Occupational injury lost-workday injuries

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

Lost workdays Number of days (consecutive or not) after but not including the day of injury or illness during which the employee would have worked but could not do so, that is, during which the employee could not perform all or any part of his or her normal assignment during all or any part of the workday or shift because of the occupational injury or illness. 

Recordable nonfatal cases without lost workdays Cases of occupational injury or illness that do not involve fatalities or lost workdays but do result in (1) transfer to another job or termination of employment or (2) medical treatment other than first aid or (3) diagnosis of occupational illness or (4) loss of consciousness or (5) restriction of work or motion. 

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 ). 

As reviewed by Karwowski and Marras (1997), work-related musculoskeletal disorders currently account for one-third of aU occupational injuries and illnesses reported to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by employers every year. These disorders thus constitute the largest job-related injury and illness problem in the United States today. According to OSHA (1999), in 1997 employers reported a total of 626,000 lost workday disorders to the BLS, and these disorders accounted for 1 of every 3 spent for workers compensation in that year. Employers pay more than 15-20 billion in workers compensation costs for these disorders every year, and other expenses associated with MSDs may increase this total to 45-54 billion a year. 

A lost workday—equivalent to a lost time injury—is one where an individual misses more than one day of work due to an injury sustained while at work. It is another widely used criterion for measuring occupational safety. 

May cause minor injury or minor occupational illness resulting in lost workday(s) or minor property damage Probably would not affect personnel safety or health and thus less than a lost workday but nevertheless is in violation of specific criteria... 

As defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), occupational injury or illness cases that result in an employee being unable to work a full assigned work shift. That is, the employee is off from work (lost workday). As defined by OSHA, a fatality is not considered a lost time case. 

The Department of Energy and its contractor injury and illness indicators include occupational injury and illness rates per 200,000 workhours for total recordable cases, lost workday cases, lost workdays, and occupational illnesses. In addition, the DOE has developed two measures used to quantify occupational injuries and illnesses. These measures are the ratio of Lost Workdays to Lost Workday Cases and the DOE Safety Cost Index (Training Resources and Data Exchange [TRADE] 1995,1-60-61). 

This index value indicates that for every hour worked, the organization lost 3.33 due to occupational injuries, deaths, and lost workdays. This index value can be compared to other organizations, and from year to year. With some idea as to what an acceptable index value is, it can be used to benchmark safety performance. 

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. 

From 1973 to 2001, the occupational injury and illness rate for private industry dropped 50%—from 11.3 to 5.7. In the same period, the incidence rate for Total Lost Workday Cases decreased 18%—from 3.4 to 2.8. 

What job tasks or occupations have the most sprain or strain injuries Which job tasks or occupations have incurred lost workdays or have a high severity ... 

Injury oi occupational illness resulting in 1 or more lost workdays, reversible moderate environmental impact, or monetary loss equal to or exceeding 100K but less than 1M Injury cr occupational illness not resulting in a lost workday, minimal environmental impact, or monetary loss less than SIOOK... 

FRI 3 (low risk) There is a low probability that hazards in this facility can cause loss of life. Hazards may result in hospitalization of one or two persons, occupational injury or illness resulting in a lost workday or... 

The expected benehts of hazard identihcation are a decrease in incidents of injuries, a decrease in lost workdays and absenteeism, a decrease in workers compensation costs, increased productivity, and better cooperation and communication. The baseline for determining the benefit of the hazard identification can be formulated from existing company data on occupational injuries/illnesses, workers compensation, attendance, proht, and production. 

There are approximately 6 million workplaces in the United States and each one of than has unique sources of energy that are an integral part of the industry or the occupation in that workplace. To take a critical and nonbiased look at the injuries that you are experiencing, other pieces of information are necessary. You should gather information regarding injuries to evaluate them against national trends, industry trends, and your own prevention effort. Injuries involving lost workdays from the 1999 BLS Annual Survey of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses wiU be used as an example. 

Injuries that result in days away from work are considered to be the most severe. It is not enough just to count the number of injuries. We must make an effort to deaease not only the number of injuries but the ones that are most costly in time lost and medical treatment. Using lost workdays provides a standard way of looking at these most sevae types of injuries. One of the questions that you ask first is Do I have employees in occupations that have historically been at risk for severe injuries Table 9.5 shows the numbers of lost-workday injuries that have occurred in high-risk occupations. 

Enter the number of workdays (conaacutlve or not) on which the employee would luwe worked but could not because of occupational injury or illness. The number of lost workdays should not include the day of injury or onset of illness or any days on which the employee would not have worked even though able to work. 

Another aspect of absenteeism that safety managers must consider is lost workdays, whether they result from on- or off-the-job injuries and illnesses. Since 1993, truck drivers, more than any other worker, have experienced the highest number of injuries and illnesses requiring time away from work." As mentioned earlier, of the top ten occupations accounting for nearly one third of all injuries and illnesses requiring time away from work, truck drivers were number one. Moreover, the median number of lost workdays for all cases in 1999 was 6 days, with one fourth of these cases resulting in 21 or more days away from work. ... 

Table 4.1 presents 1995 data on occupational risks for a number of industries. The rate of fatalities and of injuries that require at least one lost workday are shown as a rate per 100,000 employees. The industries are shown in descending order of... 

Rough estimates only exist for occupational injuries that are not required to be reported to the national safety administrations. The ratio between recordable cases (three lost workdays in West Germany) and first aid accidents is supposed to be approximately 1 9 (Skiba 1985) or 1 10 (Krause 1974). Similar results were indicaded by other studies. The U.S. Industrial Safety Research Council (Swain 1985) reports a relationship of 1 10 for disabling and nondisabling injuries. Heinrich (1959) suggests a figure of 1 serious accident to every 29 nonserious accidents in the U.S. industries. The relationships between serious and minor injuries, near misses and unsafe acts, will be discussed in detail in a later section. 

Lost workday The number of workdays (consecutive or not), beyond the d of injury or onset of illness, that an employee was away from work or limited to restricted work activity because of an occupational injury or illness. 

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