Employer-reported injury and illness rate declined to 3.0 cases per 100 workers in 2015

Employer-Reported Workplace Injuries and Illnesses – 2015 There were approximately 2.9 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses reported by private industry employers in 2015, which occurred at a rate of 3.0 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See tables 1 and 2.) The 2015 rate continues a pattern of declines that, apart from 2012, occurred annually for the last 13 years.

 Private industry employers reported nearly 48,000 fewer nonfatal injury and illness cases in 2015 compared to a year earlier, according to estimates from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII). Because of this decline, combined with an increase in reported hours worked, the total recordable cases (TRC) incidence rate fell 0.2 cases per 100 full-time workers. The fall in the TRC rate was driven by a decline in the rate of cases involving days away from work (DAFW) and other recordable cases (ORC)—each falling 0.1 cases—as the rate for cases of job transfer or restriction only (DJTR) has remained at 0.7 cases since 2011.

The latest Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (Annual) news release has been posted on the BLS website at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/osh.pdf and also archived at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/osh_10272016.pdf.