Employer-Reported Workplace Injuries and Illnesses in Washington – 2020

Private industry employers reported 78,200 nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in Washington in 2020, resulting in an incidence rate of 3.5 cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that Washington was among 20 states that had an incidence rate of total recordable cases (TRC) significantly greater than the national rate of 2.7. (See the Technical Note at the end of this release for more information about the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses.)

Washington's findings from the 2020 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses include:

• TRC incidence rates in private industry ranged from 0.1 in information to 7.7 in natural resources and mining. (See table 1.)
• Two supersectors, with 40.0 percent of private industry employment, accounted for 47.7 percent of the occupational injuries and illnesses: trade, transportation, and utilities and education and health services . (See table 2.)
• In private industry, the TRC injury and illness incidence rate ranged from 2.2 for establishments employing fewer than 11 workers to 4.4 for establishments employing 50 to 249 workers. (See table 3.)
• Washington's private industry TRC rate of 3.6 in 2020 was significantly lower than the 2019 rate of 4.0. (See table 4.)

Characteristic	United States		Washington
	Number (in thousands)	Rate	Number (in thousands)	Rate
Total cases	2,654.7	2.7	78.2	3.5
Cases with days away from work, job transfer, or restriction	1,702.0	1.7	50.6	2.3
Cases with days away from work	1,176.3	1.2	32.0	1.4
Cases with job transfer or restriction	525.6	0.5	18.7	0.8
Other recordable cases	952.7	1.0	27.6	1.2
Note: Due to rounding, components may not add to totals.

Private industry injury and illness case types

Of the 78,200 private industry injury and illness cases reported in Washington, 50,600 were of a more severe nature, involving days away from work, job transfer, or restriction-commonly referred to as DART cases. These cases occurred at a rate of 2.3 cases per 100 full-time workers. Sixty-three percent of the DART cases in Washington were incidents that resulted in at least one day away from work, compared to 69.1 percent nationally. Other recordable cases (those not involving days away from work, job transfer, or restriction) accounted for the remaining 27,600 cases in Washington, at a rate of 1.2. In comparison, the national rate for other recordable cases was 1.0.

In Washington, the professional and business services and information supersectors had significant decreases in their TRC rates from the previous year. The education and health services supersector had a significant increase in its DART rate from the previous year. The leisure and hospitality supersector had significant decreases in its TRC and DART rates over the year. No other private industry supersector had a significant change in its TRC or DART rate from the previous year.

In 2020, 68,800 (88.0 percent) of private industry recordable injuries and illnesses were injuries. Workplace illnesses accounted for an additional 9,400 recordable cases.

State and local government injury and illness cases

In the state and local government sector in Washington, 12,700 injury and illness cases were reported in 2020, resulting in a rate of 3.8 cases per 100 full-time workers. Nationally, the rate was 3.9. Seventy-five percent of injuries and illnesses reported in Washington's public sector occurred among local government workers.

State estimates

Private industry estimates are available for 41 participating states and for the District of Columbia for 2020. The private industry injury and illness rate was statistically higher in 20 states than the national rate of 2.7 cases per 100 full-time workers, lower in 11 states and in the District of Columbia, and not statistically different in 10 states. (See chart 1.) Caution should be taken when comparing rates among different states as some differences can be attributed to different industry composition within each state.

Technical Note

The Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) is a Federal/State cooperative program that publishes estimates on nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses. Each year, approximately 200,000 employers report for establishments in private industry and the public sector (state and local government). In-scope cases include work-related injuries or illnesses to workers who require medical care beyond first aid. See the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for the entire recordkeeping guidelines. The SOII excludes all work-related fatalities as well as nonfatal work injuries and illnesses to the self-employed, to workers on farms with 10 or fewer employees, to private household workers, to volunteers, and to federal government workers. For more information on the scope and sampling methodology see the SOII Handbook of Methods.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202)-691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800)-877-8339.

Industry	Total recordable cases	Cases with days away from work, job transfer, or restriction			Other recordable cases
		Total	Cases with days away from work	Cases with job transfer or restriction
All industries including state and local government	3.6	2.3	1.5	0.8	1.3
Private industry	3.5	2.3	1.4	0.8	1.2
Goods-producing	5.1	3.3	1.7	1.6	1.8
Natural resources and mining	7.7	5.1	2.3	2.8	2.6
Construction	5.2	2.9	1.8	1.1	2.3
Manufacturing	4.3	3.0	1.5	1.5	1.3
Service-providing	3.0	2.0	1.3	0.6	1.1
Trade, transportation, and utilities	4.2	3.1	1.8	1.3	1.1
Information	0.1	0.1	0.1	-	0.1
Financial activities	0.8	0.4	0.3	0.2	0.3
Professional and business services	1.4	0.8	0.6	0.2	0.6
Education and health services	5.0	3.2	2.5	0.6	1.8
Leisure and hospitality	3.5	1.5	1.1	0.4	1.9
Other services, except public administration	2.0	1.1	1.0	0.1	0.9
State and local government	3.8	2.1	1.7	0.4	1.6
State government	3.0	1.9	1.6	0.3	1.1
Local government	4.1	2.3	1.8	0.5	1.9
Note: Due to rounding, components may not add to totals. Dash indicates data not available.

Industry	Total recordable cases	Cases with days away from work, job transfer, or restriction			Other recordable cases
		Total	Cases with days away from work	Cases with job transfer or restriction
All industries including state and local government	90.9	57.8	37.8	20.0	33.1
Private industry	78.2	50.6	32.0	18.7	27.6
Goods-producing	27.4	17.6	9.3	8.3	9.8
Natural resources and mining	6.6	4.4	2.0	2.4	2.2
Construction	9.1	5.1	3.2	1.9	4.1
Manufacturing	11.6	8.2	4.1	4.0	3.5
Service-providing	50.8	33.0	22.7	10.4	17.8
Trade, transportation, and utilities	21.6	16.1	9.5	6.6	5.5
Information	0.2	0.1	0.1	-	0.1
Financial activities	1.0	0.6	0.3	0.2	0.4
Professional and business services	4.6	2.7	2.1	0.6	1.9
Education and health services	15.7	10.0	8.0	2.0	5.8
Leisure and hospitality	6.4	2.8	2.0	0.8	3.6
Other services, except public administration	1.3	0.7	0.6	0.1	0.6
State and local government	12.7	7.2	5.8	1.3	5.5
State government	3.2	2.0	1.7	0.3	1.2
Local government	9.5	5.2	4.1	1.1	4.3
Note: Due to rounding, components may not add to totals. Dash indicates data not available.

Industry	All establishments	Establishment employment size (workers)
		1 to 10	11 to 49	50 to 249	250 to 999	1,000 or more
All industries including state and local government	3.6	2.3	3.7	4.3	4.1	2.7
Private industry	3.5	2.2	3.8	4.4	4.0	2.4
Goods-producing	5.1	4.3	5.7	6.0	4.6	3.9
Natural resources and mining	7.7	-	5.6	8.0	8.4	10.8
Construction	5.2	4.2	6.3	5.8	3.0	-
Manufacturing	4.3	4.5	5.0	5.5	3.8	-
Service-providing	3.0	1.8	3.2	3.9	3.7	1.9
Trade, transportation, and utilities	4.2	-	4.0	5.3	6.1	0.8
Information	0.1	-	-	0.7	-	-
Financial activities	0.8	-	0.9	1.3	0.6	-
Professional and business services	1.4	-	3.2	1.2	0.9	0.2
Education and health services	5.0	-	3.2	6.0	5.7	6.7
Leisure and hospitality	3.5	1.5	3.9	4.0	3.4	3.3
Other services, except public administration	2.0	-	2.7	2.1	-	-
State and local government	3.8	-	3.0	3.2	4.7	3.5
State government	3.0	-	-	1.7	3.6	3.0
Local government	4.1	-	3.6	3.8	5.1	3.8
Note: Dash indicates data not available.

Industry	Total recordable cases		Cases with days away from work, job transfer, or restriction
	2019	2020	2019	2020
All industries including state and local government	4.0	3.6*	2.3	2.3
Private industry	3.8	3.5*	2.2	2.3
Goods-producing	5.4	5.1	3.5	3.3
Natural resources and mining	7.6	7.7	4.9	5.1
Construction	5.7	5.2	3.6	2.9
Manufacturing	4.6	4.3	3.0	3.0
Service-providing	3.4	3.0*	1.8	2.0
Trade, transportation, and utilities	4.1	4.2	2.7	3.1
Information	0.6	0.1*	0.2	0.1
Financial activities	1.2	0.8	0.8	0.4
Professional and business services	2.3	1.4*	1.0	0.8
Education and health services	4.6	5.0	2.1	3.2*
Leisure and hospitality	4.7	3.5*	2.0	1.5*
Other services, except public administration	3.4	2.0	1.6	1.1
State and local government	5.3	3.8*	2.7	2.1*
State government	3.0	3.0	1.8	1.9
Local government	6.3	4.1*	3.1	2.3*
Note: An asterisk (*) indicates a significant difference between the current year and prior year values, when testing at 95% confidence level.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.