This report serves as a starting point for identifying the
small business industries that are most likely to require
additional attention and intervention to improve safety
and health conditions..
The Next StepStudy Limitations
As part of this report, the morbidity and mortality indices are presented both as absolute measures (estimated number of cases) and IRs. The total counts of injury, illness, and fatality cases by industry indicate the number of employees affected by hazards within given SIC codes. These counts also focus attention on industries in which interventions and hazard controls could affect the greatest number of employees. For example, Eating and Drinking Places (SIC 581) leads all other small business industries in the number of nonfatal injuries (365,600) and lost workday cases from injuries and illnesses combined (121,700); this SIC is also the largest small business industry, with more than 449,000 establishments and more than 6.9 million employees. Because the total number of cases do not account for differences in the number of employees in various SIC codes, they do not allow risk comparisons across SIC codes. However, the IRs represent the number of employees affected divided by the number of employees in a given SIC per 100 full-time employees for nonfatal injuries and illnesses and per 100,000 workers for fatal injuries. For example, employees in Manufacturing of Wood Containers (SIC 244) experienced 8,100 nonfatal injuries in 1995—16.9 cases per 100 full-time employees. This industry ranks first among all small business industries with data available for injury IR. By comparison, Eating and Drinking Places (SIC 581) has an injury IR of 7.4 cases per 100 full-time employees and does not rank in the top 25% of the highest-risk small business industries for nonfatal injuries. Although IRs allow for comparisons across small business industries, they must also be qualified. A case in point is the category of Soil Preparation Services (SIC 071). This industry has the third highest fatality rate (115 cases per 100,000 employees) but it is based on only 5 fatal injuries (all associated with transportation incidents) that occurred in 1994 in an industry with only 4,300 employees. This industry also lacks a ranking for occupational injury and illness because too few data were reported for these outcomes. In contrast, employment in Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning (SIC 171), which accounted for 57fatal occupational injuries plus 14 deaths for self-employed workers, ranked only 26th among all small business industries on the basis of its fatal occupational injury IR (8.8 cases per 100,000 employees) as a reflection of the number of persons employed in this SIC code (645,000). Thus for the most complete representation of the risks associated with each small business SIC code, both total numbers of cases and IRs should be considered.
Of all small business industries, those in the Construction Trades (Division C) were most consistently listed in the top 25% of the highest-risk small business industries by total cases and IRs for occupational injury, lost workday cases, and fatal occupational injuries. Eight of the 17 small business construction trades were in the top 25% for nonfatal occupational injury IR. Roofing, Siding, and Sheet Metal Work (SIC 176) ranked fourth, with 14.6 cases per 100 full-time employees; and Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning (SIC 171) ranked sixth, with 12.7 cases per 100 full-time employees. Seven construction trades were also within the top 25% by IR for lost workdays from injuries and illnesses combined. Again, the leading construction industry was Roofing, Siding, and Sheet Metal Work (SIC 176), ranking fifth, with 7.8 lost workday cases per 100 full-time employees. Construction Trades represented 10 of the top 25% of the highest-risk small business industries based on fatal injuries (for both numbers of cases and IRs). General Contractors and Operative Builders (SIC 15) and Miscellaneous Special Trade Contractors (SIC 179) together accounted for 373 fatal occupational injuries in 1994, including 54 deaths of self-employed construction workers. Falls, contact with objects and equipment, and transportation incidents (both highway incidents and worker struck by vehicle) were the leading causes of fatal occupational injuries in the small business construction trades. Fewer of the construction trades were listed among the top 25% of the highest-risk small business industries by occupational illnesses (either total cases or IRs). Concrete Work (SIC 177) had an illness IR of 0.4 cases per 100 full-time employees (a tie for 12th place), and Carpentry and Floor Work (SIC 175) had an illness rate of 0.3 cases per 100 full-time employees (a tie for 16th place).
Many of the 21 small business industries identified in the Manufacturing Division (Division D) were listed in the top 25% of the highest-risk small business industries based on IRs for nonfatal injuries (11 manufacturing SIC codes), nonfatal illnesses (9 manufacturing SIC codes), and lost workdays (11 manufacturing SIC codes). Leading the list for nonfatal injury IR was the Manufacture of Wood Containers (SIC 244), with a rate of 16.9 cases per 100 full-time employees, followed by the subgroup of Wood Pallets and Skids (SIC 2448), with a rate of 16.5 cases per 100 employees, and Animal and Marine Fats and Oils (SIC 2077), with a rate of 16.4 cases per 100 employees. Each of these three SIC codes was listed within the top five of the highest-risk small business industries based on lost workday cases from injuries and illnesses combined, with rates of 9.3, 8.4, and 8.2 cases per 100 full-time employees for SICs 2077, 244, and 2448, respectively. Manufacture of Animal and Marine Fats and Oils (SIC 2077) also tied for second place based on the IR for nonfatal illness alone (0.7 cases per 100 employees), behind the manufacturing small business industry of Cut Stone and Stone Products (SIC 328), with a rate of 0.9 cases per 100 full-time employees. Fewer manufacturing small business industries numbered among the top 25% based on fatal occupational injuries. Logging (SIC 241) had the fourth highest fatal occupational injury IR, with 108 cases per 100,000 employees; Cut Stone and Stone Products (SIC 328) followed in fifth place, with 49.6 cases per 100,000 employees.
Of the four small business SIC codes in Agriculture (Division A), one was listed more frequently within the top 25% of the highest-risk small business industries based on both morbidity and mortality measures. Landscape and Horticultural Services (SIC 078) tied for the following places: 11thplace, based on nonfatal illness IR (0.4 cases per 100 full-time employees); 18th place, based on nonfatal injury IR (10.1 cases per 100 full-time employees); and 21st place, based on IR for lost workday cases from injuries and illnesses combined (4.6 cases per 100 full-time employees). SIC 078 also experienced 64 fatal occupational injuries (plus 36 self-employed workers) in 1994, earning a rank of 7th among small business industries by total cases, and 13th based on a fatal occupational injury IR of 21.7cases per 100,000 employees. An important note is the underrepresentation of agricultural industries in this report. Agricultural Production Industries Dealing with Crops (SIC 01) and Livestock (SIC 02) were not represented because these industries are excluded from the County Business Patterns data collected by the Bureau of the Census [1996]. However, estimates from the 1995 SOII [BLS 1997c] indicate that these two major industry groups combined contained more than 734,000 employees, experienced 51,600 occupational injuries and illnesses (with and without lost workdays) in 1995 [BLS 1997c], and reported 613 fatal occupational injuries in 1994 [BLS 1995].
Within the Transportation, Communications, and Public Utilities Division (Division E), Taxicabs (SIC 412) rated the highest among all small business industries for fatal occupational injury IR (324cases per 100,000 employees), followed by Trucking Terminal Facilities (SIC 423) (159 cases per 100,000 employees). Trucking Terminal Facilities (SIC 423) was also listed among the top five small business industries based on IRs for nonfatal injuries and lost workday cases from injuries and illnesses combined.
From the remaining industry divisions (Mining, Division B; Wholesale Trade, Division F; Retail Trade, Division G; Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate, Division H; and Services, Division I), several SIC codes appeared more frequently within the 25% of the highest-risk small business industries. Within the Services Division, Laundry, Cleaning, and Garment Services (SIC 721) ranked among the top 25% for total cases of nonfatal illnesses, injuries, and lost workday cases. Employment in Camps and Recreational Vehicle Parks (SIC 703) also ranked in the top 25% based on IRs for illness (0.6 cases per 100 full-time employees), nonfatal injury (10.2 cases per 100full-time employees), and fatal occupational injury (22.2 cases per 100,000 employees). Barber Shops (SIC 724) recorded five occupational injuries in 1994 for an IR of 35.1 cases per 100,000employees. In the Retail Trade Division, Employment in Gasoline Service Stations (SIC 554) ranked in the top quartile based on total cases of illness (600 cases), nonfatal injury (23,100 cases), fatal occupational injury (50 cases plus 4 self-employed worker deaths), and lost workday cases from injury and illness combined (10,100 cases). Dairy Products Stores (SIC 545) tied for the second highest occupational illness IR, with 0.7 cases per 100 full-time employees. The fact that some SIC codes from major industry divisions are underrepresented in the rankings may indicate that the workplaces and associated activities for these industries involve fewer occupational hazards. However, it may also indicate that small business industries in these divisions require better surveillance or are less familiar with reporting requirements for occupational injuries and illnesses. As noted previously, data on injuries and illnesses are not available for many of the SIC codes because the SOII is not designed to provide information for them at the four-digit SIC level.
Finally, to consider the three measures of occupational risk together, a combined risk index was calculated by adding the scores assigned to the rankings of small business industries by IRs for nonfatal injuries, illnesses, and fatal occupational injuries in Figures 2, 4, and 7 (see Chapter 4 and Table 6). Under this system, 1 illness is equivalent to approximately 12 injuries, and 1 death is roughly equivalent to 1,301 injuries. Although this combined method of ranking is subjective, it appears to be reasonable based on the recognition that injuries are the most common measure of occupational risk reported, illnesses are grossly underreported, and fatalities are the least common and most severe consequence of exposure to occupational hazards. Among the top 25% of small business industries ranked in Table 6, the following SIC codes appeared consistently, whether the industries were ranked by combined or separate risk scores:
The combined risk index is not intended as the paramount measure for ranking and comparing small business industries. However, it does reflect SIC codes that appear more frequently in the top 25% of the highest-risk small business industries based on reported injury, illness, and fatality experience. The ranking by this index may be useful in prioritizing the industries and SIC codes that deserve further investigation to identify and characterize hazards and to develop strategies for their prevention and control. Note that in the ranking by the combined risk index (Table 6), only two small business industries have ranks that are untied. One possible suggestion for breaking the ties would be to consider the number of workers in the competing small business industries listed in Table 3 and to give higher priority to the industry with the greater number of workers. Another method for breaking the ties would be to consider the total cases of injury, illness, and fatal occupational injury and to give priority to industries in which more cases of occupational morbidity and mortality are reported. A third strategy would be to investigate further the nature of the occupational morbidity to determine the severity using lost work time, total compensation costs by industry, average cost per injury or illness, the degree of disability associated with the injuries, and other information.
Costs of job-related injuries and illnesses have also been used previously as an index for ranking industries. Total costs by industry and average costs per employee have been calculated from BLS data for 1985—86 for 8 broad industry divisions and up to as many as 395 specific industries at the three-digit SIC level [Leigh and Miller 1998]. The authors used BLS injury and illness data with workers compensation data for 8 States from 1985 and 1986. Of the top 100 most costly industries listed, 14 were small business industries identified in this report. The top 5 small business industries based on total cost by industry annual average (1986 dollars) included the following:
Average
annual costs
Rank (in millions)
Trucking and Truck Terminals (SIC 423)..................1 $241.1
Eating and Drinking Places (SIC 581)....................2 205.8
Miscellaneous Special Trade Contractors (SIC 179).......7 84.8
Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning (SIC 171).......8 80.2
Logging (SIC 241)......................................10 76.7
The 5 small business industries with the highest average annual cost for injury and illness per employee (1986 dollars) were as follows:
Average
annual
Rank cost/employee
Logging (SIC 241).......................................1 $5,703
Carpentry and Flooring (SIC 175)........................9 1,375
Trucking and Truck Terminals (SIC 423).................16 1,115
Roofing, Siding, and Sheet Metal Work (SIC 176)........28 935
Manufacturing of Wood Containers (SIC 244).............30 917
Industry rankings vary depending on which index is used (total industry cost by SIC, average annual cost per employee by SIC, and the combined risk index in Table 6), yet many of the small business industry SIC codes appear consistently at the top of each ranking. The comparability of the rankings is noteworthy, as nearly 10 years separate the comparison periods for which data were collected (198586 versus 199495). The following small business industry SIC codes were listed at the top of the rankings for all three independent measures (total industry cost by SIC from 198586 data, average annual cost per employee by SIC from 198586 data, and the combined risk index in Table 6):
Logging (SIC 241)In examining the relative costs of occupational hazards by industry, Leigh et al. [1996] ranked the top 50 industries with the highest costs at the three-digit SIC level. The ranking was based on a calculation of the average compensation cost per worker by industry for nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses in 1992. Of the 50 highest-cost industries, 8 were small business industries, including the following:
Logging (SIC 241)One additional reference worth noting is an assessment of causes of death in the workplace by Leigh [1995]. This investigation used BLS data from 11 States collected for 6 years between 1979 and 1986. Fatality rates were determined and used to rank 323 industries. Of the 10 industries with the highest fatality rates for that period, the following 6 were also small business industries recognized in this report:
Deaths/
100,00
employees Rank
Logging (SIC 241).........................................186 1
Cut Stone and Stone Products (SIC 328)....................103 2
Taxicabs (SIC 412)........................................102 3
Crushed and Broken Stone (SIC 142).........................37 5
Trucking and Truck Terminals (SIC 421).....................32 8
Miscellaneous Special Trade Contractors (SIC 179)..........32 9
Again, these rankings are comparable with those shown in Figure 7: all 6 of the industries above are also ranked among the top 10 small business industries according to occupational fatality rates for 1994. These similarities indicate that many small business industries continue to experience higher numbers and rates of occupational fatalities and reportable injuries and illnesses.
Injury and illness cases/100 employees 11—49 employees.................................................12.6 50—249 employees................................................17.8 All establishments in this industry.............................14.9
According to the 1995 SOII [BLS 1997c], the nonfatal occupational injury IR for all private industry was 7.5 cases per 100 full-time employees, with the following IRs by establishment size groups:
Injury cases/100 employees 1—10 employees...................................................3.0 1—149 employees..................................................6.5 50—249 employees.................................................9.6 250—999 employees................................................8.5 >1,000 employees.................................................7.8
Generally, this pattern holds true in each of the major industry divisions—with the smallest establishments (1 to 10 employees) recording the lowest injury and illness rates, the medium-size establishments (50 to 249 employees) recording the highest rates, and the largest establishments recording rates that fall somewhere in between. This pattern contradicts that seen with fatal occupational injuries, which occur at higher rates in small business establishments. This difference has been attributed to better reporting of occupational fatalities. Fatality rates by establishment size are shown below:
Fatal injury cases/100,000 employees 1—19 employees...................................................5.9 20—49 employees..................................................3.3 50—99 employees..................................................2.3 >100 employees...................................................3.7
These rates were determined using 1994 CFOI data [BLS 1995] for total fatal occupational injuries and County Business Patterns 1994 data [Bureau of the Census 1996] for employment totals. The fatality rates (which are shown for slightly different establishment size categories because of reporting differences) exclude self-employed worker deaths. For 1,971 of the fatal occupational injuries (37%), the employees establishment size was not known. For comparison, the fatality rate for all private industry (excluding self-employed workers) was 4.8 fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 employees.
Further investigation and better surveillance may be required to obtain more accurate measures of injury and illness for industries within the various established size categories. This type of inquiry is a logical next step and could provide useful insight about work processes, equipment, controls, level of training, and other factors that influence worker safety and health and may differ by establishment size.
Additional research within various industries might also indicate the types of hazards and associated injuries for particular occupations and activities. For example, data from the 1995 SOII show that sprains and strains accounted for most (more than a fourth [n=1,167]) of the nonfatal occupational injuries reported in the Logging Industry (SIC 241). Sprains and strains were followed by cuts and punctures (815 cases) [BLS 1997c]. The leading event associated with fatal injuries in Logging was contact with objects and equipment (79%); more specifically, 75% of deaths in Timber Cutting and Logging Operations were caused by being caught in or compressed by objects [BLS 1995]. These objects included plants, trees and vegetation, logs, and industrial vehicles [Leigh 1995]. The literature contains several investigations of job-related diseases and deaths [Leigh 1987; Toscano 1997; Leigh and Miller 1998b] as well as estimated working lifetime risks of fatal occupational injuries by occupation [Fosbroke et al. 1997]. Determining hazards with these and other sources will help focus prevention activities and lead to the development of control strategies, targeted training, and hazard communication efforts.
Additional investigation may be required to determine differences in the hazards that may exist for "very small establishments"—those with fewer than 20 or even 10 employees. Because establishments with fewer than 100 employees are found in all industries, the criteria for identifying small business industries were further limited to the SIC codes in which 80% of workers were employed in small establishments. This requirement eliminated more than two-thirds of the SIC codes, many of which are likely to contain numerous small business establishments. One example is Fishing, Hunting, and Trapping (SIC 09), which in 1994 had a majority of establishments with fewer than 100 employees (n=2,148). Yet this industry also had 20 larger establishments with 40% of the employees in the industry. To identify small business industries consistently according to the criteria established, certain industries with bimodal distributions by establishment size have been omitted.
Similar limitations were associated with the 1995 SOII [BLS 1997c], which also excludes self-employed workers and farms with fewer than 11 employees (see Section 3). Again, this survey was chosen because it provided the most recent data characterizing the occupational injury and illness experience of industries identified from County Business Patterns 1994 [Bureau of the Census 1996]. The annual BLS survey is one of the best instruments for characterizing occupational morbidity; yet underreporting of work-related injuries and illnesses is likely because of economic incentives, lack of familiarity with reporting requirements, or other factors [Leigh et al. 1997; Ruser and Smith 1991; Nelson et al. 1992].
The BLS survey data have consistently shown lower morbidity rates for smaller establishments with fewer than 50 employees. Investigations of this phenomenon and comparisons with other data sources (e.g., OSHA fatality records and the 1994 CFOI [BLS 1995]) indicate that underreporting of occupational injuries and especially illness is a substantial possibility among smaller establishments [Mendeloff and Kagey 1990; Oleinick et al. 1995; Murphy et al. 1996; Leigh and Miller 1998a]. The extent and effect of underreporting are difficult to quantify. Acute injuries are more easily recognizable and therefore are probably reported more often. However, conditions related to chronic exposures are least likely to be reported. Recognizing that an illness is work-related or reporting it as such is especially difficult; as a result, estimates of the prevalence of occupational diseases in private industry are especially suspect. Although nonoccupational factors (e.g., smoking habits, substance abuse, physical fitness, and recreational activities) also affect the health of the working population, it is not possible to determine from the BLS data whether morbidity associated with these factors influences estimates of occupational illness. Further epidemiologic investigations of industries would be required to address these issues.
Fatal occupational injury data from the 1994 CFOI [BLS 1995] include information about fatalities among self-employed, agricultural, and other workers (see Chapter 3, subsection entitled BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI). This fact required some adjustment to compare data among surveys. To calculate the fatality IR, fatality cases for self-employed workers by each SIC had to be subtracted from the total number of fatality cases for that SIC to allow comparison with the denominator (i.e., employment totals from the County Business Patterns 1994 [Bureau of the Census 1996]). Elaboration on this topic is provided in Chapter 3 and in the article by Biddle and Kisner [1998].
Finally, characterizing hazards associated with small business industries is further complicated by the lack of data on occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities for many of the small business industries at the three- and four-digit SIC levels. However, the data are sufficient for this investigation to characterize the highest-risk small business industries because of the numbers of injuries and illnesses associated with these industries. The difficulties expressed here emphasize the challenge of accurately characterizing small business industries and identifying associated occupational hazards.