions. The remaining 2.0 million
injuries and illnesses were other recordable cases that did not
result in time away from work. The incidence rate for cases with
days away from work, job transfer, or restriction was 2.4 cases
per 100 workers, and the rate for other recordable cases was
2.2. Both of these rates decreased by 0.1 case per 100 equivalent
full-time workers from 2004.
Cases with days away from
work, job transfer, or restriction are comprised of two case
types; those requiring at least one day away from work, with
or without job transfer or restriction, and those requiring only
job transfer or restriction. The latter case type may involve
shortened work hours, a temporary job change, or temporary restrictions
on a worker’s regular duties; for example, no heavy lifting.
Separately, the rate for cases with days away from work was 1.4
cases per 100 workers (unchanged from 2004) and the rate for
cases with job transfer or restriction was 1.0 case per 100 workers
(down from 1.1 cases in 2004). The rate in manufacturing for
cases with job transfer or restriction (2.0) was higher than
the rate for days-away-from-work cases (1.5). Among the remaining
industry sectors included in this chart, the rate for cases with
days away from work was higher than the rate for cases with job
transfer or restriction.
Source: BLS News Releases
Click here for a full copy of the 29 page report
in Adobe pdf format.
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