Lost-time workday rate

The severity rate, which is often called the lost-time workday rate, is used to determine how serious the injuries and illnesses are. The same formula can be used to calculate the restricted workday case rate. A company may have a low incident rate or few injuries and illnesses but, if the injuries and illnesses that are occurring result in many days away from work or restricted workdays, the lost-time workdays or restricted workday cases can be as costly as, or more costly than, having a large number of no lost workdays or restricted workday injuries or illnesses, which have only medical costs associated with them. Lost-time workday cases can definitely have a greater impact on your workers compensation costs and premiums. 

The severity rate, which is often called the lost-time workday rate, is used to determine how serious the injuries and illnesses are. A company may have a low incident rate or few injuries and illnesses but, if the injuries and illnesses that occur result in many days away from work, the lost... 

Companies and federal officials frequently utilize the following statistical pieces of information designed to allow the company to compare its safety and health performance with others the incident rate, illness rate, lost workday cases rate or severity rate, and restricted workday case rate. These rates, respectively, answer the questions of How often or frequently are accidents occurring and How bad are the injuries/illnesses that are occurring The number of times that occupational injuries/illnesses happen is the determinant for the incident rate, while the number of days away from work (lost-time workdays) or restricted workdays are the prime indicator of the severity rate. Both of these rates provide unique information regarding your safety and health effort. 

Calculation of the severity rate is similar to the incident rate except that the total number of lost-time workdays or restricted workdays is used in place of the number of OSHA recordable injuries/illnesses. The severity rate for a company can be calculated in the following manner ... 

A university has 1200 full-time employees. In a particular year this university had 38 reportable lost-time injuries with a resulting 274 lost workdays. Compute the OSHA incidence rate based on injuries and lost workdays. 

Lost time accidents the lost workday case rate (LWCR) rose to a peak of approximately 0.7 injuries per 200000 in 1994, then fell steadily to 0.5 injuries per 200 000 in 1997. 

Lost time accidents between 1987 and 1999 the global frequency rate for lost workday cases fell from 2.5 cases per 100 employees peryearto 0.21 cases per 100 employees per year. The target for 2000 is 0.1. 

Lost time accidents the lost workday injury rate fell from 25 per million hours in 1992 to 13 in 1995. The figure has fallen slightly since then, and in 1998 was 9.1. This represents a fall of 58% during the period (against a... 

Occupational Illness the actual figures are combined with the injury figures see lost time accidents). In 1999 work-caused recordable illnesses fell 14%, while the lost workday illness rate fell 20% (mostly for repetitive motion-type illnesses ). 

Notes Incidence rate for the US lost workday cases per 100 full-time workers for Japan lost time injuries and illnesses per 200,000 hours worked. 

Incident rate Number of occupational injuries and/or illnesses or lost workdays per 100 full-time employees. 

This is equivalent to the number of new cases per 100 worker years. Workplace-wide incidence rates (IRs) wiU be calculated for all cumulative trauma disorders and by body location for each department, process, or type of job. (If specific work hours are not readily available, the number of full-time equivalent employees in each area multiplied by 2000 hours will be used to obtain the denominator.) Severity rates (SRs) traditionally use the number of lost workdays rather than the number of cases in the numerator. Prevalence rates (PRs) are the number of existing cases per 200,000 hours or the percentage of workers with the condition (new cases plus old cases that are still active). 

The number of injuries, illnesses, or lost workdays related to a common exposure base of 100 full-time workers as used by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The common exposure base enables one to make accurate inter-industry comparisons, trend analysis over time, or comparisons among firms regardless of size. This rate is calculated as IR = (N/EH) X 200,000, where N is number of injuries and/or dlnesses or lost work days, EH is total hours worked by all employees during the calendar year, and 200,000 is the base for 100 full-time equivalent workers (working 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year). 

In 1981 as an attempt to get more injury deterrence for its money OSH A began to use firms safety records to target inspections at work sites with comparatively poor safety records. OSH A began to inspect only firms with lost workday accident rates for the past two to three years that were above the most recent overall manufacturing accident rate. Using firms injury records to select sites for inspections was eventually discontinued partly because of concern that government injury data were becoming less accurate over time as firms under reported injuries to avoid inspections. 

Figure 1.1 was first pubhshed by the United States Mineral Management Service (MMS)— the government agency responsible, at the time, for offshore safety regulation and enforcement. These responsibilities for the MMS are now handled by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement— BSEE. The chart provides data to do with the number of offshore safety incidents for the period 1996 to 2011. The trend is impressive in just 12 years the recordable injury rate declined from 3.39 to 0.75, a drop of around 80 percent. And the number of lost workdays dropped by a similar percentage. Moreover the trend is quite smooth and steady, showing that the results are not a fluke or one-time event. And these... 

In situation one, the organization to which the safety professional gives counsel has OSHA incident and lost-workday case rates (DART rates) three times that of its industry averages. Much needs to be done to bring operational risks down to acceptable levels. Leading indicators selected would be for the basics of an operational risk management system and a measurement system could be established with suitable and attainable goals. 

Operations in chemicals were chosen for this study. For the 6 companies that provided the 328 investigation reports received, the range of their OSHA-recordable rates at that time was 1.6-2.9. For their lost-workday case rates, the range was 0.6-1.3. Every one of those companies has improved its rates since the study was made. Comparable rates for private industry, overall, were 8.5 for OSHA recordables and 3.8 for lost-workday cases. 

Another measurement system that could be of value is the rate, recorded over at least a 3-year time period, of workers compensation claims reported per 200,000 hours worked. Data for such a graph would readily be available. While the rate of workers compensation claims reported will not match precisely a similar graph showing the OSHA-recordable rate or the lost-workday case, great differences should be a subject of concern. Such a graph would be a trend indicator and could provide an alert concerning situations that need attention. 

Once the challenge of locating accurate and complete records is met, the task of trend determination can begin. One of these key trends might be the accident incidence rate both for lost workday and recordable incidents. Another key trend that could probably be determined is the Experience Modification Rate (EMR). One should be able to obtain this number from the workers compensation carrier. The workers compensation carrier probably has already made a determination of which claims the most money has been expended on, which claims included the most days away from work, which parts of the body were affected most of the time, and so on. Getting information from the workers compensation carrier can be another good source of information. 

Incidence rate (as defined by U.S. OSHA) The number of injuries and/or illnesses or lost workdays per 100 full-time employees per year, or per 200,000 hours of exposure. 

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