Nonfatal Occupational Injuries and Illnesses

The Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) is a Federal/State cooperative program that publishes estimates on nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses. Each year, approximately 200,000 employers report for establishments in private industry and the public sector (state and local government). In-scope cases include work-related injuries or illnesses to workers who require medical care beyond first aid. See the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for the entire recordkeeping guidelines. 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. For more information on the scope and sampling methodology see the SOII Handbook of Methods.

SOII data are released to the public through the SOII News Release, SOII charts and tables and through the IIF public database, generally in early November.

SOII Outputs

• Industry estimates published in SOII Annual Summary (available from 1972)
• Case estimates published in SOII Case & Demographics (available from 1992)

The Injuries, Illness and Fatalities program publishes two broad categories of outputs based on information provided by employers. Since 1972 BLS has published summary estimates of the number and incidence rate of injuries and illnesses by industry. In 1992, BLS began publishing information on the detailed case circumstances and demographics of the injured or ill worker. These estimates historically covered only cases involving days away from work (DAFW). For 2011-2019, estimates for detailed case circumstances and worker demographics for cases involving job transfer or work restriction (DJTR) were also available from a subset of industry subsectors covered in a pilot study. DJTR case details will be collected across all industries starting with the data for reference year 2021, from which BLS will later publish estimates for both DAFW and DJTR (see below for additional details on DJTR collection and estimates). For more on workplace injuries and illnesses see our definitions page.

SOII–Data Example (Expand to view)

Days of Job Transfer or Work Restriction

Job transfer or restriction cases occur when, as a result of a work-related injury or illness, an employer or health care professional keeps, or recommends keeping an employee from doing the routine functions of his or her job or from working the full workday that the employee would have been scheduled to work before the injury or illness occurred.

Expanded DJTR Data Collection (2021 and forward)

BLS will collect details for cases involving days of job transfer or restriction (DJTR) from all establishments starting in January 2022. BLS will publish biennial (2-year) estimates of the case characteristics and worker demographics for cases involving days away from work, job transfer, or restriction starting in 2023 (for reference years 2021 and 2022). This shift will result in significant changes to the SOII news release and how publication tables are presented. Visit our Days of Job Transfer or Work Restriction Collection page for more details.

DJTR Pilot Study (Final)

From 2011 through 2019, BLS conducted a series of pilot studies to collect DJTR case details from establishments in rotating sets of six selected industry subsectors. Details about this completed study can be found on our Days of Job Transfer or Work Restriction (DJTR) page.

Series Breaks

Although SOII began collecting data in 1972, users are advised against making comparisons across the entire time period due to series breaks in the classification systems used to code SOII 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). Please review our Occupational Safety and Health Changes to OIICS, NAICS and SOC page to assess the changes that have occurred over your time period of interest.

Access SOII Data

• News Releases, Charts and Tables
• IIF Databases
• State Data
• Federal Statistical Research Data Centers (access at each location is restricted to eligible researchers)
• IIF Publications

Research in Progress

• SOII Data Quality Research
• Automated Coding of Injury and Illness Data

Contact Us

Assistance is available by contacting the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses at iifstaff@bls.gov or (202) 691-6170.

 

Last Modified Date: June 4, 2021