The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that while private-sector employers reported more than 3 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2013, the incidence rate (3.3 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers) declined from the prior year’s rate (3.4 cases per 100). The BLS’s Employer-Reported Workplace Injury and Illness Summary also notes that the incidence rate for more serious injuries and illnesses involving days away from work, job transfer, or restriction (“DART” cases) declined for the first time since 2009. 

The vast majority (94.9%) of the approximately 3 million reported incidents were injuries. Of these 2.9 million reported cases, more than 2.1 million occurred in service-providing industries, which the BLS notes accounts for 82.4% of the private industry workforce. 

With respect to occupational illnesses, the reported rate (16.6 cases per 10,000 full-time workers) was not statistically different from that reported in 2012 (17.3 per 10,000).

Employers with 50-249 employees had the highest incidence rates (4 cases per 100 full-time workers). 

OSHA’s revised injury and illness reporting requirements will take effect on January 1, 2015. Under the new rule, employers must report all fatal work injuries within eight hours, and all in-patient hospitalizations, amputations or losses of an eye within 24 hours. An updated list of industries required to keep injury and illness records can be found here.