Workplace Injuries and Illnesses Decline in 2012

The 2012 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), reveals that nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses declined to a rate of 3.4 incidents per 100 full-time workers. This decrease continues a decade-long pattern of decline broken only in 2011, when injury and illness rates among companies employing fewer than 11 workers rose slightly and total recordable cases neither decreased nor increased.

Key findings of the survey include:

• The total recordable cases incidence rate of injury and illness among private industry establishments declined in 2012 from a year earlier, as did the rate for other recordable cases not requiring time away from work.
• The rate for more serious cases involving days away from work, job transfer or restriction was unchanged in 2012.
• No private industry sector experienced an increase in the rate of injuries and illnesses in 2012.
• Manufacturing was the only private industry sector in 2012 in which the rate of job transfer or restriction only cases exceeded the rate of cases with days away from work. This continues a 15-year trend, however, the rates for these two case types have been converging in recent years and differed by only 0.2 case in 2012.
• The incidence rate of injuries only among private industry workers declined to 3.2 cases per 100 full-time workers in 2012, down from 3.3 in 2011.
• The rate of injuries and illnesses among state and local government workers of 5.6 cases per 100 full-time workers in 2012 was statistically unchanged from 2011 but was still significantly higher than the private industry rate.
• Injuries accounted for 94.8% of the nearly 3 million nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses in 2012.
• Illnesses accounted for 5.2% of the nearly 3 million nonfatal injury and illness cases.

Find the complete release from BLS here.