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BLS injuries and illnesses report provides critical insights for employers


Workplace safety has benefited from an increased focus across all industry sectors, as employers and regulators prioritize the health and well-being of the workforce. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) annual report is a key document that spotlights improvements in incident prevention but also identifies the areas that require continued attention and resources. It enables employers to compare their safety performance with industry averages and provides critical insights into the sector risks.

Injuries vs. illness cases

The rate of recordable workplace injuries and illnesses in 2023 fell to its lowest level in 20 years according to the 2023 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses report released November 8. While this is impressive, it's important to note that this decline was driven by a 56.6 percent drop in illnesses to 200,100 cases in 2023, the lowest number since 2019. This number reflects a 72.6 percent decrease in respiratory illness cases, which dropped to 100,200 cases in 2023. The incidence rate of illnesses decreased significantly to 19.0 cases per 10,000 FTE workers, from 45.2. Notably, respiratory illnesses occurred at a rate of 9.5 cases per 10,000 FTE workers down from 35.8. This suggests pandemic-related safety measures such as improved ventilation, heightened hygiene awareness, and enhanced PPE had an impact on lowering respiratory illnesses.

In contrast, although injury rates dropped slightly to a rate of 2.2 cases per 100 FTE workers from 2.3 in 2022, the total number of injuries (2,368,900) was essentially unchanged from 2022. Increases in injuries occurred in healthcare and social assistance, accommodation and food service, arts, entertainment, and recreation, and utilities sectors. The total recordable rate in agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting (4.2) and utilities (1.8) both increased slightly, by 0.1 per 100 FTE workers. Injuries decreased in manufacturing by 21,400 to 326,400 cases, and injuries in wholesale trade fell by 11,900 to 127,000 cases.

In total, private industry employers reported 2.6 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2023, down 8.4 percent from 2022. The total recordable case rate dropped to 2.4 cases per 100 full-time workers, the lowest since the data series began in 2003. The estimates are from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), which relies on OSHA recordkeeping requirements. The estimates may underestimate the true scale of injuries since they exclude self-employed workers, small farms, volunteers, and federal employees.

DART and TRIR rates

DART, or Days Away and Restricted Time, calculates the number of injuries the employer suffered in a calendar year that required days away from work or work restrictions. It's an important safety performance metric used by OSHA and in workers comp and is calculated in a way that makes employers of any size directly comparable. To understand the effectiveness of your company's safety program, there is a handy tool on the BLS website to check your company's rate against state industry data. Similarly, the tool can compare the total recordable incident rate (TRIR) to the state industry data.

Key industry insights

Although many industries saw improvements, others grapple with persistent challenges.

Healthcare and Social Assistance

Despite a decrease in the total recordable injuries and illnesses in private industry health care and social assistance to 562,500 cases from 665,300 in 2022, this sector saw an increase in physical injuries. The drop in the incidence rate of respiratory illness to 44.1 cases per 10,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers in 2023 from 134.8 in 2022 shows the progress the industry has made addressing this problem. However, the increase in physical injury cases by 27,800 cases to 471,600 is reflective of the physical demands of the jobs, the fast-paced and stressful environment, and incidents of workplace violence, particularly in emergency settings. It suggests the need for enhanced ergonomic tools, equipment, technology, and training,

Manufacturing

Cases in manufacturing declined in 2023 to 355,800, down from 396,800 cases in 2022 and the TRC incidence rate was 2.8. The incident rates varied significantly by type of manufacturing. Food manufacturing had 61,400 total injury and illness cases in 2023 occurring at a rate of 3.6 cases per 100 FTE workers, down from 4.6 in 2022. High incident rates (equal to or greater than 5.5) occurred in the sub-sectors of manufacturing -truss, travel trailer and camper, wood container and pallet, cut stone and stone product, and motor home.

Transportation and Warehousing

This sector reduced its injury rate to 4.5 per 100 FTE workers. However, couriers and messengers had an incident rate of 9.2 cases per 100 FTE workers, the fifth highest rate of all industries. There were 77,000 total cases in 2023, representing 29 percent of the total cases in the transportation and warehousing sector (265,700).

Retail Trade

While most retail areas showed improvement, food and beverage stores experienced a 6.5 percent increase in injuries from 73,500 to 78,200, highlighting a need to study causes of incidents and implement more robust safety measures. Notably, days away from work decreased to 1.5 cases per 100 FTE workers down from 2.9, but days of job transfer or restriction increased 21.3 percent to 25,500 cases, from 21,000 cases, suggesting improved return-to-work efforts. Overall, in retail trade, the incident rate decreased to 3.1 cases per 10,000 FTE workers down from 3.7 with a marked decline in respiratory illness to 9.1 from 67.3 in 2022.

Construction

The construction industry reported 2.3 nonfatal occupational injuries or illnesses per 100 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers, a modest drop from 2.4 in 2022. However, the total number of reported nonfatal injuries and illnesses increased by 2.1 percent, climbing from 169,600 cases in 2022 to 173,200 in 2023 and the percentage it represents of total recordable nonfatal injuries and illnesses grew from 6 percent to 6.7 percent. The trend reflects ongoing efforts by industry stakeholders to implement safety protocols, provide training, and raise awareness about jobsite hazards as well as the need for more work to safeguard workers.

Ten industries with the highest injury incident rates

Enhanced safety and training practices, enforcement of regulations, technological advances, data analytics, and post-COVID workplace changes have led to more rigorous standards and reductions in incidents. Employers that have increased their commitment to safety programs, emphasizing prevention through training and proactive risk management, have reaped the benefits. Yet, it's a never-ending process -fully mitigating these risks requires continuous training, updated safety technologies, and vigilant monitoring.

This report is the first of two releases. The next release, scheduled for December 19, will provide the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) data, offering a more comprehensive view of fatal incidents across industries.

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