Feds: Injury and illness rates see a steady decline

Feds: Injury and illness rates see a steady decline

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Good news: Workplace injury and illness rates declined during 2013, continuing a mostly consistent trend over the past 11 years.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its Employer-Reported Workplace Injury and Illness Summary for 2013, and the numbers are looking better than last year. This continues an eleven-year trend of declines, with the exception of 2012.

This summary comes after the BLS released a preliminary report earlier this fall, which revealed fatality rates were down for 2013 as well.

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The stats

Here’s a breakdown of some of the BLS’s most notable findings when it comes to workplace injuries and illnesses in 2013:

  • Employers reported a little over three million nonfatal injuries and illnesses in the private sector last year
  • Of those 3 million reported injuries and illnesses, 94.9% were injuries, and of those, 75.5% occurred in service-providing industries
  • 5.1% of the 3 million were illnesses, and the BLS noted that there was not a significant difference between the 2012 and 2013 numbers. Goods-producing industries made up for a little over 34%t of illness cases, while service industries were responsible for 65.6% the cases
  • Although the reported injury and illness rate remained the same for 2013 in most private sector industries, manufacturing and retail experienced a decline in their rates
  • For the 16th year in a row, manufacturing remained the only sector in private industry where the job transfer or restriction only rates were higher than the rates where workers had to take days away from work
  • Injury rates in the private sector decreased from 3.2 cases per 100 full-time workers in 2012 to 3.1 cases per 100 in 2013. However, illness rates remained the same
  • In comparison, injury and illness rates for state and local government employees also decreased from 5.6 cases per 100 full-time workers in 2012 to 5.2 cases per 100 in 2013, and
  • More than 50% of the injury and illness cases reported in the private sector were cases involving involving days away from work, job transfer, or restriction (DART). However, these cases decreased from 2012.

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Assistant secretary weighs in

Assistant Secretary of Labor David Michaels released a statement reflecting on the numbers in the report.

He said that while three million seems like a big number, the declining trend is an encouraging indication that the methods used by employers, safety and health professionals, and government organizations are working.

Michaels also said that the three million workers should not be forgotten and work injuries can take a significant toll on families.



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