Workplace Injuries, Illnesses Continue to Decline, BLS Confirms

There were approximately 2.8 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses reported by private industry employers in 2017, which occurred at a rate of 2.8 cases per 100 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this month. State-by-state comparison of injury-illness incidence rates
Click to enlarge Private industry employers reported nearly 45,800 fewer nonfatal injury and illness cases in 2017 compared to a year earlier, according to estimates from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII). Among the findings reported by the bureau:

• The 2017 rate of total recordable cases (TRC) fell 0.1 cases per 100 FTE workers to continue a pattern of declines that, apart from 2012, occurred annually since 2004.
• The rates for different types of cases -- days away from work (DAFW), days of job transfer or restriction only (DJTR), and other recordable cases (ORC) -- were unchanged from a year earlier.
• The rate for DJTR cases has remained at 0.7 cases per 100 FTE workers since 2011.
• Nearly one-third of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses resulted in days away from work.
• Among the 19 private industry sectors, only manufacturing and finance and insurance experienced statistically significant changes in their overall rates of nonfatal injuries and illnesses in 2017 -- each declined by 0.1 cases per 100 FTE workers compared to 2016.

There were 882,730 occupational injuries and illnesses in 2017 that resulted in days away from work in private industry, essentially unchanged from 2016. The private industry incidence rate for DAFW cases was 89.4 cases per 10,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers in 2017. The median days away from work -- a key measure of the severity of cases -- was 8 in 2017, unchanged from 2016.