Workplace Risks: Nonfatal Injuries and Illnesses in Private Industries: 2003

In 2003, private industry workplaces in 2003 reported 4.4 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses. The result is a risk of injury at a rate of 5.0 cases for every 100 equivalent full-time workers, according to the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. Department of Labor.

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Approximately 2.3 million injuries and illnesses were cases with days away from work, job transfer, or restriction; that is, they required recuperation away from work, transfer to another job, restricted duties at work, or a combination of these actions. The remaining 2.1 million injuries and illnesses were other recordable cases that did not result in time away from work. (See table 2.) The incidence rate for cases with days away from work, job transfer, or restriction was 2.6 cases per 100 workers, and the rate for other recordable cases was 2.4 cases per 100 workers.

Cases with days away from work, job transfer, or restriction are comprised of two case types, those requiring at least one day away from work, with or without job transfer or restricted work activity, and those requiring only job transfer or restriction. The latter case type may involve shortened work hours, a temporary job change, or temporary restrictions on a worker’s regular duties, for example, no heavy lifting. The rate for cases with days away from work was 1.5 cases per 100 workers and the rate for cases with job transfer or restriction was 1.1 cases per 100 workers. The rate in manufacturing for cases with job transfer or restriction (2.2 cases per 100 workers) was higher than the rate for days-away-from-work cases (1.6 cases per 100 workers). (See chart 1.) Among the remaining industry sectors included in this chart, with the exception of utilities, the rate for days-away-from-work cases was higher than the rate for cases with job transfer or restriction.

Of the 4.4 million nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses in 2003, 4.1 million were injuries. Of these 4.1 million injuries, 1.3 million or 32 percent occurred in the goods producing industries while 2.8 million or 68 percent occurred in the service providing industries. Goods producing industries employed 21.5 percent of the private sector workforce covered by this program while service providing industries employed 78.5 percent of the workforce. (Employment data are derived primarily from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.) The manufacturing sector and the trade sectors had the largest shares of injury cases with 21 percent each, followed by the health care and social assistance sector with 16 percent. (See table 5 and chart 2.)

There were about 269,500 newly reported cases of occupational illnesses in private industry in 2003. Service providing industries accounted for 53 percent of these cases while goods producing industries accounted for 47 percent. The manufacturing sector accounted for 42 percent of all newly reported cases of occupational illnesses. (See table 6 and chart 3.) The "All other illnesses" category accounted for over 75 percent of total illness cases in 2003. Over 48 percent of all other illness cases were in manufacturing industries.

The survey measures the number of new work-related illness cases that are recognized, diagnosed, and reported during the year. Some conditions (for example, long-term latent illnesses caused by exposure to carcinogens) often are difficult to relate to the workplace and are not adequately recognized and reported. These long-term latent illnesses are believed to be understated in the survey’s illness measures. In contrast, the overwhelming majority of the reported new illnesses are those that are easier to directly relate to workplace activity (for example, contact dermatitis or carpal tunnel syndrome).

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