Industry Incidence and Rates

Total recordable incidence rate unchanged from 2020 even as illness cases drop!

The dramatic impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on nonfatal injuries and illnesses in 2020 is starting to show signs of shifting back to pre-pandemic trends. In 2020, private industry employers reported 2.1 million nonfatal injuries, down from 2.7 million in 2019. At the same time, total reported illness cases more than quadrupled to 544,600 cases, up from 127,200 cases in 2019. This increase was driven by a nearly 4,000% increase in employer reported respiratory illness cases in 2020 at 428,700, up from 10,800 in 2019. Although the total private industry recordable incidence rate was unchanged in 2021 at 2.7 cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers, the underlying injury and illness trends flipped from 2020. In 2021, the number and rate of injury cases increased while the number and rate of illness cases decreased compared to 2020.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that private industry employers reported 2.6 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2020, down from 2.7 million in 2020, a decrease of 1.8%. The incidence rate per 100 full-time equivalent workers remained unchanged at 2.7 in 2021, after a 3.6% decrease in 2020. These estimates are from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII).

The decline in injury and illness cases and rates were due to a drop in illness cases, with private industry employers reporting 365,200 nonfatal illnesses in 2021, down from 544,600 in 2020. At the same time, total reported injury cases increased 6.3% to 2.2 million cases, up from 2.1 million cases in 2020. The decrease in illness cases was driven by a 37.1% decrease in employer reported respiratory illness cases in 2021 at 269,600, down from 428,700 in 2020. The injury rate increased 4.5% from 2.2 in 2020 to 2.3 cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers in 2021. Over the same period, the rate of illness cases decreased 32.6% from 55.9 cases per 10,000 full-time equivalent workers to 37.7 cases in 2021.

Three of the five private sector occupational injury and illness incidence rates published by BLS for 2021 were unchanged from 2020, while one increased and another decreased.

The incidence rate for total Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable cases remained unchanged at 2.7 per 100 full-time workers in 2021. The incidence rate for cases with days away from work, job transfer or restriction remained at 1.7 in 2021. Also, the other recordable cases rate was steady at 1.0 in 2021.

The incidence rate for the most serious injury and illnesses, cases with days away from work, decreased from 1.2 in 2020 to 1.1 per 100 full-time equivalent workers in 2021 (-8.3%). However, the rate for cases with job transfer or restriction increased from 0.5 in 2020 to 0.6 in 2021 (+20%).

There have been several changes that affect comparability of incidence rates from year to year. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) replaced the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system beginning with the 2003 SOII. Revisions to OSHA’s occupational injury and illness recordkeeping requirements went into effect in 2002. Beginning with 1992, BLS revised its annual survey to include only nonfatal cases and stopped publishing the incidence rate of lost workdays.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 

Note: Beginning in 1992, all rates are for nonfatal cases only. Changes in OSHA recordkeeping requirements in 2002 affect comparison with earlier years.