11/07/2019 News Release: Employer-Reported Workplace Injuries and Illnesses--2018
For release 10:00 a.m. (EST) Thursday, November 7, 2019 USDL-19-1909
Technical information: (202) 691-6170 *IIFSTAFF@bls.gov *www.bls.gov/iif
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 *PressOffice@bls.gov
EMPLOYER-REPORTED WORKPLACE INJURIES AND ILLNESSES--2018
There were 2.8 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses reported by private industry employers
in 2018, unchanged from 2017, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. These data are
estimates from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII). The incidence rate for total
recordable cases (TRC) in private industry also remained unchanged from a year ago. (See chart 1.) This
is the first year since 2012 that the TRC rate did not decline. The incidence rates for days away from
work (DAFW) cases and for days of job transfer and restriction only (DJTR) cases did not change from
2017. (See chart 2.)
(Charts 1 and 2 appear here in the printed release.)
Other highlights from the 2018 data:
* Retail trade was the only private industry sector where the TRC rate increased in 2018, rising
from 3.3 cases to 3.5 cases per 100 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers. (See table 1.) This was
the first increase in the TRC rate in retail trade since the series began in 2003. Retail trade
accounted for 14 percent of all injuries and illnesses in private industry in 2018. (See table 2.)
* Within private industry, there were 900,380 injuries or illnesses that caused a worker to miss at
least one day of work in 2018, essentially unchanged from 2017.
* Results from the 2018 SOII contain the first national estimates for emergency room (ER) and
hospital visits for nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses requiring DAFW. Estimates
include case and demographic data elements such as industry, event, and occupation.
* A total of 333,830 DAFW cases resulted in a visit to a medical facility such as an emergency
room or in-patient hospital. Additional detail on these case types are available in the section
on emergency room and hospital visits.
Nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses data by industry and case type are available at
www.bls.gov/web/osh/summ1_00.htm and www.bls.gov/web/osh/summ2_00.htm.
Retail trade sector injury and illness cases
Both the number and rate of nonfatal cases in the private retail trade sector increased in 2018.The
number increased 4 percent to 409,900 cases, and the incidence rate increased from 3.3 cases to 3.5
cases per 100 FTE workers. Within the retail trade sector, general merchandise stores reported 96,000
injury or illness cases; food and beverage stores reported 92,600 cases; motor vehicle and parts dealers
reported 61,500 cases; and building material and garden supply stores reported 53,800 cases.
Of the 126,850 cases involving days away from work in retail trade in 2018, those resulting from falls,
slips, or trips increased to 34,190 cases, an increase of 11 percent from 2017. Cases resulting from
contact with objects and equipment increased 10 percent in 2018 to 38,940 cases. These events had a
higher rate for workers in the retail trade sector than for workers in private industry in 2018. (See charts
3 and 4.)
(Charts 3 and 4 appear here in the printed release.)
Injuries and illnesses in retail trade most often resulted from sprains, strains, and tears, which accounted
for 45,340, or 36 percent, of the DAFW cases in 2018. The DAFW incidence rate for sprains, strains,
and tears was 38.4 cases per 10,000 FTE workers, essentially the same as in 2017. (See tables 3 and 4.)
Seventeen percent, or 21,320,of DAFW cases reported in retail trade were the result of injuries to the back.
Within retail trade, 15 occupations had at least 1,000 DAFW cases in 2018. Injuries and illnesses to
retail salespersons accounted for 20 percent of the DAFW cases in retail trade, increasing from 23,240 in
2017 to 25,600 in 2018. First-line supervisors of retail sales workers accounted for another 13 percent
(15,940) of DAFW cases in retail trade in 2018, an increase of 25 percent from 2017. (See chart 5.)
(Chart 5 appears here in the printed release.)
Emergency room and hospital visits
This is the first year estimates for medical treatment facility visits for nonfatal occupational injuries and
illnesses requiring DAFW are available. Medical treatment facilities, based on definitions from the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), include facilities designated as an emergency
room or an in-patient hospital facility. Urgent care facilities, health units (within an establishment),
infirmaries, and clinics are not considered an emergency room. The SOII categorizes medical treatment
facility visits in the following way:
1. Any medical treatment facility visit (emergency room visit and/or in-patient hospitalization)
2. Emergency room visits only (excluding in-patient hospitalizations)
3. All in-patient hospitalizations (with or without emergency room visits)
Of the 900,380 DAFW cases in private industry, 333,830 (37 percent) required a visit to a medical
facility. Of these, 294,750 required a trip to the emergency room and did not require hospitalization, and
39,080 cases required in-patient hospitalization, either with or without an ER visit. The median number
of days away from work for all private industry cases in 2018 was 8 days. The median number of days
away from work for ER visits only was 7 days and the median for in-patient hospitalization was 41 days.
For more information about these data, go to www.bls.gov/iif/soii-data.htm.
Additional Information
This news release is the first of two releases from BLS covering occupational safety and health statistics
for the 2018 calendar year. The Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) presents estimates
of counts and incidence rates of employer-reported nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses by industry
and type of case, as well as detailed estimates of case circumstances and worker characteristics for cases
that resulted in days away from work. A second release on December 17, 2019, will provide results from
the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) of all fatal work injuries occurring in the U.S. during
the calendar year.
BLS has generated estimates of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses for many industries as
defined in the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) manual. Tables including
cross-tabulations for various case circumstances and worker characteristics are available at
www.bls.gov/web/osh.supp.toc.htm. For additional information on nonfatal injury and illness estimates,
see www.bls.gov/iif/soii-overview.htm.
The SOII bases definitions for emergency room and hospital visits on the OSHA Regulations
(Standards-29 CFR 1904.39). More information is available at
www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1904/1904.39.
All statements of comparison made in this news release are statistically significant at the 95 percent
confidence level. Data quality research on the SOII is located at www.bls.gov/iif/data-quality.htm.
Additional background and methodological information regarding the BLS occupational safety
and health statistics program is located in the BLS Handbook of Methods at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/soii/home.htm.
Additional data from the SOII are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/iif/, from BLS staff at
(202) 691-6170, or by email at IIFSTAFF@bls.gov. Information in this release is available to sensory
impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.
TABLE 1. Incidence rates of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses by selected industry and case types,
private industry, 2017-18
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
| |
| Total | Cases
| recordable | with days
| cases (2) | away from
| | work(2),(3)
Industry(1) |_______________________|_______________________
| | | |
| 2017 | 2018 | 2017 | 2018
| | | |
___________________________________________________|___________|___________|___________|___________
| | | |
Private industry(4) | 2.8 | 2.8 | 0.9 | 0.9
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting(4) | 5.0 | 5.3 | 1.7 | 1.7
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction(5) | 1.5 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.6
Construction | 3.1 | 3.0 | 1.2 | 1.2
Manufacturing | 3.5 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 0.9
Wholesale trade | 2.8 | 2.9 | 1.0 | 1.0
Retail trade | 3.3 | 3.5 | 1.0 | 1.1
Transportation and warehousing(6) | 4.6 | 4.5 | 2.0 | 2.1
Utilities | 2.0 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 0.7
Information | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.6
Finance and insurance | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1
Real estate and rental and leasing | 2.4 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 0.8
Professional, scientific, and technical services | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.2
Management of companies and enterprises | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.2
Administrative and support and waste management | | | |
and remediation services | 2.2 | 2.3 | 0.9 | 0.9
Educational services | 1.9 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 0.6
Health care and social assistance | 4.1 | 3.9 | 1.1 | 1.1
Arts, entertainment, and recreation | 4.2 | 4.1 | 1.2 | 1.1
Accommodation and food services | 3.2 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 0.9
Other services (except public administration) | 2.1 | 2.2 | 0.7 | 0.8
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
(1) North American Industry Classification System United States, 2012.
(2) The incidence rates represent the number of injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers and were calculated as:
(N/EH) x 200,000, where
N = number of injuries and illnesses
EH = total hours worked by all employees during the calendar year
200,000 = base for 100 equivalent full-time workers (working 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year)
(3) Days-away-from-work cases include those that result in days away from work with or without job transfer
or restriction.
(4) Excludes farms with fewer than 11 employees.
(5) Data for Mining (Sector 21 in the North American Industry Classification System United States, 2012)
include establishments not governed by the Mine Safety and Health Administration rules and reporting, such as
those in Oil and Gas Extraction and related support activities. Data for mining operators in coal, metal, and
nonmetal mining are provided to BLS by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor.
Independent mining contractors are excluded from the coal, metal, and nonmetal mining industries. These data
do not reflect the changes the Occupational Safety and Health Administration made to its recordkeeping
requirements effective January 1, 2002 therefore, estimates for these industries are not comparable to
estimates in other industries.
(6) Data for employers in rail transportation are provided to BLS by the Federal Railroad Administration, U.S.
Department of Transportation.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, in
cooperation with participating state agencies.
TABLE 2. Number of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses by selected industry and case
types, private industry, 2017-18 (thousands)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
| |
| Total | Cases
| recordable | with days
| cases | away from
| | work(2)
Industry(1) |_______________________|______________________
| | | |
| 2017 | 2018 | 2017 | 2018
| | | |
___________________________________________________|___________|___________|__________|___________
| | | |
Private industry(3) | 2,811.5 | 2,834.5 | 882.7 | 900.4
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting(3) | 50.2 | 54.4 | 17.0 | 17.4
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction(4) | 10.2 | 9.8 | 4.8 | 4.1
Construction | 198.1 | 199.1 | 79.8 | 77.5
Manufacturing | 428.9 | 430.3 | 115.6 | 118.6
Wholesale trade | 157.9 | 160.8 | 56.7 | 56.2
Retail trade | 395.7 | 409.9 | 120.0 | 126.9
Transportation and warehousing(5) | 215.7 | 221.4 | 96.1 | 103.6
Utilities | 11.2 | 10.6 | 3.9 | 3.6
Information | 33.7 | 33.3 | 14.8 | 15.6
Finance and insurance | 27.5 | 28.5 | 8.1 | 7.1
Real estate and rental and leasing | 46.6 | 46.1 | 18.4 | 16.0
Professional, scientific, and technical services | 69.6 | 70.5 | 18.5 | 16.3
Management of companies and enterprises | 20.6 | 17.5 | 5.3 | 4.7
Administrative and support and waste management | | | |
and remediation services | 116.9 | 118.6 | 44.5 | 46.5
Educational services | 38.5 | 36.9 | 10.2 | 11.6
Health care and social assistance | 582.8 | 577.4 | 152.3 | 155.6
Arts, entertainment, and recreation | 58.9 | 57.9 | 17.3 | 16.0
Accommodation and food services | 282.6 | 278.5 | 75.8 | 77.8
Other services (except public administration) | 66.0 | 72.8 | 23.7 | 25.5
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
(1) North American Industry Classification System United States, 2012.
(2) Days-away-from-work cases include those that result in days away from work with or without job transfer
or restriction.
(3) Excludes farms with fewer than 11 employees.
(4) Data for Mining (Sector 21 in the North American Industry Classification System United States, 2012)
include establishments not governed by the Mine Safety and Health Administration rules and reporting, such as
those in Oil and Gas Extraction and related support activities. Data for mining operators in coal, metal, and
nonmetal mining are provided to BLS by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor.
Independent mining contractors are excluded from the coal, metal, and nonmetal mining industries. These data
do not reflect the changes the Occupational Safety and Health Administration made to its recordkeeping
requirements effective January 1, 2002 therefore, estimates for these industries are not comparable to
estimates in other industries.
(5) Data for employers in rail transportation are provided to BLS by the Federal Railroad Administration, U.S.
Department of Transportation.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, in
cooperation with participating state agencies.
TABLE 3. Incidence rates of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses involving days away from
work by selected nature of injury or illness and event or exposure, private industry and private
retail trade sector, 2017-18
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
| |
| Private industry | Retail trade(1)
|_____________________|_____________________
Characteristic | | | |
| | | |
| 2017 | 2018 | 2017 | 2018
| | | |
____________________________________________________|__________|__________|__________|__________
| | | |
Total(2)(3) | 89.4 | 89.7 | 101.4 | 107.6
| | | |
Nature of injury or illness(4) | | | |
Sprains, strains, tears | 31.5 | 30.7 | 40.5 | 38.4
Soreness, pain | 14.5 | 15.9 | 13.3 | 16.1
Bruises, contusions | 8.0 | 7.9 | 11.8 | 14.1
Cuts, lacerations, punctures | 7.4 | 9.2 | 9.8 | 12.0
Fractures | 8.5 | 7.9 | 7.8 | 8.4
| | | |
Event or exposure(4) | | | |
Overexertion and bodily reaction | 30.0 | 28.2 | 36.9 | 36.3
Contact with objects and equipment | 23.2 | 23.5 | 29.8 | 33.0
Falls, slips, trips | 23.1 | 23.9 | 26.0 | 29.0
Transportation incidents | 4.9 | 5.0 | 3.3 | 3.3
Violence and other injuries by persons or animal| 4.0 | 4.4 | 1.8 | 2.1
____________________________________________________|__________|__________|__________|__________
(1) North American Industry Classification System United States, 2012.
(2) The incidence rates represent the number of injuries and illnesses per 10,000 full-time workers and were
calculated as: (N/EH) x 20,000,000, where
N = number of injuries and illnesses
EH = total hours worked by all employees during the calendar year
20,000,000 = base for 10,000 equivalent full-time workers (working 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year)
(3) Days-away-from-work cases include those that result in days away from work with or without job transfer
or restriction.
(4) Based on the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System 2.01 developed by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, in
cooperation with participating state agencies.
TABLE 4. Number of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses involving days away from work by
selected nature of injury or illness and event or exposure, private industry and private retail trade
sector, 2017-18
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
| |
| Private industry | Retail trade(1)
|_____________________|_____________________
Characteristic | | | |
| | | |
| 2017 | 2018 | 2017 | 2018
| | | |
____________________________________________________|__________|__________|__________|__________
| | | |
Total(2) | 882,730 | 900,380 | 120,040 | 126,850
| | | |
Nature of injury or illness(3) | | | |
Sprains, strains, tears | 311,330 | 308,630 | 47,930 | 45,340
Soreness, pain | 143,260 | 159,600 | 15,720 | 18,990
Bruises, contusions | 79,180 | 79,250 | 13,950 | 16,610
Cuts, lacerations, punctures | 89,180 | 92,840 | 13,300 | 14,140
Fractures | 83,550 | 79,470 | 9,180 | 9,930
| | | |
Event or exposure(3) | | | |
Overexertion and bodily reaction | 295,830 | 282,860 | 43,660 | 42,790
Contact with objects and equipment | 229,170 | 235,740 | 35,260 | 38,940
Falls, slips, trips | 227,760 | 240,160 | 30,830 | 34,190
Transportation incidents | 47,910 | 50,650 | 3,930 | 3,920
Violence and other injuries by persons or animal| 39,750 | 44,000 | 2,160 | 2,490
____________________________________________________|__________|__________|__________|__________
(1) North American Industry Classification System United States, 2012.
(2) Days-away-from-work cases include those that result in days away from work with or without job transfer
or restriction.
(3) Based on the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System 2.01 developed by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, in
cooperation with participating state agencies.
United States Department of Labor
