Private industry employers reported nearly 45,800 fewer nonfatal injury and illness cases in 2017 compared with a year earlier, according to estimates from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday.
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 workers, according to the new figures.
Meanwhile, four industry subsectors reported at least 15,000 days away from work cases in 2017: the number of such cases in warehousing and storage increased from 2016 while the incidence rate was essentially unchanged. Three other industry subsectors — hospitals, administrative and support services, and social assistance — saw decreases in both their case counts and incidence rates for days away from work cases.
The 2017 rate of total recordable cases fell 0.1 cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers, a reduction that’s been at play since 2012, according to the data. The rates for different types of cases—including days away from work, days of job transfer or restriction only, and other recordable cases—were unchanged from 2016. Nearly one-third of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses resulted in days away from work, mirroring the 2016 reports.
In total, there were 882,730 occupational injuries and illnesses in 2017 that resulted in days away from work in private industry, unchanged from 2016. The private industry incidence rate for days-away-from-work cases was 89.4 cases per 10,000 full-time equivalent workers in 2017. The median days away from work — a key measure of the severity of cases — was eight in 2017, unchanged from 2016, according to the data.
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 full-time equivalent workers compared with 2016, according to the data.
The number of days away from work cases involving overexertion in lifting or lowering rose 3,250 cases to 97,990 in 2017, while the rate was unchanged at 9.9 cases per 10,000 full-time equivalent workers, according to the data.
The number of days away from work cases involving workers struck by objects or equipment fell 4,180 cases to 136,510 in 2017 and the rate decreased to 13.8 cases per 10,000 full-time equivalent workers, down from 14.5 in 2016, according to the data.
Other findings that tackled individual industries include:
Bermuda reinsurer Everest Re Group Ltd. and information technology firm Salus Systems L.L.C. are joining to help reduce workplace injuries with a new risk management tool that aims to engage workers in creating a safer workplace.