10k+ Work-Related Injuries Reported to OSHA Last Year

Work-related injuries are an all-too-common occurrence in today's world. Regardless of the industry, there's an inherit risk faced by all workers. So, just how many of these injuries occur on a yearly basis? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently published its data from 2015, revealing that just over 10,000 incidents were reported last year.

According to its "Year One of OSHA’s Severe Injury Reporting Program: An Impact Evaluation" report, employers reported 10,388 incidents to OSHA in 2015, 7,636 of which required hospitalizations and 2,644 of which involved amputations. Of course, the total number of work-related injuries is likely much higher, as these numbers only reflect states in which federal OSHA has legal jurisdiction. Furthermore, these numbers do NOT include public employers or states that have their own workplace safety organizations, like California.

Of course, OSHA's new incident reporting rule took effect on January 1, 2015, making a new era for the Administration. OSHA's David Michaels addressed the new rule, saying that "many" employers are failing to comply with the new reporting rule. In a statement to the press, Michaels estimated that at least half of all severe work-related injuries are not being reported to OSHA.

"OSHA believes that many severe injuries—perhaps 50% or more—are not being reported," said OSHA Administrator David Michaels. “We base this conclusion on several factors, including injury claim numbers provided to us by state workers’ compensation programs."

The majority of work-related injury reports filed last year were done so by large employers; therefore, OSHA believed that many small-to-mid-sized businesses are failing to comply with the new rule, either intentionally or unintentionally. OSHA is hoping that it can turn these numbers around by raising awareness of its new injury reporting rule. Unless employers are familiar with the rule, it's not going to yield much advantage.

Furthermore, OSHA says that 33% of its reports made last year prompted an investigation to the respective worksite, whereas roughly 66% resulted in OSHA reaching out to the employer (via phone or writing) and requesting an incident investigation.

You can learn more about OSHA's injury reports for 2015 by visiting

https://www.osha.gov/injuryreport/2015.pdf.

What do you think of OSHA's new injury reporting rule?