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Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities
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BLS OSH Scope and Coverage
Case and Demographic (C&D) data are a subset of non–fatal occupational injury and illness data collected through the BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), a Federal/State cooperative program. The SOII produces two data series—an Annual Summary of estimates on injuries and illnesses by industry and Case and Demographic data on the case circumstances and worker characteristics of occupational injuries and illnesses with at least one day away from work. SOII–C&D data are released annually to the public through a BLS News Release and on the BLS public database, generally in early November. SOII–Case and Demographics data were first published for reference year 1992. Archived SOII–C&D news releases are available for reference.
SOII–Case and Demographics collects details on non–fatal, OSHA–recordable injuries and illnesses from a statistical sample of establishments stratified by industry. In–scope cases include work–related injuries or illnesses to workers who require medical care beyond first aid and took at least one or more days away from work. See the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for the entire recordkeeping guidelines.
Survey respondents answer questions on the SOII survey form and provide detailed information about the case circumstances, worker, and temporal characteristics of an occupational injury or illness case. Case circumstances include information about the type of event or exposure leading to the injury or illness, the nature of the injury, the part of body affected, and the type of equipment or machinery involved. Worker characteristic information includes sex, age, race and occupation. Temporal characteristics include the number of days away from work taken and the day of week the incident occurred. The example at the end of this page illustrates the full range of SOII–C&D data.
Case circumstance information is categorized according the BLS Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS) by event or exposure, nature of injury or illness, part of body, and source of injury or illness. Occupation is classified according to the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) and industry by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
SOII–C&D reports data geographically by national U.S. and by participating states. Data are also collected and reported for U.S. territories including Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands, but are not included in national totals. National data and individual participating state data are available through the BLS public database. SOII–C&D publishes data by private and public (state and local government) sectors. The SOII excludes all work–related fatalities as well as nonfatal work injuries and illnesses to the self–employed; to workers on farms with 10 or fewer employees; to private household workers; to volunteers; and to federal government workers.
Measures include counts, incidence rates (per 10,000 full–time workers), and median–days–away–from–work, a proxy for severity. Currently, rates are published for all but race and temporal characteristics. Otherwise, both counts and medians are available for all industry, occupation, case, demographic, and temporal characteristics. From 1992 onwards, all three measures have been available for industry and case characteristics.
Several series breaks since 1992 affect the comparability of SOII–C&D data. See the Occupational Safety and Health Changes to OIICS, NAICS and SOC public notice for xplanations of such changes. For further explanations of current measures and methodology, see our Definitions Page and Handbook of Methods.
Beginning with 2011 data, SOII–C&D began a pilot study for a new data series for details about Days of Job Transfer or Work Restriction (DJTR) cases. DJTR cases are OSHA–recordable cases wherein the injured or ill worker returns to work without taking time off and is transferred to another job or assignment or the routine job duties are modified. The pilot study includes data for rotating sets of six selected industries.
SOII–C&D Data Example
Typically, the SOII–C&D produces over ten million publishable data points for a given reference year. A hypothetical, simplified case is illustrated below to demonstrate the breadth and depth of SOII–C&D data. The example shows some of the typical information that is provided by survey respondents from their records.
ZYX/CBA Telecommunications1Title: Cell Tower Tech 2 DOB: 9/13/19813, Sex: M4, Race/Ethnicity: Hispanic5 Hired: 05/10/20096 Comments: Complained of general pain7 in the lower of his back8 when his Incident Date: 01/18/20166, 12, 15, Return Date: 01/21/201612 Beginning shift: 10:00 AM14, Incident time: 11:15 AM13, 14 |
| Category type | No. | Characteristic | Characteristic Title | Code | Coding System |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Industry |
1 | Industry | Wireless telecommunications carriers | 517210 | NAICS 2012 |
|
Occupation |
2 | Occupation | Radio, cellular, and tower equipment installers and repairers | 49-2021 | SOC 2010 |
|
Demographics |
3 | Age or Age Group | 35 or 35-44 | ||
| 4 | Sex | Male | |||
| 5 | Race | Hispanic and other | OMB | ||
| 6 | Length of Service | 5 years or more | |||
|
Case Characteristics |
7 | Nature of Injury | Soreness- pain- hurt--nonspecified injury | 1972 | OIICS 2.01 |
| 8 | Part Injured | Lumbar region | 322 | OIICS 2.01 | |
| 9 | Source of Injury (Primary) | Lifelines- lanyards- safety belts- harnesses | 775 | OIICS 2.01 | |
| 10 | Secondary Source of Injury | Ice- sleet- snow | 9273 | OIICS 2.01 | |
| 11 | Event of Injury | Fall or jump curtailed by personal fall arrest | 45 | OIICS 2.01 | |
|
Temporal Characteristics |
12 | Days-away-from-work Group | 2 Days | ||
| 13 | Time-of-day Group | 8:01 AM to 12 Noon | |||
| 14 | Hours-on-the-job Group | 1-2 Hours | |||
| 15 | Day of Week | Monday |
Resources
Last Modified Date: February 13, 2025