For release 10:00 a.m. (EST) Wednesday, November 9, 2011 USDL-11-1612
Technical information: (202) 691-6170 - iifstaff@bls.gov - www.bls.gov/iif/oshcdnew.htm
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 - PressOffice@bls.gov
NONFATAL OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES AND ILLNESSES REQUIRING DAYS AWAY FROM WORK, 2010
The rate of nonfatal occupational injury and illness cases requiring days away from work to recuperate was 118 cases per 10,000 full-time workers in
2010, statistically unchanged from 2009, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The total number of private industry, state government, and
local government cases decreased 4 percent to 1,191,100. The median days away from work—a key measure of severity of injuries and illnesses—was 8 days,
the same as the previous year.
Key Findings:
- The incidence rate for healthcare support workers increased 6 percent to 283 days-away-from-work cases per 10,000 full-time workers. (See table 3.)
The incidence rate for food preparation and serving related workers increased 10 percent to 116 cases per 10,000 full-time workers. The total number of
cases for these two occupation groups increased in 2010 by 4 percent and 7 percent, respectively.
- Decreases in the number of cases with days away from work for construction and extraction workers (down 17 percent) and protective service workers
(down 13 percent) contributed heavily to the overall decline in case counts in 2010. (See table 3.)
- Contact with objects and equipment, with an incidence rate of 28 cases per 10,000 full-time workers, remained among the events with the highest rates,
but did not change significantly in 2010. However, the incidence rate for overexertion increased by 3 percent to 27 cases per 10,000 full-time workers.
(See table 1.) For this event or exposure, the private sector health care and social assistance industry had a 4 percent increase in incidence
rate—climbing to 48 cases per 10,000 full-time workers. This industry was primarily responsible for the increase in the incidence rate for overexertion.
- In private industry, the incidence rate for women workers increased by 5 percent to 100 cases per 10,000 full-time workers. (See table 6.) The number
of days-away-from-work cases increased 4 percent for women in the healthcare and social assistance industry, which is a part of education and health
services. (See table 8.)
- The incidence rate for musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) cases with days away from work increased 4 percent to 34 cases per 10,000 full-time workers. The
MSD incidence rate for nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants increased 10 percent to an incidence rate of 249 cases. This occupation also had a 7
percent increase in the number of MSD cases. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers had no significant change in their MSD case count;
however, the MSD incidence rate increased 6 percent to 155 cases per 10,000 full-time workers. (See table 18.)
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Note on error in benchmark data: An error in input data was identified that affected the 2007-2009 workplace injury and illness national numbers
including the counts of days-away-from-work cases. The effect on the national counts is small and none of the incidence rates or state estimates were
affected.
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Private industry
In the private sector, the number of days-away-from-work cases decreased 3 percent to 933,200.However, the incidence rate for private industry was 108
cases per 10,000 full-time workers and was essentially unchanged from the year before. (See table 1.) The median number of days spent away from work was
8 days for the third consecutive year—this statistic is regarded as a key measure of the severity of injuries and illnesses. The three industries with
the highest numbers of cases in 2010 were health care and social assistance (176,380), retail trade (131,380), and manufacturing (127,140).
Occupational injury and illness incidents in health care and social assistance accounted for nearly one out of five incidents in private industry. Neither
the case counts nor the incidence rate were significantly changed from the previous year for this industry sector. Sprains, strains, or tears were the
most common nature of injury or illness resulting in an incidence rate of 68 per 10,000 full-time workers in this industry. (See table 2.)
In construction, the number of days-away-from-work cases declined 19 percent to 74,950. As a result, the construction industry reported fewer
cases than transportation and warehousing with 89,540. For transportation and warehousing, the incidence rate was essentially unchanged from the
previous year, and again had the highest incidence rate (232) of all industry sectors. (See table 1.) The construction and the transportation and
warehousing industries each had relatively high incidence rates for cases requiring a full month or more away from work when compared with all private
industry. (See table 12.) The rate in construction for these long duration cases was 50 per 10,000 full-time workers while the transportation and
warehousing industry had an incidence rate of 92 cases—more than triple the overall private industry rate (30) for workers requiring 31 or more days
away from work.
The mining industry had the highest overall median number of days spent away from work per case with 24 days. This was followed by transportation and
warehousing (17), utilities (14), and construction (12). Relatively low rates of injuries and illnesses with one to five days away from work in both
mining and utilities contributed to the high medians in those industries.
Occupation (private sector, state government, local government)
There were seven occupations where the incidence rate per 10,000 full-time workers was greater than 300 and the number of cases with days away from
work was greater than 20,000. These occupations also had at least one-tenth of one percent of total employment. They include police and sheriff’s patrol
officers; nursing aides, orderlies and attendants; light or delivery service truck drivers; laborers and freight, stock and material movers; construction
laborers; tractor-trailer truck drivers; and janitors and cleaners. (See table 4.)
Of these seven occupations, laborers and freight, stock, and material movers had the highest number of days-away-from-work injuries and illnesses in
2010 with 65,040 (primarily in private industry) and an incidence rate of 430 cases per 10,000 full-time workers. Police and sheriff’s patrol officers
had a high incidence rate of 504 cases per 10,000 full-time workers (primarily in local government) which is a decrease of 16 percent from 2009. Nursing
aides, orderlies and attendants had an incidence rate of 489 and a case count of 53,030 cases of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses, which
represent increases of 7 and 5 percent respectively.
For all occupations, the incidence rate for public sector was approximately two-thirds higher than in the private sector. Some occupations experienced
higher rates in the public sector (state and local government combined) than their counterparts in the private sector. Janitors and cleaners had a
public sector rate that was nearly three times that of the private sector. Landscaping and groundskeeping workers had a public sector rate over twice
that of the private sector rate. (See chart A.)
(Chart A appears here in the .pdf version of the news release.)
Chart A. Incidence rates of injuries and illnesses with days away from work for selected occupations1 with high case counts by ownership, 2010
Private industry. In the private sector, the number of cases for laborers and freight, stock and material movers was 62,370 cases in 2010, essentially
unchanged from 2009. Injuries to workers in this occupation occurred primarily in the trade, transportation, and utilities industry. (See table 9.)
The incidence rate increased 7 percent to 419 cases per 10,000 full-time workers. (See table 4.) The median days away from work for this occupation was
9 days—the same as 2009. (See table 11.)
The number of days-away-from-work cases for private sector tractor-trailer truck drivers decreased 8 percent to 42,140. The incidence rate per
10,000 full-time workers for this occupation remained statistically the same as in the prior year at 307 cases in 2010.
State government. For state government, the number of cases with days away from work decreased 8 percent to 69,490 cases. The incidence rate was 175
cases per 10,000 full-time workers, which was essentially unchanged from 2009. The median days away from work was 10 days, up one day from the previous
year and two days more than the median for private industry and local government. (See table 3.)
Correctional officers and jailers had 11,420 cases and as in the previous year, this occupation reported by far the most injuries and illnesses in
state government with 16 percent of the total. (See table 4.) Police and sheriff’s patrol officers had 3,460 cases and an incidence rate of 469 cases
per 10,000 full-time workers (a rate lower than their local government counterparts).
Local government. For local government, the incidence rate was 181 and the number of cases was 188,420—both were statistically unchanged from 2009. The
median days away from work was 8, the same as the previous year. (See table 3.) Police and sheriff’s patrol officers had the highest number of cases
with 25,540, a decrease of 18 percent from 2009. (See table 4.) Their incidence rate was 563 per 10,000 full-time workers, which is a decrease of
17 percent from 2009. A 44 percent decrease in assaults by person contributed to this decrease. Janitors and cleaners had 20,250 cases in 2010 which was
an increase of 16 percent. Their incidence rate was 664 cases—over three-and-one-half times greater than the incidence rate for all local government
workers and over five-and-one-half times greater than the incidence rate for all workers.
Case circumstances
A number of variables describe the circumstances of workplace injuries and illnesses that required one or more days away from work. They include
nature, part of body, source, and event or exposure, as well as “musculoskeletal disorders” (an amalgamation of selected nature and event or exposure
categories).
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A nursing aide sprains her back from overexertion in lifting a health care patient.
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(nature) (part of body) (event or exposure) (source)
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Event or exposure. In 2010, these three event or exposure categories each had at least 100,000 incidents: contact with objects and equipment;
overexertion; and fall on same level. (See table 5.) In sum, these categories accounted for 62 percent of total injuries and illnesses requiring days
away from work for all ownership sectors.
Contact with objects and equipment was the leading event or exposure with 284,140 cases and an incidence rate of 28 cases per 10,000 full-time workers.
However, among six occupations with greater than 25,000 cases and incidence rates greater than 300, contact with objects and equipment was the
leading event or exposure for only one occupation: laborers and freight, stock, and material movers. In four of those occupations, the leading event or
exposure was overexertion. (See table A.)
Twenty-nine percent of the injuries due to contact with objects or equipment were cuts, lacerations, or punctures. Twenty-six percent of these contact
with objects or equipment incidents involved an injury to a finger or fingernail; 15 percent affected the head; and the hands (excluding fingers) and
feet (including toes) each represented 10 percent.
Table A. Leading event or exposure for selected occupations, all ownerships, 2010
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Selected Occupations Days-away-from-work cases Incidence rate per 10,000 full-time workers Leading event or exposure
(percent of total)
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Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand 65,040 430.4 Contact with object or equipment (33%), Overexertion (32%)
Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants 53,030 489.4 Overexertion (49%), Fall on same level (16%)
Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners 46,370 316.5 Overexertion (26%), Contact with object or equipment (22%)
Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer 43,940 318.5 Overexertion (23%), Contact with object or equipment (19%)
Police and sheriff’s patrol officers 29,150 504.3 Assaults and violent acts (18%), Transportation incidents (18%)
Truck drivers, light or delivery services 28,200 384.2 Overexertion (27%), Contact with object or equipment (20%)
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Nature of injury or illness. In 2010, sprains, strains, and tears accounted for 40 percent of total injury and illness cases requiring days away from work
in all ownerships. Soreness and pain (including the back) accounted for 11 percent of total cases. (See table 5.)
Forty-three percent of sprains, strains, and tears were the result of overexertion. Falls on the same level accounted for another 11 percent and 8 percent
were the result of contact with objects and equipment. (See table 17.)
In 36 percent of the sprain, strain, and tear cases, the back was injured, while 12 percent involved the shoulder. In another 26 percent of the cases,
a lower extremity (typically the knee or ankle) was injured. Although the back is the most frequently injured part of the body in sprain, strain, and tear
cases, the number of such cases has fallen faster over time than for most other parts of the body. (See chart B. Historical data prior to 2008 are only
available for private industry.)
Sprain, strain, and tear cases where the shoulder was injured required a median of 21 days to recover, more than twice as many median days than for all
sprain, strain, and tear cases. Workers who sustained fractures required a median of 28 days to recuperate. Carpal tunnel syndrome required a median of
27 days to recuperate and electrical burns required a median of 10 days.
(Chart B appears here in the .pdf version of this news release.)
Chart B. Number of sprain, strain, and tear cases requiring days away from work by selected part of body, private industry, 2003-2010
Musculoskeletal disorders. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), often referred to as ergonomic injuries, accounted for 29 percent of all workplace
injuries and illnesses requiring time away from work in 2010. (See table 18.) A list of nature of injury or illness and event or exposure categories that
comprise musculoskeletal disorders can be found on the BLS website: http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshdef.htm.
There were 346,400 MSDs in all ownerships (state government, local government, and private industry), essentially unchanged from 2009. The rate of
MSD injuries for all ownerships was 34 cases per 10,000 full-time workers; an increase of 4 percent from 33 in 2009. While the rate remained essentially
the same in state and local government, it increased by 5 percent from 31 cases per 10,000 full-time workers to 33 cases in 2010 in the private sector.
The median days away from work for MSD cases was 11 days, compared to 8 days for all days-away-from-work cases.
Five occupations had MSD case counts greater than 10,000. (See table B and table 18.) Of these occupations, nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants had
the highest incidence rate of 249 MSD cases per 10,000 full-time workers and also the highest case count.
For all occupations, the back was injured in nearly half of the MSD cases and required a median of 7 days to recuperate. The most severe MSD cases
occurred to the shoulder, requiring a median of 21 days for the worker to return to work, but accounted for only 15 percent of the MSD cases.
Table B. Median number of days away from work and percent of total musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) by selected occupations and selected part of body, all ownerships, 2010
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Selected occupation Selected part of body
Median days away from work by
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Total Shoulder Back Abdomen Arm Wrist Leg Multiple body parts
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All occupations 11 21 7 20 15 18 16 15
Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants 6 7 5 7 8 10 9 11
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand 13 27 9 26 7 21 18 25
Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners 12 27 9 20 32 11 17 24
Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer 21 34 13 22 61 36 19 23
Registered nurses 7 6 6 19 7 7 13 10
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Percent of total MSDs
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Total Shoulder Back Abdomen Arm Wrist Leg Multiple body parts
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All occupations 100.0 14.6 45.4 5.2 4.5 6.4 7.2 5.9
Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants 100.0 14.4 55.7 1.5 2.9 3.8 4.1 8.3
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand 100.0 14.0 49.4 7.0 5.3 4.7 5.5 3.6
Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners 100.0 15.1 45.9 5.4 4.9 4.1 7.7 5.7
Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer 100.0 21.4 37.4 6.3 5.6 3.2 8.1 5.7
Registered nurses 100.0 13.2 55.1 1.3 1.7 3.4 4.8 9.7
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Worker characteristics
Worker characteristics include age, gender, race or ethnic origin, and length of service with the employer at the time of the incident.
(See tables 6, 7, 8, 10 and 14.)
Age. For all ownerships (which include the private sector, state government, and local government) the number of days-away-from-work cases for all
age groups either declined or remained essentially unchanged from the previous year. For workers between the ages of 16 and 19, the rate of nonfatal
occupational injuries and illnesses increased nearly 10 percent from the prior year to 117 cases per 10,000 full-time employees. Workers age 45-54 had
an increase in their incidence rate to 130 cases, an increase of 5 percent from the previous year. This age group comprised 27 percent of all cases
in 2010. Within private industry, the incidence rate for workers age 35-44 continued its downward trend since 2003. Workers age 65 and over required
the longest amount of time to recuperate from an injury or illness with a median of 16 days.
Gender. The rate of injury and illness for women increased by 3 percent to 106 cases with days away from work per 10,000 full-time workers yet was
still lower than the rate for men with 128 cases. The number of injuries and illnesses to men declined by 6 percent in 2010; however, for women workers
the number remained relatively unchanged. The severity of injury to men was greater than that to women where men required a median of 9 days to recuperate
compared with a median of 7 days for women.
Race or ethnicity. The number of injuries and illnesses decreased 7 percent for black or African American workers to 94,350 cases in 2010 and decreased
4 percent for white workers to 492,250 cases. (See table 7.) The number of cases for Hispanic or Latino workers did not change significantly in 2010.
Race or ethnicity was unreported in 37 percent of days-away-from-work cases.
Notes
This release is the third in a series of releases from the BLS covering occupational safety and health statistics in 2010. The first release, in
August 2011, covered work-related fatalities from the 2010 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. In October 2011, the Survey of Occupational Injuries
and Illnesses (SOII) annual summary reported the total recordable cases by industry and case type for occupational injuries and illnesses for 2010.
Additional background and methodological information regarding the BLS occupational safety and health statistics program can be found in Chapter 9 of
the BLS Handbook of Methods at http://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/homch9.pdf.
This release does not present all the publishable estimates and rates for days-away-from-work cases. Several tables have been modified or retired
from the previous year. Data users should take caution to read table titles. Table 17 is new and presents data on selected nature of injury categories
by event or exposure and part of body. Additional detailed data are available from BLS staff on 202-691-6170, iifstaff@bls.gov, and the BLS Internet
site at http://www.bls.gov/iif/home.htm.
Error in benchmark data
The employment scope used in benchmarking national survey data was revised for 2010 to correct an error in input data that affected the
2007-2009 workplace injury and illness national numbers. This error resulted in national estimates of the number of injuries and illnesses that were
marginally higher than would have otherwise been the case. Table A in the 2010 SOII annual summary news release issued on October 20, 2011 displays
the estimates as originally published and as revised. This change does not affect national incidence rates or any state estimates. BLS does not plan
to revise previously-published estimates of the number of injuries and illnesses, but cautions data users that this change could minimally affect
the comparability of injury and illness counts over time.
