Workplace Injuries Fall To Nearly 50-Year Low

New data from the annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses revealed that workplace injury rates in Minnesota fell to a record low in 2016.

According to the data, Minnesota had an estimated 3.4 OHSA-recordable nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time-equivalent (FTE) workers in 2016. The injury rate is the lowest on record since injury measurement tracking began in 1973. If this story sounds familiar, it’s because we shared a similar story last year around this time when the 2015 statistics were released.

Minnesota Workplace Safety

For their data collection, the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry examined a number of injury claims from randomly sampled employers in the public and private sectors throughout Minnesota. Roughly 4,800 employers and roughly 2.72 million employees had their data analyzed for the survey.

After looking at the data, analysts projected that there were roughly 73,600 workers with OHSA-recordable nonfatal injuries and illnesses in 2016, down from 75,000 in 2015. This downward trend has been continuing for some time in Minnesota.

“In the past decade, Minnesota has seen a 33 percent decrease in its rate of work-related injuries and illnesses,” said Ken Peterson, Department of Labor and Industry commissioner. “That’s a lot less hurt – physically, emotionally and financially – for Minnesota’s workers. Still, there is much to be done to ensure more Minnesotans go home safe and healthy each night.”

Despite the continued downturn in workplace accidents across the state, Minnesota is still above the national average. On a national scale, researchers estimated that 3,534,600 non-fatal workplace injuries occurred in 2016, which came out to 3.2 injuries or illnesses per 100 FTE FTE workers.

More Minnesota Workplace Injury Findings

Other findings from the data on workplace injuries and illnesses in Minnesota show:

The industry with the highest rate of injury was construction (5.0 per 100 FTE workers). That was followed by local government (4.8) and health care and social assistance (4.7).

An estimated 21,200 worker injuries, 1.0 cases per 100 FTE workers, missed one or more days of work after the injury.

The median number of days missed from work after an injury was five days, down from six days in 2015 and seven days in 2014.

Sprains and strains accounted for 38 percent of injuries for workers who missed at least one day of work. The second most common injury resulting in missed work was soreness and pain (17 percent).

The back was the most commonly injured body part (19 percent), followed by hands (14 percent) and knees (10 percent).

The most common type of injury was being struck by an object or a fall on the same level (15 percent each), followed by overexertion while lifting (11 percent)

If you have questions about your work injury or an injury claim, don’t hesitate to reach out to Dean Margolis today.