Number of Texas Job Injuries, Illnesses Requiring Days off Work Drops

A total of 69,340 nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses involving days away from work were reported in Texas private industry for 2005 according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses.

The Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation said this was a 6 percent decline from the 74,080 cases reported in Texas in 2004 and more than 15 percent less than the 82,110 cases in Texas in 2003.

In 2005, there were 100.9 injuries and illnesses per 10,000 full-time equivalent workers in Texas, more than 25 percent lower than the national rate of 135.9 percent. The Texas rate declined 8 percent from the 2004 rate of 110.0 and 19 percent from the rate of 125.1 reported in 2003.

The severity of injuries and illnesses in both the Texas and U.S. surveys for 2005 was unchanged from 2004, based on data for median days away from work – the point at which half the cases involved more days and half involved fewer days. The median days away from work for both 2005 and 2004 were nine days for Texas and seven days nationwide.

The annual BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses is conducted in cooperation with the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC). DWC collects survey data to assist employers, safety professionals, and policymakers in identifying occupational safety and health issues in the state.

The DWC’s Workplace & Medical Services section provides various safety and health services to promote safe and healthy workplaces, including free safety and health consultations on Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations; regional and on-site safety training; free safety and health publications; free safety training video loans; guidance on return-to-work programs and drug-free workplace programs; and the Safety Violations Hotline.

For more information on these services, visit the TDI Web site at http://www.tdi.state.tx.us/wc/mr/division.html or call 800-687-7080.

This is the third release reporting 2005 data from the BLS workplace safety and health statistical series. The first release, in August 2006, covered work-related fatalities from the 2005 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. n October 2006, BLS reported that there were 246,000 nonfatal injuries and illnesses in Texas, in 2005, based on the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. This release covers the circumstances of the injuries and illnesses as well as the characteristics of the workers involved in the cases that required days away from work. To view 2005 industry, demographic, occupation, and case characteristics specific data, charts and tables, visit the TDI Web site at: http://www.tdi.state.tx.us/wc/news/2007/news200725.html.

The DWC will release more in-depth injury and illness analyses by industry in its quarterly newsletter supplement, Safety by the Numbers.

Additional Texas fatal and nonfatal occupational injury and illness data are available by contacting the Division at either 512-804-4659 or 512-804-4599, or injurystatistics@tdi.state.tx.us.

Details about the national BLS injury and illness data can be found at http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcdnew.htm.

Source: TDI Department of Workers’ Compensation