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Study Shows Rise In Work Injuries and Illnesses
Private sector declines offset by public sector employees
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Business New Haven
1/7/2002
By: Susan Cornell
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According to an annual survey of occupational injuries and illnesses compiled by the CONN-OSHA division of the Department of Labor, a total of 101,600 injuries and illnesses were reported in Connecticut public and private sector workplaces in 2000. The study reveals a 2.3 percent increase in the number of cases compared with last year, a fact offset by the 1.9 percent increase in hours worked in 2000. Department of Labor Commissioner Shaun B. Cashman reported that the 101,600 figure translates into a rate of 7.3 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers. The Commissioner pointed out that the slight decrease in the private sector rate was more than offset by the increase in the injury and illness rate for public sector employees.
“The overall Connecticut incidence rate of reported injuries and illnesses rose slightly, for the second consecutive year, from the all-time low level of 7.1 cases per 100 full-time workers in 1998. After increasing to 7.2 in 1999, the overall rate rose again in 2000 to a level of 7.3,” explains CONN-OSHA Research Analyst Supervisor Joseph Weber, who helped prepare the report. “The private sector rate of 6.7 is a decrease from the level of 6.8 in 1999, but still above the all-time low rate of 6.6 set in 1998. After three consecutive years with an incidence rate of 9.0, the private sector rate in Connecticut dropped to 8.5 in 1994, 8.0 in 1995, 7.4 in 1996 and 6.6 for 1997 and 1998 before rising in 1999 and dropping again in 2000.”
The incidence rate for the state's public sector employees increased in 2000 after two consecutive years of record lows. The rate rose to a level of 12.0 for 2000 from an all-time low of 11.2 in 1999. This increase was seen in both the local government and the state government divisions, both up from 1999, which saw the lowest rates recorded since public sector data was first collected in 1975. Local government showed a modest rise from 13.1 to 13.2 while state government increased from 7.9 in 1999 to 9.9 in 2000.
For the eighth year in a row, the national rate of occupational injuries and illnesses in the private sector declined to another all-time low in 2000. According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, a total of 5.7 million injuries and illnesses in private industry workplaces were reported last year, a rate of 6.1 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers. Weber said that employers reported roughly the same number of cases and a 2 percent increase in the number of hours worked as compared with 1999. That reduced the case rate to 6.1 in 2000 from 6.3 in 1999. With the exception for slight increases in mining and finance, every major industry division experienced a decline in the workplace injury and illness rates over the year, while the service division remained unchanged from 1999.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) calculates incidence rates relating the number of illnesses and/or injuries to employee hours in the workplace in order to account for differences in industry employment and hours worked. In 2000, five major industry divisions reported decreases in their injury and illness rates: construction, wholesale trade, transportation and public utilities, and finance insurance and real estate. The other five industry divisions (agriculture, mining, manufacturing, retail trade, and state and local government) reported increases.
The public sector continues to be the most hazardous, according to a BLS examination of the industries with the ten highest rates of occupational injury and illness. Local government contributed four of the top five industries: public works – street & highway (35.0), sanitary services (28.2), justice, public order and safety (25.1), and parks and recreation (19.9). Private sector air transportation (20.7) was the fourth highest industry. These were followed by state government social services (17.7), retail food stores (13.8) and water transportation (13.7). Fabricated metal products manufacturing (13.2) and trucking and warehousing (12.5) round out the list.
Slightly under half of the 101,600 cases were lost workday cases, meaning that they required restricted duties at work or recuperation away from work, or both. The incidence rate for lost workday cases has increased slightly from 1999 in both Connecticut's public and private sectors.
Just over 6 percent of the total number of illnesses and injuries reported statewide, approximately 6,400, were newly reported cases of occupational illnesses in Connecticut in 2000. Over 43 percent of the reported occupational illnesses were in the manufacturing division.
Of the 101,600 nonfatal injuries and illnesses in 2000, 94 percent were injuries that resulted in either lost worktime, restriction of work or motion, loss of consciousness, medical treatment other than first aid, or transfer to another job. Generally, injury rates are higher for mid-sized establishments employing 50 to 249 workers than for larger or smaller establishments.
The Connecticut Department of Labor, in conjunction with BLS, recently completed the seventh year of a redesigned survey of occupational injuries and illnesses. The Annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses is a federal/state report that consolidates data collected by the Connecticut Department of Labor in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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