For release 10:00 a.m. (EST) Thursday, November 8, 2012 USDL-12-2204
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, 2011
The rate of nonfatal occupational injury and illness cases requiring days away from work to recuperate was 117 cases per 10,000 full-time workers in
2011, statistically unchanged from 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The total number of private industry, state government, and
local government cases with days away from work remained statistically unchanged at 1,181,290. The median days away from work--a key measure of severity
of injuries and illnesses--was 8 days, the same as the previous year. (See table 1.)
Key Findings:
- Occupational injuries and illnesses to workers in five occupations accounted for nearly 20 percent of the days-away-from-work cases in 2011: laborers;
nursing aides and orderlies and attendants; janitors and cleaners; heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers; and police officers and sheriff’s patrol
officers. Police officers had an incidence rate per 10,000 full-time workers that was five times greater than for all occupations; the rate for laborers
was three times greater than the rate for all workers. (See table 4 and table B.)
- The proportion of injuries and illnesses was highest among workers age 45-54--accounting for 26 percent of the total cases in 2011. (See table 6.) In
private industry, workers in this age group had decreases in case counts and incidence rates, as did workers age 16-19 and 65 and over. Injuries and
illnesses to workers age 55-64 in manufacturing increased 6 percent to 21,660 cases; workers age 20-24 had a 13 percent increase in the same industry.
(See table 8.)
- Among private industry workers, injuries and illnesses to workers with 1-5 years of service with an employer accounted for 35 percent of the
cases--despite an 11 percent decrease. However, the number of days-away-from-work cases increased for workers with fewer than 3 months-of-service (up 3
percent) and 3-11 months-of-service (up 7 percent). In the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry, there was a 32 percent increase in the
number of cases for workers with 3-11 months-of-service. (See table 8.)
- Musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) cases (387,820) accounted for 33 percent of all injury and illness cases in 2011. Six occupations accounted for 26 percent
of the MSD cases in 2011: nursing assistants; laborers; janitors and cleaners; heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers; registered nurses; and stock clerks.
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers required a median of 21 days away from work to recuperate, compared to 11 days for all workers who sustained an MSD.
(See table 18.)
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| Changes to classification systems: Two revised coding structures have been implemented for 2011 data: |
| Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS 2.01--used to describe the characteristics of |
| occupational injuries and illnesses) and the Standard Occupational Classification (2010 SOC). Data coded |
| according to OIICS 2.01 are not comparable to prior years. Data coded according to 2010 SOC are not |
| comparable for many occupation categories from prior years. |
| See www.bls.gov/iif/oshoiics.htm and www.bls.gov/soc/ for additional information. |
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Occupation (private sector, state government, local government)
These seven occupations had an incidence rate greater than 300 cases per 10,000 full-time workers and had greater than 20,000 days-away-from-work cases:
police and sheriff’s patrol officers; nursing aides, orderlies and attendants; light truck or delivery service drivers; laborers and freight, stock and
material movers; correctional officers; heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers; and janitors and cleaners. (See table 4 and table B.) These occupations
also had at least one-tenth of one percent of total employment.
Laborers accounted for the highest proportion of injuries and illnesses in private industry--6 percent of 908,310 cases. Laborers in private industry had an
incidence rate of 353 cases per 10,000 full-time workers--more than three times greater than the rate for all private industry workers. These workers
required a median of 9 days away from work to recuperate. (See table 4.) Injuries and illnesses to correctional officers accounted for 21 percent of the
72,650 total cases in state government. The incidence rate for correctional officers was 629 cases per 10,000 full-time workers, compared to a rate of 183
for all state government workers. These workers required a median of 24 days before returning to work after their injuries--more than twice as many days as
all state government workers.
Of the 200,330 days-away-from-work cases in local government, 15 percent occurred to police officers at an incidence rate of 659 cases per 10,000
full-time workers. Janitors and cleaners accounted for another 9 percent of the cases in local government and had an incidence rate of 565; these occurred
primarily in the educational services industry.
The incidence rate for public sector workers was 190 cases per 10,000 full-time workers (compared to a rate of 105 for private industry). Some occupations
experienced higher rates in the public sector (state and local government combined) than their counterparts in the private sector. Janitors and cleaners
and landscaping and groundskeeping workers had a public sector rate that was over twice that of the private sector. (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 occupations with high case counts by ownership, 2011
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) changes. As a result of the conversion from 2000 SOC to 2010 SOC, data are now available on a number of
detailed occupations. For example, nurse anesthetists, midwives, and nurse practitioners were included in the general category of "Registered nurses" in
2000 SOC. Data are now available for each unique occupation. Within the old title of nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants, orderlies have been
separated out from nursing assistants. (See table A.) However, employment data were not available for 2011 to use in calculating incidence rates for
nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants and registered nurses. In these two high profile occupation categories, data were coded according to 2000 SOC so
that available employment data could be used to calculate incidence rates. Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants had an incidence rate of 444 cases per
10,000 full-time workers and nurses had an incidence rate of 136. Comparable employment data will be available for the next year and the occupation series
will be purely based on 2010 SOC coding.
Table A. Numbers and incidence rates for registered nurses and nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants all ownerships, according to SOC version, 2011 data
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2000 and 2010 SOC Titles All cases Musculoskeletal disorders(1)
------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------------
Number Incidence Rate Number Incidence Rate
------- -------------- ------ --------------
Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants (2000 SOC) 47,840 443.9 25,780 239.2
Nursing assistants (2010 SOC) 46,520 -- 25,010 --
Orderlies (2010 SOC) 1,310 -- 770 --
Registered nurses (2000 SOC) 27,950 135.7 12,000 58.2
Registered nurses (2010 SOC) 27,610 -- 11,880 --
Nurse anesthetists (2010 SOC) 40 -- 20 --
Nurse midwives (2010 SOC) -- -- -- --
Nurse practitioners (2010 SOC) 280 -- 90 --
Note: Dash indicates data not available. Because of rounding, data do not add up to totals.
1 See table 18 for reference to other occupations with MSD cases.
Private industry
In the private sector, the number of days-away-from-work cases decreased 3 percent in 2011 to 908,310 with an incidence rate of 105 cases per 10,000
full-time workers. (See table 1.) The median number of days away from work was 8 days for the fourth consecutive year--this statistic is regarded as a key
measure of the severity of injuries and illnesses. Three industries had more than 100,000 incidents in 2011: health care and social assistance (171,530),
manufacturing (129,030), and retail trade (126,550).
More than one third of occupational injuries and illnesses in health care and social assistance involved interaction with people other than the injured
employee; most frequently with a patient (28 percent). The incidence rate for violence and other injuries by persons or animal (15 per 10,000 full-time
workers) was more than triple the overall rate for all of private industry (4 per 10,000 full-time workers). Health care and social assistance also had the
highest proportion of days-away-from-work cases of female workers (81 percent of all incidents) among all industries, contributing more than 40 percent of
all private ownership cases where the injured or ill employee was female.
While it had fewer than 100,000 cases (88,050), the transportation and warehousing industry had the highest private industry incidence rate in 2011, with
226 cases per 10,000 full-time workers. The overexertion and bodily reaction rate (88 cases per 10,000 full-time workers) was more than double the rate for
all private industry (38). The incidence rate for transportation events was 25 cases per 10,000 full-time workers in this industry, compared to an incidence
rate of 5 for private industry as a whole. As in prior years, the incidence rate for cases requiring 31 days or more away from work was higher in
transportation and warehousing (88) than it was for all of private industry (29).
The mining industry had the highest overall median number of days spent away from work per case with 28 days. This was followed by transportation and
warehousing (17 median days), construction (14 median days), utilities (13 median days), and information (13 median days). In all five of these industries,
at least 30 percent of the cases required at least 31 days away from work.
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" (a combination 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 2011, for all ownerships, 40 percent of the injuries and illness cases requiring days away from work were attributed to three types
of events or exposures: falls on the same level (15 percent); struck by object or equipment (13 percent); and overexertion in lifting or lowering (12
percent). (See table 5.) Injuries and illnesses incurred from falls on the same level and overexertion in lifting or lowering each required a median of 10
days for workers to recuperate--two more than the 8 days required for all types of events or exposures. Injuries from being struck by objects or equipment
required a median of 5 days away from work to recuperate.
Overall, the leading event or exposure in 2011 was overexertion and bodily reaction with 415,800 cases and an incidence rate of 41 cases per 10,000
full-time workers. (See table 5.) Overexertion and bodily reaction was the leading event or exposure for four of the five occupations shown in table B.
However, for police and sheriff’s patrol officers, violence and other injuries by persons or animal was the leading event or exposure.
Table B. Leading event or exposure for selected occupations(1), all ownerships, 2011
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Selected Occupations Days-away-from-work cases Median days-away-from-work Leading event or exposure
(percent of total)
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Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand 56,950 9 Overexertion and bodily reaction (41%), Contact with object or equipment (33%)
Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants(*) 47,840 5 Overexertion and bodily reaction (56%), Falls, slips, trips (20%)
Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners 44,850 7 Overexertion and bodily reaction (38%), Falls, slips, trips (29%)
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers 44,120 20 Overexertion and bodily reaction (33%), Falls, slips, trips (30%)
Police and sheriff's patrol officers 33,590 10 Violence and other injuries by persons or animals (27%), Overexertion and bodily reaction (23%)
1 Selected occupations had 30,000 cases and incidence rates greater than 300.
* Based on 2000 SOC definition.
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Injuries and illnesses incurred from repetitive motion involving microtasks accounted for only 3 percent of all the occupational injury and illness cases
in 2011. However, workers who sustained injuries or illnesses in this manner required a median of 23 days away from work--nearly 3 times as many days for
all types of injuries and illnesses.
Nature of injury or illness. In 2011, sprains, strains, and tears accounted for 38 percent of total injury and illness cases requiring days away from work
in all ownerships. Soreness and pain accounted for 12 percent of the total cases. While accounting for smaller proportions of total cases, fractures;
amputations; multiple injuries with fractures; and carpal tunnel syndrome each required a median of 25 days or more away from work to recuperate--more than
3 times the number of days for all types of injuries and illnesses. (See table 5.)
Of the 447,200 sprains, strains, and tears in 2011, 22 percent were the result of overexertion in lifting or lowering. Falls on the same level accounted
for 12 percent of sprains, strains, and tears. In 36 percent of the sprain, strain, and tear cases, the back was injured. Injuries to the shoulders and
knees each accounted for 12 percent. (See table 17 and chart B.)
(Chart B appears here in the .pdf version of this news release.)
Chart B. Distribution of sprain, strain, and tear cases requiring days away from work by selected event or exposure and part of body, all ownerships, 2011
Fractures accounted for 8 percent of all injuries and illnesses in 2011, however, these types of injuries required more than 3 times the number of days to
recuperate--27 days compared with 8 days for all types of injuries and illnesses. Falls on the same level accounted for 33 percent of fractures and another
22 percent were the result of being struck by an object or equipment. Fractures of the hand accounted for 18 percent of the fracture cases and required a
median of 11 days before returning to work. Workers who fractured their ankles required a median 42 days, but accounted for a small proportion of
fractures--12 percent. (See table 17.)
Musculoskeletal disorders. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), commonly known as ergonomic injuries, accounted for 33 percent of all workplace injuries and
illnesses requiring days away from work in 2011. (See table 18.) There were 387,820 MSDs in all ownerships with an incidence rate of 39 cases per 10,000
full-time workers. Workers who sustained musculoskeletal disorders required a median of 11 days to recuperate before returning to work, compared with 8
days for all types of cases. The revision to the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification system added new detailed nature and event or exposure
categories that can now be included in the BLS reporting of MSDs. For this reason, MSD data for 2011 should not be compared to prior year data. See
footnote 4 on table 18 for the list of categories that comprise MSDs.
Five occupations had more than 11,000 MSDs. (See table 18 and table C.) Of these occupations, nursing assistants had the highest count at 25,010. Heavy
and tractor-trailer truck drivers had the greatest median days away from work with 21 days.
For all occupations, the back was injured in 42 percent of the MSD cases and required a median of 7 days to recuperate. The most severe MSDs occurred to
the shoulder, requiring a median of 21 days for the worker to return to work, but accounted for only 13 percent of the MSDs.
Table C. Median number of days away from work and percent of total musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) by selected occupations and selected part of body, all ownerships, 2011
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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
------- -------- ----- --------- ---- ------ ------ --------------------
All occupations 11 21 7 20 18 17 15 12
Nursing assistants 6 7 5 8 8 5 6 7
Laborers and freight- stock- and material movers- hand 12 30 7 25 10 15 20 6
Janitors and cleaners- except maids and housekeeping cleaners 8 21 6 20 20 10 19 14
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers 21 35 13 25 29 15 27 70
Registered nurses(*) 8 13 7 6 14 5 17 6
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Percent of total MSDs
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Total Shoulder Back Abdomen Arm Wrist Leg Multiple body parts
------- -------- ----- --------- ---- ------ ------ --------------------
All occupations 100.0 13.2 41.8 4.7 4.8 5.9 10.7 4.7
Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants 100.0 12.6 54.8 1.1 3.0 3.8 6.1 7.9
Laborers and freight- stock- and material movers- hand 100.0 15.7 44.3 7.0 4.6 4.1 7.0 3.9
Janitors and cleaners- except maids and housekeeping cleaners 100.0 11.7 48.5 5.3 4.4 3.1 7.7 3.6
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers 100.0 16.4 35.5 6.7 7.1 2.4 14.1 4.7
Registered nurses(*) 100.0 13.0 52.9 0.8 2.2 2.4 6.6 9.2
*2010 Standard Occupational Classification
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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. Workers age 65 and over had a greater number of median days away from work than their younger counterparts--requiring a median of 14 days to recuperate
before returning to work. For all ownerships the number of days away from work cases for most age groups remained relatively unchanged from the previous
year, except for workers age 16-19 and 45-54 where the number of cases decreased 11 percent and 3 percent, respectively. The incidence rate for workers age
16-19 decreased to 109 cases per 10,000 full-time worker (from 117 in 2010). For workers age 45-54, the incidence rate per 10,000 full-time workers increased
to 221 for state government workers and to 223 for local government workers; while it decreased for private sector workers to 111. (See table 6.)
Gender. The rate of injuries and illnesses requiring days away from work per 10,000 full-time workers remained essentially unchanged in 2011 for both women and
men at 104 cases and 128 cases, respectively. The number of injuries and illnesses to women declined 3 percent and remained statistically unchanged for men.
The severity of injury to men was greater than that to women; men required a median of 10 days to recuperate compared with a median of 7 days for women. (See
table 6.)
Race or ethnicity. White workers accounted for 41 percent of all days-away-from-work cases in 2011--the number of injuries and illnesses were essentially the
same as reported in 2010. Hispanic or Latino workers accounted for 11 percent of the cases and black or African American workers accounted for 8 percent. Race
and ethnicity was unreported in 37 percent of all cases. White workers required a median of seven days away from work to recuperate--one day less than all
workers required. (See table 7.)
Notes
This release is the third in a series of releases from the BLS covering occupational safety and health statistics for 2011. The first release, in September
2012, covered work-related fatalities from the 2011 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. In October 2012, 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 2011. Data in this third
release are a subset of the SOII annual summary data and include additional detail about the case circumstances and worker characteristics for occupational
injury and illness cases that required at least one day away from work to recuperate. While the data come from the same survey, they are reported at different
levels of precision. For example, in this release, injury and illness incidence rates for days-away-from-work cases are reported per 10,000 full-time workers,
whereas, the same incidence rate in the SOII annual summary news release is reported per 100 full-time workers. Data users are cautioned to take into account
the different levels of precision when analyzing the data. 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.
Data in this release were coded according to the revised Occupational Injury and Illness Classification system (OIICS 2.01). Many of the titles for event or
exposure, nature of injury, part of body, and source of injury may be similar to titles used in prior year news releases. However, there have been many
definitional changes to this coding structure and data users should not make comparisons to prior years.
This release does not present all the publishable estimates and rates for days-away-from-work cases. Additional detailed data are available from BLS staff at
202-691-6170, iifstaff@bls.gov, and the BLS Internet site at http://www.bls.gov/iif/home.htm.
Days of job transfer or restriction pilot study. In January of 2012, the BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) began to collect
information on case circumstances and worker characteristics for days-of-job-transfer-or-restriction (DJTR) cases. The pilot included six three-digit
industries including: Specialty trade contractors; Food manufacturing; Building material and garden equipment supplies dealers; Air transportation; Warehousing
and storage; and Nursing and residential care facilities. Details from this study will be published in 2013.
