Breaking News: Workplace Injury and Illness Rates Increased 7.5% in 2022

Private industry employers reported 2.8 million non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2022, up 7.5 percent from 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today.

The data indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on illness reporting rates. In addition, “overexertion and bodily reaction” were the leading causes of days away from work, job restriction or transfer (DART) across all occupations.

In 2022, injuries increased by 4.5 percent to 2.3 million cases and illnesses by 26 percent to 460,700 cases. Respiratory illness cases increased by 35.4 percent to 365,000 cases, according to the nation’s Survey of Occupational Injuries and illnesses.

Other key findings reported today that provide useful insights for professionals who are responsible for employee health, safety and enterprise-wide risk management programs include:

• Total recordable cases: 2.7 per 100 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers
• Injury cases: 2.3 cases per 100 FTE workers, unchanged from 2021
• Illness cases: 45.2 cases per 10,000 FTE workers
• Overexertion and bodily reaction had the most DART cases at 1,001,440, followed by contact with objects and equipment with 780,690 cases
• Transportation and material moving occupations had the highest number of DART cases among major occupational groups
• Nearly 79 percent of DART cases in health care practitioner and technical occupations resulted in at least one day away from work
• Among production occupations, 53.8 percent of DART cases resulted in one or more days away from work
• More than 96 percent of cases associated with exposure to harmful substances involved at least one day away from work

The BLS publishes detailed workplace injury and illness charts by types of industry, case type, occupation, workforce demographic and other parameters. They can be viewed here.

WorkCare provides comprehensive injury and illness prevention and management solutions to employers in all types of industries. Visit our service line webpages and contact us at info@workcare.com to learn more.