OS NR 10/25/2012 News Release: Workplace Injuries and Illnesses--2011

For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Thursday, October 25, 2012                                   USDL-12-2121

Technical information:	(202) 691-6170  * iifstaff@bls.gov  	* www.bls.gov/iif/oshsum.htm	
Media contact:	        (202) 691-5902  * PressOffice@bls.gov


WORKPLACE INJURIES AND ILLNESSES--2011

Nearly 3.0 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses were reported by private industry employers 
in 2011, resulting in an incidence rate of 3.5 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers, according to 
estimates from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) conducted by the U.S. Bureau 
of Labor Statistics. (See tables 1 and 2.) The rate reported for 2011 was unchanged for the first time in a 
decade during which the total recordable cases (TRC) injury and illness incidence rate among private 
industry employers declined significantly each year since 2002, when estimates from the SOII were first 
published using the current OSHA requirements for recording occupational injuries and illnesses.

Key findings from the 2011 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses

* The incidence rate of injury and illness cases involving job transfer or restriction only among private 
industry establishments declined in 2011. Rates remained unchanged from 2010 for all other case 
types--cases with days away from work, job transfer, or restriction together; cases with days away 
from work; and other recordable cases not requiring time away from work. (See chart 1.)
* Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting was one of only two private industry sectors to experience 
an increase in the rate of injuries and illnesses in 2011 compared to 2010, driven by increases in 
cases in both the crop production and animal production (primarily dairy cattle and milk production) 
industries. The rate of injuries and illnesses for the accommodation and food services sector also 
rose in 2011, driven largely by an increase in other recordable cases in both limited-service 
restaurants and full-service restaurants.
* Two private industry sectors experienced declines in the rate of injuries and illnesses in 2011 
compared to 2010--health care and social assistance (driven by declines both in hospitals and in 
nursing and residential care facilities) and retail trade (with large declines in cases among 
supermarkets and other grocery stores and several other industries).
* Manufacturing was the only private industry sector in 2011 in which the rate of job transfer or 
restriction only cases exceeded the rate of cases with days away from work. This continued a 14-
year trend during which this was true. However, the rates for these two case types have been 
converging in recent years and differed by only 0.2 cases in 2011.
* The incidence rate of injuries only among private industry workers declined to 3.3 cases per 100 
full-time workers in 2011--down from 3.4 cases in 2010.  (See table 5.) In comparison, the 
incidence rate of illness cases was statistically unchanged in 2011. (See table 6a.)
* The TRC rate among state and local government workers of 5.7 cases per 100 full-time workers in 
2011 was unchanged from 2010, but was still significantly higher than the private industry rate. The 
incidence rates for state government and local government individually also remained unchanged in 
2011--4.6 cases and 6.1 cases per 100 full-time workers, respectively.



Private Industry Injuries and Illnesses


Injuries and illnesses by type of case. More than one-half of the nearly 3.0 million private industry 
injury and illness cases reported nationally in 2011 were of a more serious nature that involved days 
away from work, job transfer, or restriction--commonly referred to as DART cases. These cases 
occurred at a rate of 1.8 cases per 100 full-time workers, unchanged from 2010. (See table 7.) Among 
the two components of DART cases, the rate for cases requiring job transfer or restriction declined from 
0.8 to 0.7 cases per 100 workers, while the rate for cases involving days away from work remained 
unchanged in 2011 (1.1 cases). Other recordable cases--those not involving days away from work, job 
transfer, or restriction--accounted for the remaining more than 1.4 million injury and illness cases 
nationally in 2011 and occurred at a rate that was unchanged from 2010 at 1.7 cases per 100 full-time 
workers.

The TRC injury and illness incidence rate remained highest in 2011 among mid-size private industry 
establishments (those employing between 50 and 249 workers) and lowest among small establishments 
(those employing fewer than 11 workers) compared to establishments of other sizes. (See table 3 and 
chart 2.)

Injuries. More than 2.8 million (94.8 percent) of the nearly 3.0 million nonfatal occupational injuries 
and illnesses in 2011 were injuries. Among injuries, 2.1 million (75.2 percent) occurred in service-
providing industries, which employed 82.5 percent of the private industry workforce covered by this 
survey. The remaining 0.7 million injuries (24.8 percent) occurred in goods-producing industries, which 
accounted for 17.5 percent of private industry employment covered by this survey in 2011. 

Illnesses. Workplace illnesses accounted for 5.2 percent of the nearly 3.0 million injury and illness cases 
in 2011. (See table 6b.) The rate of workplace illnesses in 2011 (18.0 cases per 10,000 full-time 
workers) was not statistically different from the 2010 incidence rate (18.1 cases). Rates among 
individual illness categories also remained unchanged with the exception of poisonings, for which the 
rate declined to 0.2 cases per 10,000 full-time workers in 2011 compared to 0.3 cases in 2010.

Goods-producing industries accounted for 36.0 percent of all occupational illness cases in 2011, 
resulting in an incidence rate of 31.0 cases per 10,000 full-time workers--statistically unchanged from 
31.8 cases in 2010. The manufacturing industry sector accounted for 30.3 percent of all private industry 
occupational illness cases, resulting in one of the highest illness incidence rates among all industry 
sectors of 40.8 cases per 10,000 full-time workers in 2011-- statistically unchanged from 41.9 cases in 
2010. Service-providing industries accounted for the remaining 64.0 percent of private industry illness 
cases and experienced a rate of 14.6 cases per 10,000 full-time workers in 2011--statistically unchanged 
from the prior year. Among service-providing industry sectors, health care and social assistance 
contributed 24.8 percent of all private industry illness cases and experienced an incidence rate of 30.5 
cases per 10,000 full-time workers in 2011--statistically unchanged from 30.2 cases in 2010.


National Public Sector Estimates


National public sector estimates covering approximately 18.5 million state and local government 
workers--for example, in police protection (NAICS 922120) and fire protection (NAICS 922160)--are 
available from the 2011 SOII for the fourth consecutive year. 

Approximately 820,900 injury and illness cases were reported among state and local government 
workers in 2011, resulting in a rate of 5.7 cases per 100 full-time workers--significantly higher than the 
rate among private industry workers (3.5 cases per 100 workers), and unchanged from the rate reported 
among these public sector workers in 2010. Nearly 4 in 5 injuries and illnesses reported in the public 
sector occurred among local government workers in 2011, resulting in an injury and illness rate of 6.1 
cases per 100 full-time workers--significantly higher than the 4.6 cases per 100 full-time workers in 
state government. (See chart 3.)


State Estimates


Private industry and public sector estimates are available for 41 participating states and for the District 
of Columbia for 2011. Data for establishments in the nine states for which individual estimates are 
unavailable are collected by BLS regional offices and used solely for the tabulation of national 
estimates. (See chart 4.) State estimates will be available online 10 business days following the release 
of national estimates; these estimates may also be requested prior to this from the respective state 
offices. (See www.bls.gov/iif/oshstate.htm for state contacts.)

As compared to a year earlier, private industry TRC incidence rates among the 41 states and the District 
of Columbia for which estimates are available in 2011 declined in 7 states, rose in 1 state, and remained 
statistically unchanged in 32 states and in the District of Columbia (estimates for Pennsylvania for 2010 
were not available for comparison).

The private industry TRC incidence rates were higher in 19 states than the national rate of 3.5 cases per 
100 full-time workers in 2011, lower than the national rate in 12 states and in the District of Columbia, 
and not statistically different from the national rate in 10 states. Differences in industry mix account for 
at least some of the differences in rates across states. 


Publication Tables and Supplemental Charts


The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has generated estimates of injuries and illnesses for many of the 
2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-digit industries as defined in the 2007 North American Industry Classification 
System (NAICS) manual. A complete listing of these estimates is not available in this release. However, 
summary tables 1 and 2--providing incidence rates and counts of injuries and illnesses by detailed 
NAICS industry, case type, and ownership (e.g., total recordable cases or cases with days away from 
work in private industry), respectively--may be accessed electronically for the current and prior years 
from www.bls.gov/iif/oshsum.htm, requested from BLS staff at 202-691-6170, or requested by email at 
IIFSTAFF@bls.gov. Supplemental tables and charts illustrating trends among incidence rates and counts 
are also available from these sources. 


Background of the Survey


Second in a series of three releases from the BLS covering occupational safety and health statistics for 
the 2011 calendar year, this release follows the September preliminary report on fatal work-related 
injuries from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI). A third release in November 2012 will 
provide case circumstances and worker characteristics from the SOII for nonfatal injury and illness cases 
requiring at least one day away from work to recuperate. 

Additional background and methodological information regarding the BLS occupational safety and 
health statistics program, including information such as changes in the definition of recordable cases due 
to revised recordkeeping requirements in 2002 and the inherent underreporting of illnesses, can be found 
in Chapter 9 of the BLS Handbook of Methods at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/homch9.pdf.

(Chart 1 appears here in the printed release.)

(Chart 2 appears here in the printed release.)

(Chart 3 appears here in the printed release.)

(Chart 4 appears here in the printed release.)